Iyasu V - Later Years

Later Years

Empress Zewditu died in 1930, and was succeeded by Emperor Haile Selassie who was considerably less sympathetic to Iyasu. In 1931, Iyasu escaped from imprisonment at Fichte. He apparently achieved his freedom with the aid of his former father-in-law, Ras Hailu Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, although Haile Selassie claimed that the Italians had a hand in his escape — or at least planned to assist in Iyasu's attempt to regain the throne. In his autobiography, Haile Selassie reports that when Italian Baron Raimondo Franchetti landed his plane in a field outside of Addis Alem, onlookers "noticed that inside it were a machine-gun as well as rifles and many cartridges" — implying these were to arm Iyasu's followers.

Iyasu was recaptured shortly after his escape. Having deeply alienated Ras Kassa with his escape, and having deeply angered the Emperor, Iyasu was taken to a fortress on the slopes of Mount Gara Muleta in Girawa, where he was guarded closely by locals loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie. When the forces of Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, aircraft of the Royal Italian Air Force (Regia Aeronautica Italiana) scattered fliers asking the population to rebel against Haile Selassie and support the "true Emperor Iyasu V." It was feared that the Italians would make use of Iyasu to fragment Ethiopian resistance to their conquest.

In November 1935, Iyasu's death was announced. The circumstances surrounding his death and his burial place remain shrouded in mystery. One rumour that persists to this day is that Emperor Haile Selassie ordered his guards to kill him. Others dispute this and allege that Iyasu died of natural causes. His grandson and current Iyasuist claimant to the Ethiopian throne, Lij Girma Yohannes, claims that Iyasu's body was brought to the Church of St. Mark at Addis Ababa's Guenete Leul Palace (since 1961 the main campus of Addis Ababa University) and buried there in secret. Because he had been excommunicated, these claims are extremely unlikely. Another recently published account states that Iyasu was interred in the grave prepared for Emperor Haile Selassie's confessor and almoner, Abba Hanna Jimma, at Debre Libanos. This account contends that, upon the priest's death, Lij Iyasu's remains were moved to the crypt of St. Tekle Haimanot's Church at the monastery, and placed below the tomb prepared for Ethiopia's first Patriarch, Abuna Basilios.