Addis Abeba, August 28/2018 – At least thirteen ethnic Somalis were killed, seven from one family, today in Babile, Tulli Guled and Chinaksen in east Hararghe zone of the Oromia regional state. The killings are blamed on Oromo militias but there is no information as to what triggered the attack.
In a statement released on twitter, ONLF “strongly condemns the indiscriminate massacre of innocent Somalis,” and said “this occurred as Federal forces were stationed in the very locations where the brutal massacres took place.” The 13 bodies are now in Jigjiga referral hospital, ONLF said.
ONLF strongly condemns the indiscriminate massacre of innocent #Somalis in Baabile & Tulli Guled by #Oromo militias. This occurred as Federal forces were stationed in the very locations where the brutal massacres took place. 13 bodies currently lie in Jigjiga Referral Hospital.
But Juweria Ali, a doctoral candidate in politics and international relations in London’s Westminster University, who has families and friends in Somali state, told Addis Standardin a message that there were two incidents where around 20 civilians were killed. “The families of the victims refused to bury their loved ones and asked the Somali regional president Mustafa Omer to meet them,” Juweria said. The killings were “committed by armed Oromo militias – No Liyu police [is] involved. The federal military are stationed in those areas; so this happened right under their noses.” So far there has not been any official statement both from the regional and the federal government and establishing contacts with eye witnesses on the ground has been impossible for most of the day today.
But several social media accounts described multiple protests that took place in various areas of the regional state today, including key cities such as Degehabour and Gode. Addis Standard could not independently verify these protests, nor the reason for the protests.
Today’s killings of the ethnic Somali civilians came two weeks after the killing of 41 ethnic Oromos by members of the Liyu police in Babile and its environs. It is a sign of what is waiting for the newly appointed President of the Somali state, Mustafa Omer, who was touring places affected by the weekend of August 04 carnage shortly before the resignation of former president of the region Abdi Mohamoud Omar, a.k.a Abdi Iley, who is now in federal custody waiting to be charged with multiple accounts of offenses.
ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian state media are reporting that a military helicopter has crashed and killed all 18 people on board, including two children.
Police official Aschalew Alemu tells the Ethiopian News Agency that the crash occurred Thursday morning in the Oromia region. The helicopter was traveling from the eastern city of Dire Dawa to an air base in Bishoftu town southeast of the capital Addis Ababa.
Aschalew says the cause of the crash is under investigation.
The state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reports that 15 military personnel and three civilians are dead.
Crowds turned out to greet Ethiopia’s prime minister after he flew into Eritrea’s capital, Asmara
The euphoric jubilation in the streets of Asmara and Addis Ababa that we have witnessed in the last few weeks is the Eritrean and Ethiopian peoples’ affirmation and celebration of the peace overtures made by Dr Abiy. The stoic Ethiopian and Eritrean people, young and old, men and women, dancing and singing unabashedly in the streets and public spaces are expressing their strong longing for peaceful and fraternal relations—a longing which they have not been able to express in public for the last 20 years. It is a genuine endorsement of the commitment of the two leaders—Abiy, an articulate, visionary vanguard of the new generation, and Isaias, a defiant old revolutionary—to lead them out of the quagmire. Abiy rose up from the mass upheaval of the Ethiopian youth struggle against TPLF/EPRDF dominated corruption, political machinations, disintegration and hopelessness to lead a peaceful yet fundamental revolution. Isaias represents the indomitable spirit of the Eritrean struggle for liberation, still standing against all odds.
Within a few weeks, in a miraculous shift, despair and pessimism have given way to hope. This hope found articulation in a rising young political maverick, Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed. His message of peace and unity, medemer, has swept Ethiopian and Eritrean communities at home and in diaspora. The swift actions taken by both sides to normalize relations after two decades of the no war no peace regime has created an emotional human drama: the celebrations welcoming Abiy to Asmara and Isaias to Addis, long separated family members dancing in tears on the tarmacs of airports, and even people calling random numbers across the border to express love and good will. The scene has mesmerized even the international media and international public at large which is used to seeing frequent atrocities in this region. What just a few weeks ago seemed like an insurmountable wall of hate and acrimony between Eritrea and Ethiopia has dissipated as if it had been a mirage.
Yet despite the overflow of joy we should not forget the bitter cost paid during the twenty long years it took us to get here. Nor should we forget that this is only the beginning of a long hard journey. To see through the fog into brighter future we must reexamine our path through our dark history with contrition. As Maya Angelou said, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
The Horn of Africa is one of the most conflict-ridden regions in the world. The Ethio-Eritrea conflict that has continued unabated for three quarter of a century, bleeds directly or indirectly into all the violent intrastate and interstate conflicts raging across the Horn of Africa. The thirty-year devastating war for independence [1960 – 1991], the 1998 -2000 border war and the eighteen years of “no war no peace” that has succeeded it have been the inexhaustible fuel that has been feeding the inferno consuming this region. The cost of this conflict is mind numbing. Hundreds of thousands have died. Millions have been forced into abject refugee life. Villages have been razed to the ground, fragile ecosystem scorched, farm lands strewn by land mines rendered uncultivable, infrastructures deliberately destroyed. Billions of dollars have been spent in military endeavors while the people die en masse from famine and suffer from lack of basic human necessities. Pulled by this conflict into an abyss, both states are at the bottom of the ladder in social, political and economic development scales.
TPLF is the main architect of the sinister “no war no peace” regime.
Meles and his compadres were skillful tacticians but unfortunately poor strategists. This is not due to lack of intelligence but rather to their tenuous hold on state power in Ethiopia. A political faction which hailed from a marginalized ethnic minority, which had been playing second fiddle to EPLF for most part of its existence, was suddenly catapulted to a dominant position in the Ethiopian state. They consolidated their chokehold on the Ethiopian state with the departure of Eritrea and the EPLF. TPLF inherited the bounty of the Ethiopian empire, while EPLF had to deal with a war-torn weary state. The former comrades in arms turned into deadly rivals. The US cast the deciding vote when it picked TPLF as its strategic ally in the Horn of Africa.
Once EPLF departed, the interparty rivalry turned into an intraparty duel between the Meles Zenawi faction and the Seye Abraha and Gebru Assrat faction. Seye and Gebru’s faction hoped to catapult themselves into dominance by waving the banner of defending Ethiopia’s sovereignty against alleged Eritrean domination and rallying the “Greater Ethiopia nationalists” who were deeply saddened by Eritrea’s succession and the loss of Massawa and Assab ports. Gebru in his book dubiously titled “Sovereignty and Democracy” (Signature Book Printing Press 2014) self-flagellated for supposedly being misled and indoctrinated into denying the “true history of Ethiopia and Eritrea.” This is not withstanding that he had been one of the founders of TPLF and a senior member of the central committee and had fought side by side with the ELF in support of Eritrea’s independence. Gebru’s numerous speeches and writings epitomize the deep-rooted legacy of political deception of TPLF and the essence of its divide and rule policy in both provoking the war and playing the victim.
EPLF arrogantly took the bait when it responded by sending its armed forces to the conflict zone to confront the TPLF militias. The wounded Ethiopian national pride roared to life. Gebru and Seye reached the apex of political power while the lives of a million poor Ethiopians and Eritreans was turned upside down. A journalist characterized the war as “two bold men fighting over a comb.” The Amharic saying “kit gelbo ras tkenanbo’” (“Bearing your ass to cover your head”) expresses even better the idiocy of two states who could not feed their people recklessly expend so much on a war to defend national pride.
When dreams of easy military victory dissipated and the realization of unsustainable losses on both sides set in, the war crept into a stalemate. The two states were cajoled by the international community into resolving their violent conflict through binding arbitration. On December 12, 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the Algiers Peace Agreement. The Agreement mandated an Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) to delimit and demarcate the border “based on pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902, and 1908) and applicable international law.” On April 13, 2002, The Eritrea – Ethiopia Boundary Commission in a 135-page unanimous ruling, rendered its final and binding delimitation decision. Within hours, Ethiopia accepted the ruling, declaring it “fair and appropriate,” hoping Eritrea would not accept and hence stand out as intransigent. But Eritrea fully accepted the Ruling and demanded its implementation. A month later the TPLF regime reversed its position and reneged on its obligation. If Ethiopia had accepted and implemented this ruling at that time, today instead of talking about boundary demarcation, we would have been talking about more fundamental political and economic integrations between the two states.
If military victory had been attainable, Gebru and Seye, the main drivers of the war, would have remained at the helm and Meles would have been in exile or worse eliminated. The Stalemate in the savagely fought war enabled Melese zenawe to bounce back into power while Tseye and Gebru faction was purged from TPLF. Melese Instead of taking the Algiers’s accord to peacefully resolve this abominable war chose to continue it under the “no war no peace” regime. The underpinning of Meles’ “no war no peace” regime was based on the calculation that, since military victory is unattainable, he would ignore the agreement and continue with a tense military standoff without direct engagement. Ethiopia, with a hundred million population and larger resources, would be able to withstand the cost of indefinite military mobilization, while Eritrea, with a five million population and war-torn economy, would crumble. To that end he reneged on the ruling by setting conditions which would practically annul the Algiers Agreement, hence, the “no peace no war” regime came into de-facto existence. Meles’s calculations failed to take into consideration the two most important factors: the determination of the Eritrean people to persevere hardship to preserve their hard-fought independence and the burden of underdevelopment, poverty and political vulnerabilities protracted military mobilization would create on Ethiopia.
