Seifu Mikael

Seifu Mikael ሠይፉ ሚካኤል
Lij
Born	14 January 1898 Ankober, Shewa Province, Ethiopian Empire
Died	23 September 1958 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Spouses	Woizero Zewde Haile Lady Sara C. Martin Woizero Aster Hailu
Issue	Lij Kifle Seifu Lij Eskinder Seifu Ato Sirak Seifu Ato Hailu Seifu
Dynasty	House of Solomon (Shewan Branch)
Father	Ato Mikael Birru
Mother	Lady Shewaferash Mekuria
Religion	Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Education	Paris-Sorbonne University(L.L.B)
Occupation(s)	Ethiopian Minister to France & Germany Consul General of Ethiopia to Eritrea Governor of Chercher Administrator of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Patriot, Businessman
Relatives	Ato Kebede Michael (nephew) Lij Amdewerk Mikael (brother) Woizero Atsede Mikael (sister) Woizero Ayelech Gizaw (sister) Lij Daniel Kifle Seifu (grandson) Lij Elias Kifle Seifu (grandson) Lij Brook Kifle Seifu (grandson) W/r Elizabeth Kifle Seifu (granddaughter)
Military career
Battles / wars	Second Italo-Ethiopian War World War II

Lij Seifu Mikael (Amharic: ልጅ ሠይፉ ሚካኤል, Säyfu Mikāēl, also Sayfu Mikael, Seifu Michael; 14 January 1898 – 23 September 1958) was an Ethiopian royal, member of the Solomonic dynasty from the House of Solomon that descended from the ancient Kingdom of Aksum, belonging to the branch of the aristocratic Amhara family from Ankober Shewa. He was the great-grandson of King Sahle Selassie of Shewa and his wife Queen Bezabish Dejene of Gojjam through his grandfather, Dejazmatch Mekuria Tesfaye of Gerim Gabriel, a first cousin of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia.

Dejazmach Mekuria was once married to Woizero Man'alebish,^[1] Emperor Menelik's stepdaughter from his second wife Woizero Bafena. After their marriage was dissolved, she was sent to Wollo Province to marry King Mikael of Wollo.

Lij Seifu, a public figure, was educated in Paris at the Sorbonne. He was one of the earliest members of the Ethiopian royalty who started paying salaries to the serving members of their households advocating education, meaningful wages, and freedom of slaves making him an avid supporter of his cousin Ras Tafari, later Emperor Haile Selassie in his bid to become an emperor of Ethiopia who also held the same progressive Christian values. He sponsored several Ethiopians for higher education including four artists whom he sent to France after discovering their skills at the Debre Bizen Monastery during his appointment as Consul General to Eritrea.

His public service includes Ethiopia's minister to France and Germany, represented Empress Zewditu as a special envoy to the UK, member of delegations to several European countries accompanying imperial officials and the Crown Prince and later the Emperor of Ethiopia, Ethiopia's Consul General to Eritrea and Governor of several districts till the eve of the fascist invasion of Ethiopia, Inspector General of the Ministry of Justice, advisor to the palace on establishing the several municipalities and reorganization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, administrator of coffee farms owned by the government in Arsi Zone and Hararghe, and Administrator of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, credited for overseeing the establishment of the Church's real estate interests to bolster the Church's income and modernize the secular administration of the Church. As one of the wealthiest Ethiopians of the time, some of the real estate establishments of the Church were personally financed by him as a gift to the Church.

During the time Ethiopia was preparing for the war against Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia, Lij Seifu's company that sold weapons to the Ethiopian Empire supplied the majority of rifles and ammunition acquired by the government and the private armies of the nobility without payment to defend the sovereignty of his nation.

During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, he led an army at the Aussa desert front in the Afar Region and was captured after his army was annihilated by Italian bombers, shortage of ammunition, water, and food. He became one of the Ethiopian POWs during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War at Asinara designated as "one of the most dangerous Ethiopians" per surviving Italian colonial documents that have his name on top of the list of distinguished Ethiopians imprisoned by the fascists. He was imprisoned at the Island for four years.

Pursuant to his written accounts, in the beginning, he liked, admired, and supported his relative Emperor Haile Selassie, during his regency for his zeal and progressive policies but later grew to despise his rule after Ras Tafari became emperor, citing partisanship, disdain towards certain descendants of King Sahle Sellasie, the old officials of Menelik II and Empress Zewditu, contempt to criticisms and perceived isolation of early educated Ethiopians whom he wasn't responsible for their education; as a result, Seifu as one of the earliest educated Ethiopians who didn't owe their education to Ras Tafari, he believed the roles he played in shaping modern Ethiopian institutions, especially the foreign affairs bureau he helped organize as well as his diplomatic contributions and struggles before and during the Italo-Ethiopian war have been undermined.

Seifu expressed these opinions through his surviving poems he wrote during his imprisonment by the fascists at Asinara Island and later in his life as administrator of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In one of his diaries, he expressed his grief over the knowledge of how Lij Iyasu was treated during his years of captivation and his subsequent elimination after Emperor Haile Selassie's decision to leave the country for exile in Europe. He blamed some of the Emperor's backward advisers with the exception of Luel Ras Kassa Haile Darge whom, he wrote, was too reverential to decide on the life of Lij Iyasu.