This Day in History: 5 May 1941
After nearly five years in exile in Britain, Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia to reclaim his throne with the help of the British. Selassie lost his throne in 1936 after he was defeated by Italians and fled to Britain. However, in his absence Ethiopians continued to resist the Italians, waging a guerrilla war to undermine and destabilise the process of colonisation. At the height of World War II in 1943, Tigrayans formed a resistance group “Weyane” or popular uprising, to rebel against Selassie. Tigrayans believed that Selassie did not deserve to return to the throne after abandoning his country and people in the middle of colonial occupation, killings and humiliation of its people by the Italian army.