Atnafu Abate

Lieutenant Colonel Atnafu Abate (Amharic: አጥናፉ አባተ; late 1930s – November 12th 1977) was an Ethiopian military officer and a leading member of the Derg, the military junta which deposed Emperor Haile Selassie and ruled the country for several years.

The Ottaways point out that Lt. Col. Atnafu was seen as "A symbol of the rebellion of a conservative, nationalistic, and religious peasantry against the corruption and abuses of the aristocracy. ... He early projected the image of the officer devoted to the traditional values of motherland, flag and church."

Atnafu was born near Bichena in Gojjam, and was educated at Holetta Military Academy. At the time of the Ethiopian Revolution, he was serving as a major in the Fourth Division, stationed in Addis Ababa. (He became a Lieutenant Colonel after April 1975.)

By April 1974 he had joined the group of army and police officers led by Colonel Alem Zewde Tessema of the Airborne Corps, playing a major role in organizing them into a coordinating committee on 24 April, which was officially disbanded five days later to be replaced by the 25-member National Security Commission under the command of the Minister of Defense Abiye Abebe. At some point during the following month a second coordinating committee emerged, whose leading members included, besides Major Atnafu, Major Tafara Teklaeb of the Engineering Corps, Major Fisseha Desta of the elite Kebur Zabangna, Girma Fisseha of the Army Aviation, and Captain Sisay Hapte of the Air Force. This second committee is better known under its later name, the Derg. Colonel Alem Zewde fell from power at this time, losing control of his paratrooper battalion after its defeat in a battle with radicals on 22 June and afterwards fleeing to Gojjam.

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