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Sultan Hanfareh Ali Mirah, who was enthroned as the spiritual head of the Afar people in November 2011, died at the age of 72. The sultan was a member of the most powerful family group in Afar and the son of Sultan Ali Mirah, who reigned from 1944 to 1975.
The sultan was about to mark the ninth anniversary of his enthronement as Afar spiritual leader on November 10, a position he held partly in exile and as a target of criticism from the EPRDF regime. In March 2016, the spiritual leader left Ethiopia after escaping, he told Le Monde, six assassination attempts by gunshot and poisoning. In the interview with the French newspaper, he had expressed his support for the revolt led by the Oromos and Amharas against the regime dominated by the TPLF. He returned to Ethiopia in August 2018 after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office.
Mirah’s father, Sultan Ali Mirah was a revered figure and a major player in Ethiopian and regional politics for four decades. With the overthrow of Haile Selassie in late 1974, Ali Mirah soon became a target of military leaders due to his alliance with the Emperor and his semi-autonomy. On June 3, 1975, the Sultan fled to Djibouti and formed the ALF which declared an armed struggle against the Derg. Mirah along with her father fought in the guerrilla war against Mengistu Haile Mariam under the wing of the ALF and then joined forces with the EPRDF collation, which came to power in 1991. When the new Afar region was established in 1992, Mirah joined his father as administrator of the Afar region established in 1992 and then he served as president of the Afar regional state (1995-96). He had been the leader of a faction of the Afar Regional Front since 1996. He also served as Ethiopia’s ambassador to Kuwait.
The Alf suffered an internal dispute between Habib Ali Mirah, who was at odds with the Meles Zenawi regime, and his pro-EPRDF brother Hanfraeh Ali Mirah, who became president of the Afar region. In April 1995, Hanfareh was suspended by his father, Sultan Ali Mirah, as president of the ALF in response to electoral dissent within the Front.
