Alimirah Hanfare

Bitwoded Sultan Alimirah Hanfare (; 1919 – 25 April 2011) was Sultan of Aussa from 1944 until his death in 2011. He ascended to the throne after his predecessor and uncle, Mohammad Yayyo.

Loyal to his suzerain, Emperor Haile Selassie I, Alimirah possessed only moderate governing authority as Sultan, but was highly influential as a landowner and as the senior spiritual and cultural leader of the Afar people. Under his rule, significant progress was made towards modernising agriculture amongst the pastoral Afar; attracting foreign investment, organising access to credit, and promoting infrastructural development.

After the overthrow of the Ethiopian monarchy by the Derg, Sultan Alimirah was targeted by the new socialist regime for his influence, status as a landowner, and support for the deposed emperor. In 1975 the Sultan was forced to flee the country when the Derg attempted to capture him in a bloody raid on Asaita, and proceeded to establish the Afar Liberation Front to resist the government and defend the Afar's rights to their land.

Upon the Derg's overthrow in 1991 the Sultan returned to Ethiopia, where he initially supported the efforts of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front led by Meles Zenawi. Relations quickly soured, however, over the issue of Afars in Eritrea, whom the Sultan wanted to remain part of an autonomous Afar region within Ethiopia. This, amongst other disputes, led to the Sultan's marginalisation from the politics of the new Afar Region. Alimirah was not only considered a leader of the Afar people, but was admired by many Ethiopians for his patriotism, resistance to the Derg, and support for Ethiopian unity.

Early life Alimirah Hanfere was born in the village of Fursi, which is today divided between the Amhara Region and the Afar Region. He was said to have been born around 1919, but at his death was said to be 95 years old, suggesting he was born earlier. A member of the Aussa Mudaito Dynasty, and the youngest of three children, with two older sisters, Fatima and Medina, his father was Hanfare Aydahis and mother was Hawy Omar. His grandfather, Mahammad ibn Hanfere, was himself Sultan of Aussa from 1862 to 1902, who declared his loyalty to Emperor Menelik II and defeated an Egyptian force led by Werner Munzinger attempting to invade Ethiopia in 1875.

His father was killed while his mother was pregnant with Alimirah, and she herself died when Alimirah was young, leaving him to be raised by his eldest sister, Fatima. Fatima married Fitawrari Yayyo Hamadu, an important leader of the Aussa, second only to the Sultan, Mohammad Yayyo. Yayyo Hamadu was entrusted with the transport of goods between the port of Assab and the capital Addis Ababa by camel caravans, making him wealthy and also facilitating a close friendship with Ras Tafari Makonnen, the future Haile Selassie I. Despite this, the relationship between the Sultan and Haile Selassie was a loyal one.

The Sultan sought to unite the Afar people under an autonomous Sultanate, while remaining part of Ethiopia; they had been divided amongst the provinces of Hararghe, Shewa, Tigray, and Wollo. In 1961, when it was clear the Eritrean federal arrangement was headed towards its demise, 55 Afar chieftains in Eritrea met and endorsed the idea of an Ethiopian Afar autonomy. Following the dissolution of Eritrea's federal government and its transformation into a centrally-administered province, Afar leaders met again in Assab in 1963 and supported the creation of an autonomous region. In 1964 Afar leaders went to Addis Ababa to present Haile Selassie with their proposal, but the effort came up empty-handed. For example, while the government appointed a governor to the awrajja (district) of Aussa proper, the governor, rather than taking up residence in the capital of Asaita, instead sat in Bati, which was outside the district entirely. In his efforts to advance the Afar economy, he is thought to have balanced the benefits of agricultural modernisation with respect for tradition and traditional land ownership. When Prime Minister Meles Zenawi remarked that the flag of Ethiopia was "just a common rag", the Sultan was said to have retorted that "even our camels salute the Ethiopian flag".