Though the UN, AU and the US were guarantors to the Algiers Agreement, they were either unwilling or unable to put pressure on Ethiopia to honor the legal and binding ruling. To make matters worse, the US and Eritrea become at a loggerhead because Eritrea would not bend to US policy in the region. Meles scored a tactical victory over Isaias. Ethiopia gained military and economic advantages as the US’s strategical ally, while Eritrea suffered isolation, sanctions and economic hardships. However, both sides lost because the “no war no peace” policy made the rift between these fraternal peoples much wider and deeper and it arrested social economic and political development the people on both sides direly needed.
Rise of amazing consensus in support of the peace overture.
TPLF’s choke hold on the Ethiopian state’s apparatus has been shattered by the popular mass uprising that has swept the country in the last three years. TEAM Abiy/Lema of OPDO became the dominant group in the EPRDF coalition. As a result, one of the main pillars of the TPLF’s policies–“no war no peace”–is being replaced by a new initiative for peace. On June 13, 2018, EPRDF Executive Committee under Dr Abiy voted 27 to 0 to accept the Algiers Peace Accord and implement the EEBC ruling without preconditions–16 years after the adjudication. Dr Abiy’s passionate speeches extolling peace, love and reconciliation has fired the long-subdued spirit of the people on both sides of the border.
Two weeks later, President Isaias came out in strong support of Dr. Abiy’s initiative. Amazingly he declared that he would send a peace delegation to Addis Ababa. For the two regimes, world renowned for their stubbornness and belligerence, to be willing to deal directly with each other without intermediary is a sea change. Both regimes have come to realize that their future existence as states depends on resolving their intractable conflicts peacefully and legally. Abiy’s initiative and Isaias’s unprecedented response resonates with the will and aspiration of both Eritrean and Ethiopian people to live side by side peacefully and fraternally.
Meanwhile, TPLF is hopelessly replaying its old tired game of political deception and divide to rule. Instead of endorsing this peace initiative and being part of the reconciliation, it is trying to derail it. In its hastily assembled central committee meeting of the TPLF held in Mekele a few days after the EPRDF EC declaration, it came out with a dubious statement[i]. On the one hand, it declared supports for the EPRDF EC decision, while on the other hand it condemned it for being hasty and lacking consultation. This despite the fact that TPLF is fully represented in the EPRDF EC and its representatives voted for the resolution. This is the usual two-faced political maneuver that TPLF pulls whenever it is in crisis.
The Ethiopian oppositions groups have wholeheartedly endorsed Abiy’s call. The only exception are some diehard nationalists who are pushing to reclaim Assab by force or/and political pressure. They reject the peace overture because they fear accepting the Algiers Agreement legitimizes the existing boundary[ii]. For many of these individuals, even after twenty-seven years, accepting Eritrea as an independent state is hard to swallow. Proponents of this line used to be a dominant faction of the opposition, particularly in diaspora, however, its ranks have withered away. Most people realize that it is not lack of ports, rather it is the lack of peace and good governance which is the existential treat to Ethiopia. The Ethiopia and Eritrea border has been resolved according to international law. Assab and Massawa should no longer be a cause for endless devastating conflict. Instead they should be economic focal points that bring together the two countries in a prosperous and enduring economic alliance.
On the Eritrean side, supporters and opponents of the regime alike, the support for the peace overture is unanimous. However, ambiguity prevails on the side of highly fractured opposition because some fear that peace would strengthen Isais’s dictatorship[iii]. This is a rather circular argument because it was the state of war which have been used as grounds to curtail civil liberty in Eritrea. The Eritrean people have persevered through economic hardship and tolerated deferment of their emancipation to preserve their hard-won independence. It is one of the main reasons why the opposition organizations failed to gain a meaningful following in the country. The Eritrean opposition, which is obsessed about splitting into factions on major and minor issues, should humble itself and learn the lesson that striving for unity, medemer, peace and reconciliation is a potent force for change. Peace is not going to solve all the mindboggling problems that beset Eritrean and Ethiopian societies but it is a fundamental requisite.
Missed opportunities to peacefully and holistically resolve the Ethio-Eritrea conflict
1952-1962 Federation presented Ethiopia with great opportunity: outlets to the sea, Eritrea’s modern infrastructure and Eritrean skilled labor. For the fractured and contentious Eritrean elites, between dismemberment or outright annexation, the Federation was a palatable choice. Instead of transforming Ethiopia into a constitutional monarchy by using the Eritrean liberal democratic constitution as inspiration, Haile Selassie made the arrogant and short-sighted decision to revoke the federation and reduce Eritrea into a province in his feudal empire. This unleashed a strong Eritrean nationalist rebellion and consequently an armed struggle. His response, backed with US military largesse, was mass incarceration of Eritrean youth, torture, exile and elimination of the nascent Eritrean intelligentsia. When the rebellion progressed to full-fledged armed struggle, he responded with a scorched earth policy. The cost for Ethiopia and Eritrea in term of lost opportunities in economic, political and social development is staggering. The cost Emperor Haile Selassie had to pay for his hubris was an ignominious death in the uprising of which the Eritrean struggle was a very important factor.
1974 Ethiopian uprising for economic democratic revolution was subverted by the derge’s coup. The response of the fascistic derge to the Eritrean struggle was dumb, arrogant, inhumane and utterly devastating. Backed with an unprecedent degree of military aid and direct involvement of the defunct Soviet Union, it aspired to annihilate the Eritrean resistance once and for all. However, the end result was its own demise at the hands of EPLF and TPLF. Again, the economic devastation, political degeneration and institutional disintegration of a protracted war led to famine, human misery and suffering of biblical magnitude.
1993 Eritreans in a United Nation sponsored referendum voted for their independence and Ethiopia magnanimously accepted. Eritrea became a full-fledged member state of AU and UN. It was a glorious moment. The wounds of Africa’s longest armed conflict were healing fast. Peace dividends flourished. The prestige of the two counties and their leaders sky rocketed. The economic advantages of the people’s mobility between the two states reached a high mark. But the fast pace of change and economic growth engendered a petty rivalry between the ascending power elites. The bright hope and promise of the reconstructing economies was sadly dashed when rivalry between the groups escalated to a savage senseless interstate war.
1998 – 2000 border war. Although it lasted only two years, the psychological and economic devastation was greater than what had proceeded it. 100,000 Eritrean and Ethiopian youths were sacrificed, over two million people on both sides were dislocated, and infrastructure and farms and industries were deliberately destroyed.
2000 – 2018 No peace no war regime. The last 18 years could be characterized as a period of paralysis, stagnation and disintegration of both states albeit to a different degree and consequence. The political and economic isolation of Eritrea spearheaded by the TPLF, with the aid of the US, was aimed at bringing down the EPLF regime. Until a few months ago, blog sites were filled with self-fulfilling prophesies about the eminent collapse of Eritrea and the triumph of Ethiopia. The reality proved to the contrary. It is the PFDJ which is standing while TPLF’s power base has collapsed dramatically.
2018 Will Abye’s peace overtures be another missed opportunity? Neither the two countries nor the region can afford another failure. Failure would be devastating. We count on the genuine mass support expressed unequivocally by the Ethiopians and Eritreans people in the last few weeks to be the guarantor for its success. In my long period of political involvement in this region, I have witnessed only a few periods of popular euphoria and unanimity of such magnitude.
Tigray is a bridge not a wedge between Ethiopia and Eritrea
The People of Tigray are the major victims of TPLF’s divide and rule policy. It has put them at loggerheads with Eritreans to the north, the Amhara to the west and south and the Afar to the east. It is a deliberate policy, sometimes dubbed as “plan B,” to make Tigray a perpetual bastion of TPLF. The objective goal of this tactic is to make the Tigray people feel vulnerable, hence, the servile support base for TPLF. The Tigrayan intelligentsia should have been able to see through these shenanigans and exposed them long time ago. Yet sadly, particularly many in the diaspora, they are being manipulated to kowtow to this abominable policy in the name of Tigray nationalism and pride.
Who has suffered more from this long drawn out conflict than the poor Tigrayans and Eritreans? Which ethnicity or region has paid more in human sacrifice, suffered more dislocation than these hapless cousins? Whose fragile farmland has been ruined by tanks and infested with mines like theirs? Whose economic potential has been more arrested? Who lived for decades under the threat of calamitous war as they have? Shouldn’t the border towns of Tigray and Eritrea be centers of thriving trade rather than sad military outposts? Who is to blame? What is to be gained? Why weren’t the people of Tigray in the forefront petitioning their leaders to end the “no war no peace” regime? Even now TPLF is trying to mischaracterize this malaise as defending Tigrayan interests.
