Category: In The Press

Interview with Australia’s SBS broadcasting system and its Amharic channel with  HIH Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie Haile Selassie, President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia.

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: March 13th, 2020

New York (TADIAS) — Mr. Aklilu Demessie, a Board member and Vice President of the Menelik Foundation in Cleveland, and one of the founders of the Society of Ethiopians Established in the community Diaspora (SEED), has been honored by Ethiopian Crown Council for his lifetime achievements in community service. The announcement notes that Mr. Demessie is “an active member of the core group that has helped establish a Sister Cities agreement between the city of Cleveland and Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.”

Mr. Demessie received the prestigious Knight Grand Cross from Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie, who is the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie, during the annual Victory of Adwa Commemoration dinner & award ceremony held at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C. on February 29th.

Mr. Demessie is “one of the select group of holders of the Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Star of Ethiopia — one of the most venerated decorations of the Solomonic gift,” the announcement stated. “The honor is one of the highest Ethiopian rankings and included the formality of a dubbing with Imperial Court Sword on both shoulders by Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie.”

The press release added that Mr. Demessie is also “a member and Vice President of the board of the International Community Council and Worldwide International Network (ICC-WIN) of Cleveland Ohio in which 121 countries are represented. He has served as the President of the Northeast Ohio Ethiopian Community Association (NEOECA) as well as President of the Ethiopian Cleveland Connection (ECC) in the 1990s. Mr. Demessie is one of the founding Board members of The Society of Ethiopians Established in the Diaspora (SEED) which gives scholarships to outstanding high school graduates and identifies future leaders among American-born kids of Ethiopian heritage, and encourages good citizenship and community service in addition to honoring and awarding their adult role models on the same stage annually.”

Aklilu Demessie holds an MS in Engineering Mechanics and BS in Civil Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to that he spent a year as an American Field Service, AFS scholar in the USA and graduated from Oberlin High School in Oberlin, Ohio in 1971.

Per the announcement Mr. Demessie “started his professional career at Cleveland Pneumatic Company as a Stress Analyst and progressed to a Supervisory position in the Engineering Department over the years. Mr. Demessie worked as a Senior Engineer/Group Leader at the former Goodrich Landing Gear with over 40 years of experience as a professional in this area. Currently, he is retired but works part time at Collins Aerospace in the Landing Gear Division in Independence, Ohio.”

Mr. Demessie, who lives in Hudson, Ohio is married and has two adult children, Menna Demessie, PhD, Nebyat Demessie, MHSA (both graduates of WRA) and his wife of 42 years, Zufan L. Demessie, RN, BAcy.

Interview today with Australia’s SBS broadcasting system and its Amharic channel. Discussion on the Ethiopian Crown and Ethiopian Government, including Nobel Prize Winner Dr Abiy Ahmed Ali.

“Emperor Haile Selassie followed the model of Emperor Menelik ensuring that Ethiopia should remain independent and dignified country.” – Gregory Copley, President of ISSA, and its Zahedi Center for the Study of Monarchy, Traditional Governance, and Sovereignty

Ethiopian Crown Council President His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie was the focus of a major report in the national US magazine, Vanity Fair, which appeared on newsstands on May 1, 2018. Full text of the article can be seen on the magazine’s website.

A Statement from the Crown Council of Ethiopia by its President, His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie

We wish all Ethiopian People, at home and in the Diaspora, a blessed Ethiopian Christmas (Melkam Genna).

There is strength in forgiveness, so may this wondrous holiday season usher in an era of peace and reconciliation amongst all our people, remembering that what we share in our three millennia of collective history — our bond — is greater than anything which could temporarily divide us.

We are all at a crucial crossroads in our great nation. Where there were mistakes and miscalculations we need an earnest reform and corrections. These require of us a courageous commitment of action: Sincere applications and concrete steps to fulfill promises of words. Inevitably, challenges will emerge, but the key is to reflect with patience and magnanimity in seeking tolerant outcomes.

We are all encouraged by the spirit of reconciliation. True reconciliation cannot exist in the absence of justice and it must include an affirmation to correct inequalities, real or perceived. It is a journey as well as a destination.

Let us embark on this path with open hearts and vigilance. We are all stakeholders, and which outcomes we choose will determine our collective destiny. Ethiopians are an ancient and wise people, confident in their faith and humanity. Let us pray that sanity and magnanimity will prevail over hatred and violence.

Let us all embrace challenges as opportunities. Let us all commit ourselves to work for peace not only amongst ourselves with all our neighbors within Ethiopia’s boundaries and within a region peopled by our cousins. We have known each other, and shared with each other, for many millennia. We can, and will, resolve any obstacles, and build a great future together.

