Haile Selassie funeral moves closer

Official funeral for Ethiopia's last Emperor Haile Selassie

Arrangements are reported to be being made to reinter the remains of Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie, who was overthrown in 1974.

The head of the Haile Selassie Memorial Foundation, Bitwoded Zwede Gbrehiwot, said a tomb has been prepared in the Addis Ababa's Orthodox Trinity Cathedral and said the reinterment would take place on 5 November.

The reburial date is set to coincide with the the 70th anniversary of Haile Selassie's coronation.

The emperor - who is regarded by Rastafarians as the incarnation of God - died in mysterious circumstances a year after he was deposed in a military coup led by a Marxist army officer, Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Remains

His death was officially announced on 27 August 1975 and his remains reported to have been stuffed into a makeshift grave built under a lavatory, before being exhumed in 1992.

Mengistu deposed Emperor Selassie

The Rastafarians, the cult with its roots in the West Indies, believes Haile Selassie was a living god.

The sect derives its name Ras Tafari from the emperor's name as a young prince. He was also revered as the Lion of Judah, the King of Kings.

Emperor Haile Selassie traced his ancestory as Ethiopia's 225th monarch in an unbroken line to Menelik I, the son of the Biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba 4,000 years earlier.

But he was reviled during the 17 years of marxist rule, and royalty no longer officially exists.

He was survived by a daughter and grandchildren, many of whom live in the United States.