The current love fest between Ethiopia and Eritrea is the death knell to TPLF hegemony. It is a total rejection and repudiation of their divide and rule legacy. Their posturing as defenders of Ethiopia’s sovereignty against hapless Eritrea and peacekeeper between the feuding ethnic groups of Ethiopia has been swept away by the popular tsunami that that has engulfed Ethiopia. The Ethio-Eritrea love train is the shining beacon of hope. TPLF leadershi,p instead of hopping on this love train of reconciliation and peace, are plotting to derail it. Their plans and tactics are a replay of the maneuvers that led to the 1998 border war–pretend to accept the peace process while throwing a monkey wrench into it. This time very few are duped.
The chameleon role being played by Dr. Debretsion, TPLF’s party chairman, epitomizes this stance. In his June 22nd interview, he outlined the game plan which can be summarized as: 1. We accept the EPRDF executive committee stand to unconditionally accept and implement the Algiers resolution, yet we condemn it because it is done without consultation, 2. We call for an “extended” EPRDF meeting to discuss the matter with hope of torpedoing the resolution by bringing more allies, 3. Bademe is Tigray’s issue not a national issue, TPLF, as representative of the people of Tigray, should be the leading negotiator. 4. It is a border issue; no it is sovereignty issue, 5. TPLF accepts unconditionally the Algiers’s Agreement, no we stand by the repudiated ‘five points for renegotiation’. Dr. Debretsion even went so far as saying that the Algiers Agreement is null and void. As for the party, TPLF started organizing demonstrations against the peace overtures and then made a 180-degree turn by organizing a big rally at Mekele Stadium allegedly, inter alia, to express support for peace with Eritrea. This flipflopping simply reflects the pathetic situation the one-time master of deception TPLF finds itself in today.
For TPLF peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea is not about border issue or defending the interest of the people of Tigray, rather, it is about desperately hanging to power and convincing its shocked supporters that it is still relevant. Yet it is doing it the negative way. Instead of absolving itself from its predatory role in a true substantive way, it has chosen to replay its failed tricks which doesn’t even impress its ardent supporters. TPLF leadership is down but not out. They cannot ever dominate Ethiopia’s politics the way they did before, but they can surely play a disruptive role. Anyone who underestimates TPLF leadership does so at his own peril.
The main force that could effectively deal with TPLF is the people of Tigray. People of Tigray, the TPLF’s leadership policy of divide and rule is your liability. They have gained like bandits, which they are, but you are left with the liability. Their gain has come at a great lose to you today and your offspring tomorrow. It is time to see the reality with wide open eyes and take your place on the side of those who stand for lasting peace, justice and fraternity and work for common good. Choose among your bright and honorable youth to represent you in this crucial juncture of history.
Likewise, the wholesale castigation by some Eritrean and Ethiopian elites of the Tigray population for the evils perpetrated by TPLF leadership policies and actions is wrong headed as it creates an obstacle to unite all the stakeholders for peace.
Conclusion: The people of Ethiopia and Eritrea are the sole guarantors of lasting peace
I am seventy years old. I was born into Eritrean nationalism and matured in the Ethiopian struggle for social justice. I was born, grew, struggled and exiled in this tangled web of conflict. It has affected the whole of my life and most importantly my psyche. I am not an exception. My generation on both sides of the border is similarly affected. In a paper I presented to 5th Annual Ethiopian & Eritrean Friendship Forum Conference Presented by UCLA’s Habesha Student Association April 17th, 2013, I wrote. “The conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia is mainly rooted in the common psyche of the power elites rather than the existence of objective irreconcilable differences. The elites of Ethiopia and Eritrea share a common psyche because they share a common culture and tradition. The common psychic traits of the two power elite groups are hurt pride, beleaguered nationalism and zero-sum mentality. Eritreans and Ethiopians are one people. Sadly, and paradoxically, their common history, culture and psyche, instead of being the foundation of their unity, have become an artificial barrier between them. Particularly Eritreans and Ethiopians in their late 50s and 60s, who are the main actors in this sad drama, are deeply scarred and traumatized by the development of this conflict. Like two chess players who follow the same strategy, they have cornered themselves into a stalemate.”
We are hypnotized by the allure of intrigue, brinkmanship and elusive victory. It is hard to find many examples in human history of people who have fought so ferociously and paid so dearly in life and social development for so little like Ethiopians and Eritreans. We have lost so much in war when we could have gained abundantly in peace.
I was resigned to dying without seeing the bright days of peace and harmony between these fraternal people. That is why I feel elated when I hear a call for peace from a much younger generation reverberate in these hapless conflict-ridden communities. It is humbling to witness such unanimity in our communities on such fundamental issues. The people have spoken loudly, clearly and unequivocally that they want to coexist in peace and fraternity, to strive and surmount all difficulties and obstacles together. They have rejected the divide and rule message of TPLF.
The first stage of demolition is finished. The second stage of constructive engagement are the big challenges ahead: demarcating the border, setting policies and laws to facilitate cooperation and sharing of resources. These matters have always been the domain of the intelligentsia and power elites, played out in boardrooms out of public sight. Would the power elites proscribe their parochial interest over the interests of the people? Would they obsess over their hidden agendas and dubious ideologies or follow the will and spirit of the people? There is a strong alignment of interests and aspirations between the people and their leaders at this moment as manifested in the streets and public meetings. It should be consolidated by widening the democratic platform, by cultivating transparency, by empowering people and making their interests and well-being paramount.
It is a rare historical opportunity when rival social and political forces align to foster peace and harmony, particularly in our region. The US has also shifted its wrong-headed policy, regional forces like Saudi Arabia and UEA are amazingly helping build bridges, leaders of both countries share kinetic energy to overhaul the reign of debilitating conflict and the people are impatient for the dawn of a new era. We should all unite, “endemere,” to augment this rare historical opportunity.
It is a universal fact that though political leaders initiate change, it takes a social force to make it real. We all must engage to make this spirit of love, peace and good will endure and flourish. We should stand to those forces who try to pull us back into the quagmire of the past. Particularly my message to my generation–the conflict generation—is this: we need to introspect and to meditate to bury the legacy of schizophrenia and xenophobia and support the new generation as it embarks on a brighter future. I hope the last years of my life will be spent writing about the flourishing of peace, the unfolding of fraternity, the strong embrace of harmony and above all, writing about the triumph over poverty and human misery.
Peace and Fraternity to Ethiopian and Eritrean people!
Following bitter peaceful struggle where many Ethiopians sacrificed their life, we have started to see in our country the beginning of democratic reform tendencies specially in the last 5 months. The Ethiopian people struggle for democracy and freedom have been able to knock the door of the ruling regime and party ( TPLF -EPRDF); and a progressive reform oriented groups are able to come to the front seat of power. The new leadership led by Dr Abiy Ahmed has started democratic reforms which gave hope to the people.
Prime Minster Dr Abiy and his team have toured in most region of our country and made inspirational inclusive speech, released most political prisoners, invited banned oppositional political parties and lifted the political leaders’ death and life prison sentences (made on false claim in their absentia), created favourable environment and encouraged unity among religious groups specially among the divided fathers of Orthodox Christianity and fellow Muslim leaders. The new leadership has started new relation with neighbour countries and specially peaceful beginning with Eritrea, the tour to North America and meeting with Diaspora Ethiopians, relative freedom for in-house and diasporas Ethiopian media outlets and discussion with intellectuals and professionals are commendable activities that install further hopes.
The patience and wisdom of the new leadership team to solve the complicated obstacles are admirable. They are facing daily challenges being laid by those who lost the direct influence and power ( TPLF elites and their subordinates) on top of existing generations lack of justice and freedom.
The progressive reform and measures they have taken though temporarily deflated the public demand, a lot of fundamental work have to be done to solve the quest of Ethiopian people for long term. As per saying of the renowned professor Mesfin Woldemariam, the oppressed, disgruntled and vengeful people that help to dismantle existing regime should not return without forming democratic infrastructure for a new better democratic government which respect people’s right and freedom.
There are fundamental work awaits the new leadership and their subordinates. The democratic infrastructure specially forming or reforming independent judiciary system, police, army, media, election Board/Commission and citizen’s individual right need to be granted in the law of the land The existing Constitution or some laws should be amended to implement the above. These infrastructures should be free from the influence of the powerful politicians, rich individuals and organisations or lobbies. Our country should be land of peace and stability with equal opportunity for all its citizen where there should be fairness and justice system that ensure the poor and weak ones are not affected by the rich and powerful ones.
The prime minster Dr Abiy Ahmed informed us that there is no plan for transitional government that comprises of different opposition political parties. He stated his team are the transitional government that would continue until the next General election. He would listen to the different political parties’ suggestions and people quest otherwise his leadership will not entertain any change of government except waiting for the next election which is due under 2 years.
The most fundamental and worrying thing is rushing to General election without forming democratic infrastructure will be futile vicious circle. The people struggle and the suffering of the last 40 or more years for fair society would be fruitless, waste and frustrating.
