BY IKAEL TAFARI

BEGINNING WITH ETHIOPIA'S contradictory condition of legendary independence and extreme poverty when he ascended the throne in 1930, over Emperor Haile Selassie I's 44-year reign, the country was gradually transformed from an autocratic feudal kingdom into an increasingly democratic modern state.

Towards the end, through the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) based in Addis Ababa of which he was the principal architect, Ethiopia became the fulcrum of Africa's continental independence and – largely through the Rastafari – the symbol of a wider trans-Atlantic Pan-African unity.

How then, in the twilight of our age, may Haile Selassie's historical contribution be assessed?

On one thing contemporary commentators agree. From his distant citadel, seated on the most ancient of thrones, the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, diminutive successor to David, Solomon and Menelik I, cast his imposing shadow across the pivotal events of the 20th century.

From the early years when he was made a sacrificial lamb on the altar of an ill-conceived European appeasement of Fascist dictatorship at the League of Nations in 1936 – when the fate of black civilisation, and indeed the whole world, hung in the balance – to the old lion's crowning moment in 1963 with the formation of the OAU, heralding a new progressive chapter in black history, the emperor commanded the stage of world affairs.

On another point, we may rest assured: in future accounts, assessment of the closing years of Selassie's reign will be controversial. And yet, for all the humiliation and bereavement, with the catastrophic famine at the end, when the aged emperor disappeared mystically on August 27, 1975, his mission was accomplished.

The quasi-medieval Ethiopia into which he was born eight decades earlier had been changed irreversibly by his untiring quest for his people's progress. Indeed, the entire world had undergone unprecedented mutations, altering the face of humanity almost beyond recognition.

But the three major foundations on which this great man built his work remain intact and are still developing.

First, modern Ethiopia – which survived one of the most searing crises of the country's long history. The pillars of national unity and the structure of government constructed by His Majesty withstood excesses of the revolutionary post-Imperial years under the brutal military dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam. Ethiopia emerged into the relative calm of the present democratic era under Meles Zenawi.

Second – for all its limitations – the OAU. Apart from proving itself notably as a bulwark in the struggle for the political liberation of southern Africa, the organisation passed the dreaded test of time on a continent where few instruments of regional unity, with lesser scope, have survived. Furthermore, a solid foundation having been laid, in 2002 the OAU moved on to a closer level of integration with the birth of the African Union.

Third, Rastafari. Inspired by Haile Selassie, the movement continues to kindle from the grassroots the racial hope of African resurgence and the repatriation of Africans in the West to their mother continent.

Each of these legacies is a measure of His Majesty's unequalled stature in African and world history. But ultimately, Haile Selassie's contribution rests on his unfailing championship of collective security, both on the continent and within the international community.

Also his unflinching defence of international morality and his vision of a world government whose possibility is only beginning to become distinct in our present era of globalisation, though this is taking place under disturbing auspices – the spectre of Euro/American recolonisation.

Leaders should be judged in terms of how they embody the contradictions of their country and time, and the extent to which they transcend them. It was the supreme accomplishment of Haile Selassie that he both embodied the power of traditional African kingship, and – in the manner of his shedding of its mantle at the end – transcended it.

Dr Ikael Tafari is director of the Commission for Pan-African Affairs.