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Balcha Safo ባልቻ ሳፎ | |
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| Born | 1863 Hadiya |
| Died | 6 November 1936 (aged 72–73) Agemja, Italian East Africa |
| Allegiance |  Ethiopian Empire |
| Years of service | 1880s–1936 |
| Battles / wars | |
Dejazmach Balcha Safo (Amharic: ባልቻ ሳፎ; 1863 – 6 November 1936), popularly referred to by his horse-name Abba Nefso, was an Ethiopian military commander and lord protector of the crown, who served in both the First and Second Italo-Ethiopian Wars.[1]
He made his reputation, according to oral tradition, at the Battle of Adwa (March 1, 1896), and was rewarded with elevation to the aristocratic status of Dejazmach. [2][3] Later Balcha was appointed a provincial Governor (Shum). He was later a key member of the conservative provincial elite who, in the 1920s, were often at odds with the modernising reforms and rising power of the Regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen. Tafari Makonnen would later force Dejazmach Balcha into retirement, albeit an honourable one, in 1928, from which he would emerge in 1935 to fight against the Fascist invasion, resulting in his death in 1936.
- ^ Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 190 n. 8
- ^ Harold G. Marcus, The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913, (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1995), p. 166
- ^ Haile Selassie I. My Life and Ethiopia's Progress. Vol. 2, 1999, p. 32.