In the next few weeks and month, there should be significant effort by the new leadership to facilitate a means for peaceful dialogue, reconciliation and forgiveness. All the illegal actions carried out in the last 40 or more years by any group or individuals should be overt, the perpetrators should seek for forgiveness and the victim be able to forgive. Those action which need the Justice system to deal with should be dealt. We need to live in a country where the victims and perpetrators live in high moral consciousness which ensures any grave human right violation shouldn’t happen in the future. This is paramount task to limit or abolish the vengeance culture and begin with fresh beginnings.
Without installing a functioning democratic infrastructure, reconciliation and forgiveness from our past misdeed and define our common future, an election ( General) attempt will be inviting of propaganda from different political parties which will inflame these past wounds and incite violence against different political groups or ethnic groups which entail zero sum political game.
Those political parties returned home for peaceful struggle should get enough time and legal cover in order to be able to introduce themselves and programme, open their offices and be able to have members and supporters. This is also the same for domestic political opposition parties which were limited by the recent past regime from reaching out to the public. They need time and proper legal cover.
There are numerous opposition political parties in our country. In order to be meaningful and make proper change to the Ethiopian people, they need time to merge together based on their political agenda to form significant 3 or 4 strong national opposition parties that can compete with ruling party and among themselves.
Unless those facts stated above addressed, it is straight forward to guess that the ruling regime will win the next election without stealing ballot boxes as it has unfair advantage of popularity of the current leaders and unpreparedness of the competitive political parties which need time to organise themselves. This will give an advantage to EPRDF as it will play in an election field which is not fair to all.
Although Dr Abiy Ahmed and his team are popular and determined to bring democratic changes, all they can sail us is half way! He and his team will not work or facilitate any means that would allow his political party lose the power. They will use any means ( except killing, imprisoning, looting and forcing their competitors to exile) to win the election and maintain the power. They will like and act to keep the next election to go ahead as scheduled under 2 years time. This will give them unfair advantage to win the election not through stealing but as the oppositions parties are not able to be ready by that time and also at present Dr Abiy Ahmed and his team will benefit from their provisional popularity with in the people which could fade if more time is given.
The other option is to postpone the election by few years. This will be illegal under the current Constitution but it could pave way for fair and competitive General election in our country. If it is decided to postpone the election and the current leadership stay on power, the government will be illegitimate. The second options to deal this will be provisional multiparty government which comprises the oppositions. The third option will be to form a provisional government made up of political party free intellectuals, professionals and elders which will report for political council made of all political parties in Ethiopia.
All the above three options have advantage and disadvantage. If the current leadership to continue as government after the current mandate runs out ( under 2 years), all political parties have to agree. It is a challenge at present to guess all political parties unanimously agree on that. The advantage is there will be continuity of government with reform oriented and experienced leaders. The adverse side will be they may do activities that would cost opportunities that can give them unfair advantage in the coming postponed election.
The second option of forming multi parties government made up of all political parties would be a challenge as there is no enough ministerial post to cover the numerous political parties in our country. But if it is formed, there is likely opportunity that a fair and equal opportunity to run in the election field that they will facilitate to form.
The third option of intellectuals/professionals and elders government under political parties council would be the best government to ensure fairness among the political parties but their legitimacy depend on the will of the political council made of different political parties in the country.
These are challenges we all will face under 2 years time. The present leadership and competitive opposition political parties leaders shouldn’t miss this historical opportunity to form a lasting peaceful democratic infrastructure in our country. You (leaders of all colours) should all hamper personal power ego to solve the suffering of Ethiopian people. You should dialogue and reach to tangible solution to address these. The Ethiopian people have suffered a lot and any more suffering would be disaster. The people put their trust on you and you should keep it up,
The people, specially the youth who are the power engine of this change/reform in our country should continue to support and exert pressure on the new leadership and the opposition parties to fulfil the people quest and trust!
When I woke up this morning, I saw a warm welcoming organized for the popular artist and activist Tamagne Beyene. We all should be thankful to God, and the people who paid dire prices for this colorful event to happen in our motherland. Think about it for a moment. Tamagne left Ethiopia more than two decades ago unceremonially. A little more than two decades later, however, he returned back with a heroic welcome.
While I was admiring the people who came out honoring a man who showed an unwavering commitment to his cause, for a moment, I thought about other popular artists who took shortcuts and chose immediate gratification. I was wondering what they felt when they witnessed this historic reception to a man who has been loyal to his beliefs and values for more than twenty years. In this article, nonetheless, I’m not here to talk about this. Rather, let me use this special occasion to quickly draw some lessons any ordinary person may learn from the extraordinary lifestyle of Tamagne.
For more than two decades, I’ve studied human potential. I asked tough questions, spent hours and hours of reading, and paid some prices in search of the truth and to fully understand why a few attained greatness, did put a dent in their community, and left enduring legacies that impacted generations while others left without leaving any hint whether they ever lived in this life-sustaining universe. This sacred quest led me to review the lives of hundreds of great ones from diverse cultures. What is more, beginning last year, I began sharing my discoveries by writing books. So far, I wrote two books ‘The Highest Level of Greatness’, and ‘Unchain Your Greatness’.
By the way, in one of my books, I reviewed the greatness journeys of two outstanding individuals from our own culture, Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the all-time great singer Teddy Afro. If you’re interested to read these books, they’re available on Amazon. In this brief article, nevertheless, let me use Tamagne Beyene as a role model to inspire you to choose in serving your community with honor, dignity, and by paying your dues. This is my hope that, once you read this article, you would be convinced to despise shortcuts and immediate gratification.
I’m sure that there may be many individuals on the sidelines right now wanting to be like Tamagne, getting all the honors and spotlights he gets without paying their dues- without doing their homework. Some may think that he just got lucky and they too may want to try their luck. What such individuals don’t realize is that it took him more than two decades to get here. Worst, some may think that they can attain the level of honor Tamagne has got by choosing shortcuts.
In this article, I’d like to encourage the new generation to despise seeking shortcuts and immediate gratification. Ethiopia has numerous challenges. For the nation to restore her dignity, defeat poverty, and resume her leadership in Africa, she needs multitudes of individuals who are willing; first, to change themselves before they attempt to play their fair share in bringing a lasting change in Ethiopia. I like what Mahatma Gandhi- one of the great ones whose lifestyle I reviewed in my book said: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Decide today to change by learning from the lifestyles of our great ones such as Abiy, Teddy, Tamagne and many other similar great ones.
Let me quickly give you three things these three individuals share in common. They:
1. Know their passion and gave it all they got. They have been running in their unique lane without duplicating others. They carefully built their brands and focused on what matters the most. They went all in.
2. Have a vivid vision. For instance, Tamagne saw Ethiopia free from brutality. He envisioned the people of Ethiopia finally coming together to live in peace and harmony. This vision kept him going during those dark hours. It empowered him to endure and outlast continual setbacks. It carried him to this historic and colorful day!
3. Embraced values for which they demonstrated unwavering commitment. Persecution from a brutal government and constant threats didn’t stop Tamagne from singing for Ethiopiawinet. They couldn’t silence the man who was the voice for the voiceless.
Your passion maybe is different than theirs. It is also okay if you do have a different kind of vision than they do have. You may not share their values at all. Regardless, you can learn from their lifestyle, the way they have lived among us. Don’t forget. If your desire is to serve your country with your passion, tap into your full potential, and finally die empty, learn from these extraordinary Ethiopians. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Know who you really are and your passion. Envision yourself accomplishing your purpose. Discover your core values, and demonstrate a firm commitment to these values. Never go out seeking cheap popularity to enjoy immediate gratification that may come through shortcuts. Pay your dues and in due season you reap its fruits like Tamagne.
[1] Dr. Assegid Habtewold is the author of Unchain Your Greatness- the book dedicated to Dr. Abiy Ahmed. The book is available on Amazon. Assegid can be reached at ahabtewold@yahoo.com
Chad has become the latest African nation to solicit the support of Ethiopian Airlines to launch its new national airline. Officials said on Friday that an agreement to start operations on Oct 1 had been signed.
Ethiopia’s state-owned flag carrier is in talks with a number of African states to acquire stakes and manage operations – a strategy aimed at gaining a competitive advantage against rivals such as those in the Gulf.
The airline is ranked by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as the largest carrier in Africa by revenue and profit, outpacing regional competitors Kenya Airways and South African Airways.
The inaugural flight is planned for October 1 but the first destination has yet to be determined.
On Friday, the head of Chad’s Civil Aviation Authority Mahamat Adjam told Reuters the new company will be named ‘Tchadia Airlines’, with the government owning 51 percent and Ethiopian Airlines the rest.
“The inaugural flight is planned for October 1 but the first destination has yet to be determined,” he said, adding the carrier would start off with a fleet of two Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes.
“It (the airline) will serve the four main cities in Chad and traffic to neighbouring countries,” Adjam said.
