Haile Selassie Statue at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa

The 32nd African Union Summit in Addis Ababa in February 2019 was opened with the unveiling of a new statue of Ethiopia’s last emperor Haile Selassie. The statue, in honour of his founding role in the creation of the organisation, is a controversial addition to the AU premises. Opinion over Selassie remains highly divisive given his strong external commitment to Pan-Africanism and continental anti-colonial movements, while domestically he maintained a highly centralised feudal state that violently repressed demands for national autonomy and political rights. This case study explores the eight-year long debate spanning from Addis Ababa to Accra over whether Selassie should be honoured with a statue at the AU.