[2] Several years later, he left Ethiopia, narrowly escaping capture by the military, to join armed guerrillas fighting for Eritrean independence.
[3] After spending time on the battlefield, he left the war zone to serve as the representative of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front to the United Nations in New York City.
His work in Eritrea has been chronicled through a number of books he has authored, including The Making of the Eritrean Constitution: The Dialectic of Process and Substance (2003), The Crown and The Pen: The Memoirs of a Lawyer Turned Rebel (2007), and Wounded Nation: How a Once Promising Eritrea Was Betrayed and Its Future Compromised (2010).
Among several Eritrean opposition groups, Selassie is viewed as a force for progressive change, free speech, and an alternative to the government of Isaias Afewerki in Eritrea.
However, he is still considered a controversial figure among supporters of the Eritrean government, who describe him as an opportunist, Ethiopian loyalist, and someone who lacks affection for Eritrea.