The move will help Chad as it will improve its international air connections. In 2012, Chadian authorities suspended international flights operated by state carrier Toumai Air after an investigation revealed serious safety problems.
The carrier operated flights to regional destinations including neighbouring Cameroon, Gabon and Ivory Coast. It also operated seasonal routes to Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
Ethiopian Airlines roars on
For Ethiopian Airlines, the partnership is another step in its efforts to work with national carriers across the continent.
The company has been in talks with Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea to set up carriers through joint ventures, and also aims to create a new airline in Mozambique that it will fully own.
Ethiopian Airlines is the frontrunner to set up and manage a new national carrier for Nigeria and has signed an agreement with the Zambian government to relaunch Zambia’s flag carrier at an initial cost of $30 million.
Last month, Ethiopian Airlines announced that net profit in the 2017/18 financial year rose to $233 million from $229 million the previous year.
The airline’s operating revenue rose by 43 percent to $3.7 billion in the 2017/18 financial year.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali arrives in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 1, 2018. Abiy Ahmed Ali is here for an official visit to China, and will attend the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)
I was at a Kebele (the lowest administrative unit) office for having an identification card. A pretty and coy office girl led me to a desk. The worker, a gentleman with his hair as white as snow, sitting on a swivel chair grabbed a yellow family file. It seemed he was looking for my name in the file. Next, he started filling in my name, age, the organization I am working for… Then, he stopped scribbling and looked at me. He squeezed his little eyes twirling behind a pair of thick spectacles.
“What is your ethnicity?” he inquired.
I looked intently at him without saying a single word. Then, I told him to take down that I am an Ethiopian. The man beamed mockingly and asked me again which ethnic group I belong to. A kind of ‘you idiot, say something about your ethnic background’ question…
“I am serious. I cannot tell you anything else about what you are asking for. Please, put down the word ‘Ethiopian’ in that blank space of the ID card.”
“What a funny guy you are! It seems you are a been to or a diaspora guy! … Hey, the diaspora guy, say something!” He pushed the ID card aside in a sort of dismay reflected in his small contorted face and stared at me leaning his cheek on his palms. He kept on gazing at me for about thirty seconds. Then he said, “I have a lot of things to do, my brother. This is a public spot. It is not a tavern! Did you get me? I can tell you that there is no time for jokes here… At least, try to value the people lined up behind you…” He showed me again a distorted mocking face.
“I cannot tell you anything which is different from what I have just told you, brother.” I was almost irritable. I clinched my fingers which were about to twitch.
“Ok, if you are not ready to tell me where you are from and your ethnicity, my dear diaspora guy, I am going to put in this space your ethnic background… I will do that for you! Does that make sense?”
“What does that mean?” I requested looking at him surprisingly.
“Simple! We all know you people from Amhara. You are always giving rise to problems whenever you are requested this question. So, it is not that much difficult to know who you are… your ethnic background,” he said cheerfully as if he discovered something hidden.
“I did not say I am Amhara. Did I? C’mon! Did you hear me saying that word? Why did you want to jot down that word without getting confirmation from me?”
“Because you Amhara people are so rigid that you are not willing to speak about your ethnic background,” he said showing a look of pride in his face.
“My brother, you are creating a problem. You are uttering what you are supposed to retort by your good-for-nothing bosses. Hey, listen up to me now! I am not ashamed of speaking about myself. Being Amhara, Oromo, Tigre, Wolita, Sidama, Somali, Afari… is not a crime. No need to mention such a thing here. But, what I want to tell you right now is that I don’t feel like carrying that tag! I want you to get that shit out of your head? I say I am an Ethiopian. Put that very word in your card! You have no the slightest right to snatch this title from me. Take heed of the fact that I was born and brought up in this very capital, Addis Ababa. My mother was also born here in this same place. So, what do you think I am? What do you need me to say? Of course, I am an Addis Abeban if you like. Can you jot down that? I tell you something… I want to be identified as an Ethiopian. Did you get that, bro? … Did I make myself clear?”
“Ok, tell me this? … Where is your father from?” he enquired.
“Cool down, bro! You are making a fuss over such a trivial issue. I can’t really tell you where my father is from. He hadn’t told me this before he passed away; neither did my mother. I am very sorry he is nowhere at present to prove this for me… For that matter, none of my family members was interested in this damn thing…” I could not carry on with my talking as he cut in.
“Oh! … What are you talking about? …You are killing my time… my precious time which I should give to the people that need our endeared service here! Please… please! I haven’t got a single minute to spare for you guys. Talking over this thing with you people is nonsense!” He pushed the ID card aside and tapped the table with the tip of his pen calling the next man behind me.
*****
The other day I happened to be in an office for an interview to get a job. After probing me with a lot of questions, one of the examiners put forward to me the same question I am still facing in this country of mine.
“Where are you from?”
“Addis Ababa!” I was as fast as a flung-out pen knife to give my response politely.
“I mean your ethnicity… what is your ethnicity?” He said with broad but false smile.
‘Oh, my God! What is the significance of asking about ethnicity for a job which commonly demands professional efficiency?’ I taught to myself. Then, I cleared my throat and said: “I don’t know if this is… I mean…eh… eh… I was born and raised here in Addis Ababa. I think you can take down that I am an Ethiopian… Will you, please? I am sorry, I have no any idea for sure about my ethnic back ground.”
All the examiners suddenly burst in to laughter. Some of them were seen wiping their smiling wet eyes. What blunder did I make to swipe these gentlemen with laughter? … I was dumbfounded to notice that they were looking at me as if I came down from planet Mars. After this, I realized on the dot that I lost the chance of having the job… Then after, I heard from one of the examiners the last words. “Thank you for coming for the interview. We are through with our questions. You can go!”
I lost many things over the past 27 years for such simple thing. I have been deprived of my right to be an Ethiopian. I was rather made a laughingstock by some naïve individuals who failed to understand me. Some say with laughter making fun of me saying, “yearada lij biher yelewim”. This is to mean that a city boy has no ethnicity. This was our Ethiopia in which many poor innocent citizens like me were not given the chance to be Ethiopians.
Now the bygone time is long-gone (I believe it is a long-gone time). So, let bygones be bygones! … This day, things have been changed. We are embarking on the threshold of reform. The crooked act of belittling our Ethiopia in the bygone times has gone never to return. Therefore, please do give me back my Ethiopia. Allow me to be an Ethiopian. Don’t give me the go-by.
Their hearts are in Israel; their bodies remain in Ethiopia. Will the story ever have a happy ending?
BY MAAYAN HOFFMAN
SEPTEMBER 1, 2018
> Eritrea and Ethiopia: A peace deal or tactical alliance?
>18 people killed in military helicopter crash in Ethiopia
The eight Ethiopian young men who came to Israel to study Torah, with their counselor (holding baby) and Sintayehu Shaparou (fourth from left), the Ethiopian student who came here earlier this year to participate in the International Bible Quiz.. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Getachew Gebrei described his new yeshiva as a “light of Torah – wow!” Gebrei, an engineering student, is one of eight young men between the ages of 19 and 25 who are in Israel for six months on the first-ever Ethiopian leadership development and Torah learning program through Yeshivat Hesder Machanaim, part of the Ohr Torah Stone network, on the outskirts of Efrat in Gush Etzion.
He told In Jerusalem that his college in Ethiopia “already added an additional year to my program, because I would not come to class on Shabbat. Coming to Israel means getting even more behind, but I did not even think twice.”
Exchange student Tigabu Worku, who left a job as a security guard in Gondar, Ethiopia, expressed similar sentiments.
“I want to be a leader in my community and help strengthen the Jewish community of Ethiopia,” he said. “It is very important for me to learn Torah.”
This exchange was initiated by Benny Fisher, a retired head of the Administration for Rural Education and Youth Immigration through the Education Ministry. In that role, and his previous position as head of Yemin Orde Youth Village, Fisher worked closely with the Ethiopian community in Israel. He said families would regularly bemoan the lives of their relatives in Gondar and Addis Ababa, where the last 8,000 Jews in Ethiopia are living in poverty and longing to move to Israel and learn Torah.
For six weeks, from December 2017 through mid-January 2018, Fisher decided to see for himself. He traveled to Ethiopia and volunteered, including opening a temporary beit midrash (house of learning) through which he would offer daily opportunities for the men and women of the community to study.
“I saw this incredible community that has waited so long to come to Israel,” he told the Post. “I knew that they would not be moving here anytime soon, so I thought it might be a good idea to bring some of the people who have the potential to lead the community to visit instead, and to train and teach them.”
Fisher arranged for the pilot program through the Israeli consulate, and then approached Ohr Torah Stone Chancellor Emeritus Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin, who readily embraced the initiative. Fisher raised NIS 100,000 from private donors to buy plane tickets and brought eight young men to Israel on August 9. He is still working on securing another NIS 100,000 to support them during their stay.
This is their first time in Israel and their first time taking part in formal Torah learning.
