Picture: Tedla Bairu bowing to the Emperor

Tedla Bairu bowing to the Emperor
Picture: Courtesy of Jelal Yassin

Tedla Bairu, Dejazmatch (1914-1984): Eritrea's first Chief Executive and leader of the Unionist Party, Tedla Bairu was born in Gheremi, Hamasien. He attended the Swedish Evangelical Mission School in Asmara until 1926 and was one of the very few Eritreans to study in Italy, where he graduated from the Istituto Magistrale in Florence in 1933. He was a teacher and then director of Italian "native" schools until 1940, ending this career in Adwa, where he was employed by the British Administration as an interpreter in 1941. He served as a translator in the Asmara Native Affairs Office of the BMA until 1946, and was the first director of the Semunawi Gazetta, a newspaper published during British Administration. Tedla was not in Asmara when the Mahber Figri Hager (MFH) was founded in May 1941, but he became involved in the organization upon his return to Eritrea. Tedla Bairu did not support Eritrean independence, and instead became a vocal advocate of the pro-Ethiopian unionist cause.

He left the BMA in late 1946, and at the Bet-Ghiorghis meeting in November he led the Unionist wing of the MFH in rejecting Weldeab's proposed compromise. With Ethiopian support, Tedla replaced Gebremeskel Weldu as Secretary-General of what became the Unionist Party in January 1947. Tedla led this organization through the 1940s, addressing various UN bodies, editing the Unionist newspaper Etiopia and mobilizing sectarian and regionalist interests for the Unionist cause. Described by his opponents as an "opportunist," Tedla's unwavering Unionist position and personal patronage network led to his unopposed election to the first Eritrean Assembly for his home district of Karneshim in March, 1952. He was elected President of the Assembly in April and became Eritrea's first Chief Executive when the Federation established. In 1953, Tedla worked hand-inhand with Ethiopian authorities to destroy Eritrea's independent institutions. He refused to consult with the Eritrean Assembly concerning the budget, and undermined the independence of the Police and judiciary. At the same time, Tedla tried to use Eritrea's autonomous institutions to develop an Eritrean power base for himself independent of Emperor Haile Selassie's share of custom revenues by Ethiopia and sought independent economic relationships with Italian capitalists. He came into conflict with the Emperor's representative, Andargachew Messai, and by 1955 had alienated both his Ethiopian patrons and his Eritrean compatriots.

In July he resorted to the imposition of a British Administration emergency law suspending habeas corpus and closed the Eritrean Assembly, citing a resurgence of Shifta (Banditry) activity. This measure backfired, however, and on July 28, 1955, the Emperor forced his resignation. This was celebrated as a victory by Eritrean independents, but in reality Tedla's fall only further undermined Eritrean autonomy by destroying what little independence the Unionist Party had maintained. According some who knew him, Tedla already had become "disillusioned" with the Federation by 1955, and his ambiguous commitment to Eritrean autonomy led to his increasing support for the Eritrean nationalist movement in the 1960s.

After leaving his post as the Chief Executive of Eritrea, the Emperor posted Tedla Bairu to Sweden as Ethiopian ambassador for a period of years before he was recalled to Addis Ababa and later retired into the Ethiopian senate from which he defected to the ELF in 1967. That year, he was appointed to the Supreme Council of ELF and made a number of nationalist radio broadcasts on behalf of the front and later Osman Saleh Sabbe's (one of the ELF's prominent leadership) General Secretariat, but this was purely a symbolic role. His son, Herui Tedla Bairu, on the other hand, became very active in ELF politics. Tedla continued to live in Stockholm until his death in 1984.
Source: Biographical notes in “Eritrean Assembly” by Anwar Seid Suleiman