May the Almighty continue to guide and bless our People and Country. Let us chart together a peaceful and prosperous Nation, confident in itself and its future.Ethiopian Samson Berhane, 27, reads a previous month’s Ethiopian Business Review, featuring Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, at his office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 

heir Imperial Highnesses Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie and Princess Saba Kebede arrived in Ottawa on November 15, 2017, to start the Crown’s Commemorative Visit to Canada, marking the 50th anniversary of the State Visit of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1967. The Emperor’s visit coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada, and Their Imperial Highnesses’ visit coincided with the 150th anniversary.

These series of Commemorative Visits are designed to support the Ethiopian diaspora, and to help the drive toward unifying Ethiopians, who still suffer from the divisive effects of the coup and subsequent destruction of Ethiopia by the Dergue which seized power in 1974.

The Imperial Couple chose to drive into Canada from Buffalo, New York, so that they could see some of the countryside on their first formal visit to Canada. Their visit saw the start of their formal activities on November 16, 2017, with a visit by His Imperial Highness to the new Headquarters of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in Ottawa, where the Honorary President of the Society, Alex Trebek, OC, and RCGS Chief Executive Officer John Geiger, GOEM, welcomed him.

Prince Ermias was honored in a ceremony by the RCGS with investiture as an Honorary Fellow of the Society, in which the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario placed the Fellow’s medal around the neck of His Imperial Highness.

The Imperial couple also visited Parliament on November 16, as guests of the Usher of the Black Rod, Mr J. Greg Peters, MVO, who also participated with some 500 other dignitaries, including Fellows of the RCGS, at a dinner at the Museum of History.

The couple departed for Toronto early on November 17, 2017, for meetings with the Ethiopian and African diaspora communities and for a special visit to Dundurn Castle, in Hamilton. They were also be guests at a private reception honoring the work undertaken by the University of Toronto to promote educational, medical, and other areas of cooperation with Ethiopia, and for the University’s teaching of Ethiopian and Ge’ez studies.

They departed Toronto for the US on Sunday, November 19, 2017.

Sponsored by the International Strategic Studies Association’s Zahedi Center for the Study of Monarchy, Traditional Governance, and Sovereignty

His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, between June 18 and July 1, 2017, visited Australia to commemorate the State Visit to the country by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, in 1968. The visit, organized and supported by the Zahedi Center for the Study of Monarchy, Traditional Governance, and Sovereignty at the International Strategic Studies Assn., in Washington, DC, was described by The Australian Financial Review of June 22, 2017, as taking on all the trappings, itself, of a State visit. It took in formal activities in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Perth, hosted by government and civic leaders and the Ethiopian diaspora.

Voice of America’s Branko Mikasinovich interviews Ethiopian Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie, the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia

The City also passes resolution proclaiming May 7, 2012 as “Prince Ermias Day”

H. Gippy Graham, Mayor of Frankfort, KY presented His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie the Honorary Key to the city of Frankfort (capital city of Kentucky) for his strategic leadership, active participation in designing programs to assist African peacekeeping, reconciliation, and border dispute resolution. The Prince was also honored for his active role in African charitable works, cultural activities and historical preservation, as well as keeping the legacy of the institutions of Ethiopia’s ancient monarchy from falling into oblivion.

The event was held during the 13th annual interdisciplinary conference on African Studies hosted by Kentucky State University (KSU). This year, the Conference focused on the theme “How will Africa’s growing Economic development Impact the people and the environment?” The conference brought scholars, KSU students and professionals from various disciplines and institutions to KSU to celebrate African heritage.

During the event, Professor Gashaw Lake, Dean of the College Professional Studies at KSU introduced His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias, the President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia and the representative of the Ethiopian Crown in exile, as a guest speaker to the participants. Prince Ermias, in his speech, introduced his new initiative to bring pure drinking water to the People of Africa while helping to improve their ecological conditions. The project, which is named “The Prince Ermias Shale-Selassie Water Initiative for Africa” (WIA), is a low-cost, new and environmentally positive technology capable of rapidly transforming life for millions of people, not just in response to emergencies, but as a permanent building block for social development. The WIA offers these new technologies for all and works not only on its own projects, but also with all other aid agencies and foundations to achieve Africa’s renaissance.

Professor Lake, who was also one of the coordinators of the annual conference at KSU, praised the Prince’s noble personality as a great man who transformed the Crown Council and his own life into a mission to improve the welfare of Africans wherever they are.

*Prince Ermias was named the recipient of the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), and was given the Silver Star Award of Outstanding contributions to strategic Progress through humanitarian achievements because of his work for Ethiopian Refugees in Africa.

(The 13th Annual Interdisciplinary Roundtable Conference on African Studies was held at the Kentucky State University April 7-9, 2012.)