Worku is the only student who feels comfortable speaking in Hebrew. The rest of the group speaks in Amharic and relies on their counselor, Addisu Gember – an Ethiopian-Israeli who made aliyah with his family 10 years ago – to translate. Worku said there is no yeshiva in Ethiopia, but members of the community learn together, often in their local synagogues. He said he was raised knowing he was Jewish and with a longing for the Holy Land.
“I feel like I was born in Israel, even though this is my first time here,” he said.
Ermias Gebrie said that when the group saw Israel through the window of the plane, they became emotional. Some of them even started crying.
“People started asking us, ‘What’s wrong?’” Gebrie said. “But you know, when you are so emotional, it is hard to find the words. We are overwhelmed. We are living a dream.”
The group visited the Kotel in their first week in Israel.
Ayele Andebel, who has large green eyes and an equally large smile, said when they were younger, they learned stories about the great Jewish Temple. They knew the First Temple was destroyed but had learned that a Second Temple had been rebuilt shortly thereafter. Only recently, when the community received access to new technologies, did they find out that, in fact, there was no longer a Jewish Temple standing in Jerusalem. When they arrived at the Western Wall plaza, they saw this was true.
“It was heartbreaking,” he said. “But then we went to the Kotel and we kissed the Wall, and it was unbelievable.”
Pioneering program
Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander, the new president and rosh yeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone – who himself made aliyah earlier this summer – said Fisher chose OTS because of its Yeshivat Hesder Machanaim and Straus- Amiel Practical Rabbinics programs, the latter of which trains young couples to become emissaries around the world and is located on the same OTS men’s campus.
“We believe in learning and leadership, and we felt it was a unique opportunity to work with these eight young men and help them with their skills over the next few months,” said Brander.
He said the staff worked to create a special learning program for the visitors, “which is no easy task,” given their lack of Hebrew and unusual cultural backgrounds. Rabbi Shlomo Vilk, head of the Machanaim yeshiva, said the Ethiopians’ day is divided into three parts: learning Hebrew and basic learning skills, one-on-one havruta learning with the other students and small group classes.
Brander and Fisher said if the program is successful they would be open to running another round, perhaps even for Ethiopian women, who could be hosted by OTS’ women’s college in Jerusalem.
Brander said he thinks the exchange will not only benefit the Ethiopian visitors, but also will “be transformational for the students and the rabbis… A big part of our program is teaching acceptance.”
Falash Mura face challenges
While the OTS team is very accepting, it is unlikely that everyone else in Israel feels the same. The religious status of the Falash Mura is wrought with controversy.
The Falash Mura are not considered Jewish by Jewish law, as they converted – albeit not through any formal means, in most cases – to Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2002, the late Sephardi chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled that the Falash Mura had converted to Christianity because of fear and persecution.
A few years later, another Sephardi chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar, concluded that the Falash Mura were, “beyond a doubt, Jewish.”
Nonetheless, any Falash Mura who move to Israel undergo a formal conversion process and even those who have converted sometimes still face religious persecution in the Jewish state.
For example, earlier this summer, Barkan Wineries announced a decision to remove its Ethiopian workers from departments in which they touch kosher wine – a decision based on doubt over their halachic status as Jews. After upgrading to the most stringent Israeli kosher certification, the Eda Haredit ultra-Orthodox kosher certifier required the winery to prevent Ethiopian workers from touching the wine, in accordance to Jewish law that prevents the consumption of wine handled by non-Jews at key points in the winemaking process.
The Falash Mura are not entitled to make aliyah under the Law of Return, but special government decisions have granted them permission to come to Israel in waves over the last decades – but not all of them. Some 8,000 Falash Mura continue to live in Gondar and Addis Ababa, in hopes that they will one day join their immediate and extended families in the Holy Land.
Israel made two landmark rulings in 2003 and 2010, tasking the Jewish Agency with bringing thousands of Falash Mura to Israel. The 2010 cabinet decision delineated three criteria for Falash Mura making aliyah: that an individual has Jewish lineage from his mother’s side; that the individual apply from Ethiopia; and that his family in Israel also submit a request. Only those who met these criteria were brought to Israel in 2013.
Facing political pressure from Knesset Immigrant Absorption Committee head Avraham Neguise (Likud), in November 2015, the government made a formal decision to bring the remainder of the Falash Mura to Israel based on family reunification.
The decision was not, however, made in conjunction with a budgetary allocation to cover its costs, so its implementation was stalled. In 2017, the government budgeted for the immigration of 1,300 people, who did indeed arrive during that year.
Almost everyone agrees that the failure to fully implement the November 2015 decision is because the government has failed to appropriate the requisite funds. In June, a ministerial committee meeting headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to vote on a plan that would have completed this process, but the vote was delayed.
In July, 70 Knesset members, led by Neguise, signed a letter sent to Netanyahu demanding the government immediately implement the decision made three years ago to let the last 8,000 Jews immigrate. Days later, a mass protest of some 1,000 people was held in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem – but action has yet to be taken.
Brander said he is not concerned about the religious status of these eight young men.
“I think this group of young people is looking to be educated about Torah Judaism, and we can do that without compromise,” he said. “Whatever their formal status is – I think we do the Jewish community a great service by teaching these young men. We are not here to discuss whether, if they move to Israel, they would need to be converted or not. We are not performing any weddings. We are here to educate them about the values of Torah and leadership.”
For his part, Vilk said he hopes the larger controversy around their aliyah will not drag the young men into politics and pull them away from their studies.
This will be easier said than done, for a group of young men who say they long only for Israel.
“This is where we belong, with all of the Jews from around the world,” said Getasaw Fasikaw.
Maintaining hope
Moreover, Worku said the community is deeply suffering in Ethiopia, where he said there is rampant antisemitism and Jews have a hard time finding work. When he was in school, his teachers would grade him harder or lower because he refused to write on Shabbat. Community members are regularly teased for “killing Jesus.”
Sometimes they say, “You are a Falash Mura, not a person – they don’t see the Jews as people,” Worku said.
He said non-Jews won’t rent the Falash Mura apartments, because they say the Jews will stuff their toilets. And if they do allow Falash Mura to move in, they’ll charge double or triple price, claiming relatives in Israel can send them money to pay for it. As a result, most of the Falash Mura live in one-room mud huts in the village, with no running water or proper sanitation facilities.
“Live like us for one day,” Melkamu Nega charged. “It will destroy you.”
“We deserve to come here for what we have endured,” said Gebrei.
Each of the young men talks about their family in Israel. This one has cousins, another parents or grandparents, many siblings. They were all reunited at the airport, which only added to the emotion of the day.
“They all have the same story,” said counselor Gember, who is now married with a child and learning in the OTS program, too. He said every time a politician arrives in Gondar, the community is given false hope.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked was in Addis Ababa in April; President Reuven Rivlin visited one month later.
“We think they are angels sent by God,” said Worku. “But then nothing happens. Still, we have to believe this will end well.”
Hope. Faith. These are the words the students repeat one after another.
“God promised to bring all the Jews back to Israel from the four corners of the earth,” said Takele Semahgn.
Added Gebrei, “There are those that don’t want us here, but the land of Israel is always thinking about her children.”
Supporters of Ethiopian opposition take part in a demonstration along the streets of Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Jan. 17, 2018. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)
ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — Former Ethiopian minister Junedin Sado returned home on Monday after close to a decade in exile due to disagreements with the Ethiopian government.
Sado, who had served as Ethiopia’s minister of transport as well as other high-level government roles, followed the footstep of many other opposition figures, journalists and activists who returned following the government’s reconciliation effort.
Sado’s homecoming on Monday came a day after another prominent Ethiopian government critic and human right activist, Tamagn Beyene, who returned on home on Saturday after more than two decades of strong opposition in exile.
Beyene, who was welcomed by senior Ethiopian government officials including Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen upon his arrival in Ethiopia, said recent peaceful transition and reform within the Ethiopian government was the major factor for him to return.
Mekonnen, who commended Beyene for his decision to return home, further called on Ethiopians in exile to follow suit, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
The Ethiopian government, following Abiy Ahmed’s premiership in early April, has been implementing various decisions aimed at creating a nationwide reconciliation, including the release of high-level political prisoners, invitation for Ethiopian rebel groups for talks as well as the decision to normalize relations with its regional arch-rival Eritrea.
Ahmed also declared an amnesty invitation for exiled politicians, journalists and human right activists to return home and pursue their political activities in a peaceful manner.
Kassa Kebede, foreign policy chief of Ethiopia’s former ruling party, is one among the many Ethiopians who have returned home after decades of stay in exile.
Other notable activists and journalists that have returned include Jawar Mohammed and Mohammed Ademo.
Various rebel groups, such as the Patriotic Ginbot 7, Oromo Leberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), have also declared ceasefire.
The ONLF, a rebel group operating in the Ethiopia’s Somali regional state, is the latest to declare a unilateral temporary ceasefire.
Addis Abeba, September 04/2018 – In the last few days, Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, did two things that are remarkable – which, I fear, could disappear into the speed and vastness of his reform effort. Firstly, the Prime Minister, along with the Addis Abeba deputy mayors, Takele Uma and Dagmawit Moges, visited Emahoy Adugna Guta, a frail old lady who is living in a leaking shanty house, not very far from his office. Emahoy was not expecting a visitor; certainly not someone from the highest office in the land. But, they walked in – totally unannounced. Not surprisingly, it took PM Abiy some convincing to help Emahoy Adugna believe that the person talking to her is the Ethiopian Prime Minister. Her immediate reaction was, “Wait, why did you do this? I could have died of a heart attack”. In a typical Ethiopian fashion, she shared her meal with all of them, and PM Abiy called her “my neighbor”. He then initiated the rebuilding of her house, and the youth in the area followed suit.
Secondly, he invited young kids from a very poor background to his office and provided them with school materials for the new school year. The kids might run out of those materials in a few months. However, he offered something that would stay with them for the rest of their life: a very candid story of his own upbringing. “In your age”, he said, “my life was not very different from yours”. “I was brought up in a poor family”, he continued, “so, I didn’t get clothes whenever I want, or even schooling material whenever I needed”. He told the students that he had to walk each day very far because there is no school in the village he was living. “However”, he reminded them, “I had a strong conviction that I could overcome those challenges. Such a conviction, coupled with hard work, has got me where I am today”.
As I said elsewhere, Abiy came to the Ethiopian political scene as an educator-in-chief. He brought a relatively abstract social concept of “medemer” – what could now be considered as an Ethiopian philosophy of togetherness – to Ethiopian political discourse. The two acts can be seen as concrete translations of his philosophy – the togetherness that bridged age and social class. These practical examples matter, especially to those young minds.
Anger and inspiration
Abiy’s candid story reminds me of my own struggles as a kid who was brought up in a very poor village in Southern Ethiopia. Life in this village was cyclic. Things, including seasons and social behavior, flow in a predictable rhythm. As children of subsistent farmers, we were bound to repeat the same pattern of life. Education was the only thing that could disrupt the predictable flow of life. Therefore, education, for me and my peers, was a form of rebellion – rebellion to find our unique individuality. We saw it as a way of ensuring we exist as individuals. We wanted to exist without subscribing to cultural practices imposed on us, without reciting our seven forefathers to find our place in the community (a usual practice in my culture) and without succumbing to religious categories shoved down our throat before we’re able to ask the question of “what?” and “why?”. Education, therefore, was a liberating, but a risky venture. However, we needed an inspiration. Then, we found Watumo – the first college graduate (to my knowledge) from the area. I have never met him to this day. He was like a mythical figure. We were told that he has joined the elites in Addis Abeba, a place we could only hope to see one day.
Then, we had Mengistu Hailemariam at the helm of power. I was too young to fully appreciate the political complexity of the time; but my memory of Mengistu as a kid was that he was an angry person. One of the dramatic demonstrations of his anger is a sight where he throws a bottle full of red substance at the famous Mesqel Square to symbolize the blood shade of his enemies. As an angry leader, he set an example. Anger, therefore, permeated the social fabric of the nation. Anger became a culture.
The culture of anger threatened the aspiration of myself and my peers in myriads of ways; but suffice to mention just a few. Firstly, like the Prime Minister, we used to walk to school for two hours (four hours back and forth) a day – all the way from Hagge to Bobicho. No shoes for our feet. No lunch box. Worse, when we were late for flag hoisting ceremony in the morning, we knew an angry head teacher with a stick in hand is waiting for us. We will join the class tired but also physically and mentally bruised. The contagion of anger also affected teachers in the class. I remember being flogged by my mathematics teacher because I gave him a wrong answer. Since that day, I harbored fear and resentment towards the teacher as well as the subject. I reconciled with my former teacher later on when we met each other on a different platform; but my hostility towards mathematics is still there.
Senior students also found glamorous side to anger. It was taken as a means of getting attention, and a tool of exercising dominion over the juniors. Nuramo was a senior student from our village. He was a bulky and muscular figure. Our parents entrusted him with the responsibility to look after us, especially when we leave for school before dawn, and when we return home after dusk. Yes, he did protect us from external attacks (i.e. wild animals and boys from other villages), but he often subscribed to anger to solicit unconditional obedience from us. He had an abysmal Amharic language skill, I remember, but none of us dared to correct him. In fact, at times, we had to repeat the same mistaken grammar because we feared that he might take our relatively correct Amharic as a critique.
Even with these multi-layered challenges, the story of one individual inspired some of us to escape the cycle and find our individuality.
Restoration
Ethiopia has seen enough anger – anger that consumed generations, and laid talents to a waste. The TPLF-dominated regime of EPRDF did not change this culture in the past 27 years; it only added tribal flavor to it. Far from perfect, Abiy has proven that he is a human in every sense of the word. He had his moments of slip-ups, and there will be more. However, in him, Ethiopia has seen signs of grace and generosity that sustained the country despite political malaise. His personal story is an example of discipline and hard work. We can debate his political ideology and the trajectories of his policies. Equally important, however, are the values he has brought to Ethiopian politics. In the moments of national fragility, Ethiopia needs the value of showing solidarity with the weakest and strangers. In times of despair, struggling kids need an inspiring storyteller who would say with candor, “I have been where you are; but I made it to the top”. True national restoration requires more than the right political ideology and fitting policies. It also demands being intentional about transforming the value system. AS
Editor’s Note: Mohammed Girma has a background in social and political philosophy with a special focus on religious nationalism. Girma is the author of Understanding Religion and Social Change in Ethiopia (Palgrave Macmillan 2012); co-editor of Christian Citizenship in the Middle East: Divided Allegiance or Dual Belonging (JKP, 2017), and the editor of The Healing of Memories: African Christian Response to Politically Induced Trauma (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018). He tweets at @girma_mohammed
Because the Battle of Adwa proved that the colonizer doesn’t always win.
As battle waged around them, the generals of the various armies that had come together as a united Ethiopian force under Emperor Menelik II directed combat. Empress Taytu Betul, Menelik’s formidable wife, was no exception. Not only did she exhort the 5,000 men of her personal army to be more courageous, she also mobilized the 10,000 or so women in the camp to form a supply chain to transport jugs of water from a nearby stream to Ethiopia’s thirsty warriors.
The Battle of Adwa, on March 1, 1896, sent shock waves around the world (“The pope is greatly disturbed,” reported The New York Times) and turned the narrative of colonialism on its head. Menelik’s army killed 3,000 Italian troops, captured another 1,900 as prisoners of war and seized an estimated 11,000 rifles, 4 million cartridges and 56 cannons. The emperor’s ability to assemble a force of at least 80,000, says Raymond Jonas, author of The Battle of Adwa: African Victory in the Age of Empire, and to organize and sustain them on a monthslong campaign was “unprecedented in 19th-century Africa.”
Prior to the 1850s, Ethiopia and Italy didn’t even exist, but over the next few decades, as chieftains and princes jostled for power, the two nations began to take shape in the minds of their inhabitants. By the time Italy arrived in Africa, a bit late to the party, most of the spoils had already been divvied up among the more established European powers. Except, that is, for Ethiopia — geographically and culturally a tougher prospect — which remained unclaimed in the Scramble for Africa.
THE DECISIVE VICTORY AT ADWA AFFIRMED ETHIOPIA’S SOVEREIGNTY AND SHOWED BOTH AFRICANS AND EUROPEANS THAT COLONIAL CONQUEST WAS NOT INEVITABLE.
The Italians fortified several bases near the Red Sea and then gradually ventured inland. “Taking a page from the British book of colonial domination,” writes Theodore Vestal in The Battle of Adwa: Reflections on Ethiopia’s Historic Victory Against European Colonialism, they “pursued a policy of divide and conquer,” providing arms to any chiefs hostile to Yohannes IV, Ethiopia’s emperor until he was killed in battle in 1889. It was then that the Italians immediately moved to solidify their foothold by negotiating with the new emperor, Menelik II.
Menelik, from Ethiopia’s historically weaker southern region, owed much to his wife, Taytu. Their marriage, says Jonas, was “one of the great political unions of modern times.” She came from a wealthy northern family, which “added geographical balance to the ticket,” and she possessed a cunning political mind and a deep mistrust of Europeans.
The Treaty of Wuchalé, signed in both Italian and Amharic in May 1889, provided the pretext for the Battle of Adwa. Under the treaty, the Italians were given large swaths of land in exchange for a hefty loan of cash, arms and ammunition. “The pièce de résistance for the Italians,” writes Vestal, was the clause obligating Menelik to conduct all foreign affairs via Italy. “The Amharic version made such service by the Italians optional,” notes Vestal. Some have argued that Menelik was aware of the discrepancy, treating it as a convenient fiction that would deliver short-term gains (guns, money) before ultimately disentangling himself from it.
Italy formed its first colony, Eritrea, in 1890; two years later, the Italians persuaded Great Britain to recognize the whole of Ethiopia as a sphere of Italian interest. It all came tumbling down in 1893, however, when Menelik denounced the Wuchalé treaty and any foreign claim to his dominions. Menelik repaid the loan “with three times the stipulated interest,” notes Vestal, but kept the guns.
Italy responded by annexing small territories near the Eritrean border, shipping over tens of thousands of troops and seeking to subvert Menelik’s power base by entering into agreements with provincial leaders. Menelik, a “master of the sport of personal advancement through intrigue,” according to Vestal, convinced the provincial rulers that the Italian threat was so grave that they must resist as a united force rather than “seek to exploit it to their own ends.”
Unite they did — bringing us back to the bloody Battle of Adwa. Taytu, not surprisingly, proposed harsh punishments for the Italian prisoners: Dismemberment, castration and execution were on her wish list. But her husband adopted a more strategic stance, says Jonas: “He realized the considerable bargaining leverage of the soldiers,” and used it to negotiate a treaty that recognized Ethiopia’s independence and included a considerable cash indemnity from the Italians.
With Taytu (and other Ethiopian generals) urging Menelik to consolidate their victory by advancing into Eritrea and expelling the Italians from the continent, Menelik once again took a more measured response. Jonas argues that here too he got it right: “He’d already done an amazing job of holding together his army over huge distances, but it’s hard to say whether he could have managed all the way to the coast” — especially when more troops would be arriving from Italy. Either way, Menelik’s decision formalized the divide between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The decisive victory at Adwa affirmed Ethiopia’s sovereignty and showed both Africans and Europeans that colonial conquest was not inevitable. In Italy, isolated protests erupted to decry the very idea of colonialism, but these were met by a more widespread desire for revenge. Eventually the Italian government decided to hang on to Eritrea and play at being better neighbors with Menelik. (That said, Italy’s national shame over its defeat had a lot to do with Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia four decades later.)
While Adwa continues as a source of great pride for Ethiopia, it has not brought the kind of prosperity Taytu and Menelik would have hoped for. The country evaded colonization, but it has never achieved democracy, and the current government’s policy of ethnic federalism is the antithesis of Menelik’s vision of strength through unity.
In recent months, however, the founder of modern Ethiopia may be resting more comfortably in his ornate mausoleum: Since taking office in April, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has fired corrupt civil servants, freed political prisoners and normalized relations with Eritrea.
An Ethiopian commercial ship docked in an Eritrean port for the first time in two decades on Wednesday, state-affiliated media said, in a concrete sign of a stunning rapprochement between the neighbours and former foes.
The Mekelle entered the Red Sea port of Massawa and was due to carry 11,000 tonnes of Eritrean zinc to China, Ethiopian broadcaster Fana Broadcasting reported.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy offered to make peace with Eritrea after taking office in April – part of a series of reforms that has turned politics on its head in his country and the region.
Landlocked Ethiopia has said it wants to make the re-opening of two roads connecting it to two of Eritrea’s ports a priority in the reconciliation process.
Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Ghebremeskel, said on Twitter that Abiy had arrived in Eritrea on a two-day working visit.
The premier would visit Massawa and the capital Asmara, he added.
Abiy first visited Eritrea in July as the countries agreed to end a two-decade-old military standoff over their border and other issues.
An air traffic controllers strike at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport resulted in the jailing of nine union leaders.
Most striking air traffic controllers at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and some domestic airports in Ethiopia have returned to work after union leaders agreed to some concessions with the country’s civil aviation authority (ECAA) on Wednesday. According to the Flight Service Bureau’s OpsGroup, qualified controllers again staff the Addis area control center and tower, thereby restoring normal safety standards. However, nine leaders of the Ethiopian ATC Association remain in jail awaiting court hearings for their roles in organizing the strike.
The association claimed that they called for a salary increase for the past eight years, adding that neither the ECAA nor the government would engage in talks.
Although the controllers promised to serve VIP, air ambulance, and military flights at the airport during the strike, authorities denied them access to the ATC tower. The airport handles more than 200 flights per day. It serves as Ethiopian Airlines’ main hub, and 13 international airlines fly scheduled service to Addis Ababa, including Emirates, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines.
The director general of ECAA, Wossenyeleh Hunegnaw, told AIN that the authority had recalled retired air traffic controllers and others on other senior assignments to replace those on strike. “We are handling all the outgoing and incoming flights properly,” he said. “We have a shortage of personnel and we are stressed but we are handling it perfectly thanks to our dedicated staff.” Nevertheless, according to Flight Service Bureau, untrained and unqualified foreign controllers had staffed the tower during the strike, raising serious safety concerns. ECAA leaders told AIN that they too harbored serious safety concerns about the use of controllers unfit for the job.
Hunegnaw acknowledged to AIN that ECAA had recruited some controllers from other African countries who could assist the authority during the strike. He denied all claims that the plan had compromised safety, however.
“We deployed qualified personnel whom most of them are still serving the authority in other departments,” he said. “Some of them are retired ATCs but all of them took refreshing courses. These are the instructors who trained the young ATCs. There is no safety concern as we are closely monitoring the workflow. But the young ATCs want to put pressure on us so that we will meet their outrageous demands.”
The roughly 200 air traffic controllers in Ethiopia each earn a monthly salary of up to 15,000 Ethiopian Birr ($538). Before the strike, the association had called for a 1,000 percent pay increase.
Addis Abeba, Sep. 06/2018 – Following a Tripartite Summit between PM Abiy Ahmed, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, and President Isaias Awerki, the leaders of Ethiopia, the Republic of Somalia and Eritrea, respectively, which took place yesterday in Eritrea’s capital Asmara, the trio issued a four pillar comprehensive joint declaration which included the establishment of a high level committee tasked to oversee the multifaceted collaborations included in the declaration.
Update: PM #AbiyAhmed will have two days of official visit to #Eritrea during which he will also travel to the capital #Asmara and “will hold extensive discussions with President Isaias Afwerki to assess and expedite implementation of the agreement of 9 July,” @hawelti said. pic.twitter.com/lEw3WT33Mb
The joint declaration is issued: “considering that the peoples of Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea share close ties of geography, history, culture and religion as well as vital common interests.” The statement also highlighted the declaration to promote relations between the three Horn of African countries was in the spirit and understanding of “respecting each other’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; as well as desiring to bolster their historical ties to achieve their lofty objectives.”
Accordingly, the trio have issued a four point joint declaration from Asmara affirming to “foster comprehensive cooperation that advances the goals of their peoples; build close political, economic, social, cultural and security ties; and work in coordination to promote regional peace and security.”
The fourth pillar of the declaration states that the countries have agreed to “establish a Joint High-Level Committee to coordinate their efforts in the framework of this Joint Declaration.”
However, the declaration did not provide further information about details of the high-level committee with such a task as to implementing a multifaceted joint declaration.
Meanwhile, this morning PM Abiy Ahmed has attended the ceremony of the reopening of Ethiopian Embassy in Asmara for the first time in 20 years. The event was attended by President Isaias Afwerki and other high level Eritrean officials as well as the diplomatic community in Asmara. In June this year, Ethiopia has announced that Ambassador Redwan Hussien will become its Ambassador to Asmara. AS
The Bikila Award Celebration and Gala Dinner will be held on Saturday, September 22, 2018, at Chestnut Residence and Conference Center, 89 Chestnut Street, Toronto, beginning at 6:00 pm. This annual event is in its fifth year and has become one of the most anticipated events in the African-Canadian community calendar. There is a block of underground parking space at a discounted rate. [ Location Map ]
The annual Bikila Award Celebration & Gala Dinner is the organization’s signature event and draws hundreds of attendees from within and outside of the Ethiopian-Canadian community. Every year, the organization honors prominent individuals who have made outstanding contributions to their community and have achieved excellence in various professions, including the youth who have achieved academic excellence.
The evening will also include cocktails, delicious food, live Jazz music by The Barnes/Woldemichael Ethio-Jazz Quartet, door prizes and other entertainment.
Limited tickets are available for sale, call 416-709-5647, or visit one of the following locations:
In conjunction with the 2018 Bikila Award Ceremony we are also pleased to announce the launching of an Exhibition in Toronto, Friday, September 21, 2018 on The Ancient and Medieval Heritage of Ethiopian Art that is being presented by Art Gallery of Ontario – AGO in collaboration with the University of Toronto. More information and how to book your FREE ticket is available on the AGO’swebsite here >>
Themissionof the Bikila Award organization is to foster academic, professional and business excellence and promote volunteerism among persons of Ethiopian origin and friends of Ethiopia primarily through awards and recognition. Bikila Award is non-political, non-religious and a not-for-profit, organization to empower young people to reach their highest potential and to celebrate theirachievements.
For more information about the organization please visit our website: www.bikilaaward.org
Ethiopia’s state-owned flag carrier is in talks with a number of African states to acquire stakes and manage operations – a strategy aimed at gaining a competitive advantage against rivals such as those in the Gulf.
BY NICK DALL
![[:en]Bikila Award Announced the 2018 Bikila Award Winners and Guest Speakers [:]](http://www.satenaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Bekila-1.jpg)
Bikila Award Announced the 2018 Bikila Award Winners and Guest Speakers