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Ziquala Monastery is burning

Mt. ZiqualaThe historic Ziquala Monastery near the southern Ethiopian town of Debre Zeit is engulfed with fire, Deacon Daniel Kibre reported from Addis Ababa. The monastery is located 27 km south west of Debre Zeit. [read the report in Amharic here]

Ziquala Monastery was founded by Abune Gebremenfeskidus in 1168 (Ethiopian calendar) on the Ziquala Mountain. In late 1800s, Emperor Menilik expanded the monastery by building a new church.

(Wikipedia) — Ziquala Monastery was destroyed, and a church at the foot of the mountain looted, by Imam Ahmad Gragn in 1531; two churches were later built at the monastery, one dedicated to St Gebre Menfas built by Menelik II in 1880 and designed by the Italian Sebastian Castagna, and the other dedicated to Kidane Mihret built during the reign of Haile Selassie.[1] Various other holy sites are found around the mountain, mostly rock formations, while the monastery is the site of a biannual festival.

24 thoughts on “Ziquala Monastery is burning

  1. It is very sad and dpressing news,May the LORD help the wind to subside.I am thinking why is the officials using truks instead of helicopters?Would not it be approprait to use all arieal veciles in this emergency situation to extingush the flame first ,and if need be ask the public to share the financial expences at alatter time?

  2. Some 45,000 hectares of age old forests near and around Ziquala monastery have been burnt down by arsonists who are said to be linked to the TPLF ruling regime in order to sell the land to foreign flower-growing firms.

  3. Please keep the original name of this mountain.”CHUQALLAA”not ziquala.

    Geremew replies:

    What then would your original name be?
    AAndaargaachooo?
    Lets remember that names of places have changed several times depending on the history of the area and the people who settled there. That is indeed the history of all places. Take Wollo, Saint, Adama, Ethiopia, Abyssinia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt…etc.
    Focus on real issues.

    Anonymous replies:

    Huletargaachoo, don’t get wrong about names. Ziquala is a give name to Chuqallaa. the origin oromos who are living nearby still call chuqallaa. which make sense in afan oromo.

  4. “Chigru Gena New, Yiqetlal”

    So long the Diqalu Adwa are in power we will see more we do not think them right now. It takes up to everyone to unite and come to one and get rid of those Diqalu Adwa from our soil once for all. Fighting each other like a donkey will not resolve the country’s problems, except prolong the duration of Meles and his relatives reign and ruined the country to the point we where cannot cure it.
    This is the plan of Diqalu Adwa.
    They spread Luuti and Homo in our culture/
    They introduced the ghetto cultures/
    They brought the fanatic religions people to wipe out each other in the near future.
    They landlocked us to starve and become permanent beggars..
    They sold our lands.
    They are killing and arresting our nationalist leaders.
    What else left to be ruined in the country???

  5. ere wend tefa ethiopia wst ere tewu ye wend yaleh !
    uhhhhhhhhhhhh uhhhhhhhhhhhh ere ye wend yaleh !
    1 sew tefaaa yemijemrrr !
    egziabiher ethiopian ybark

    Anonymous replies:

    i feel your pain sister. i am asking the same question, i guess this is truly a generation of video games and clubs. what happen to us? ere yewend yaleh? ere yeset yaleh? setochim eko jegnoch neberin tadia minw ager sistitefa zim billo mayetu.

    Good ale replies:

    The worest is yet to come. If we do not stand for a thing we definitely fail for everything. That is what exactly is happening. We have become such a shameful generation. We do not even care about our religion

  6. Tigray minority groups led by the Gand son of shumbash Aseres called Meles,continued distorting Ethiopia in full scale out war,even holly sites,the saddest reality is,this is happening under our watch.how shame !!!!

  7. It is very sad to hear that our Holy Places are burnt and in danger. We need to pray for Devine intervention and seek solutions on the other hand. But blaming and cursing others won’t be the remedy for such a horific situation. What we have to do is express our opposition in a civil and disciplined manner, work together towards making a difference and think critically to avoid anyother destructions. May the Almighty God deliver us from evil, bless our Church and our country, Amen!

  8. Bad, bad, bad News! It is very dificult to stomach the flow of the incredible news coming from once holly Ethiopia. Certainly the devil has reigned under the evil regime. There is an atmosphere of iminent danger in the world today in general: Iran, Afhanistan, Egypt, and of course, Woeyane. We helped usher in the Woeyanes with our lawlessness. Equally, the whites created the current global threat as well as other potential future threats i.e, China and the like.

    Our peculiar problems can be divided into at least two catagories: those that can be tackled currently with the limited and divided resources at hand, and those that can be solved with time. The plight of the Ethiopian women in Arabia for example can be mitigated by such request of more visas from EU and the US, and by convincing aspiring women not to travel to Arabia. Ethiopians within must be vigilant and problem solvers with arrays of challenges the Ahzab Woeyanes has wrought.

    Headlines from this week’s Ethiopian Review:

    “The historic Ziquala Monastery near the southern Ethiopian town of Debre Zeit is engulfed with fire….”

    “Col. Abebe Geresu arrested in Eritrea”

    “The Woyanne junta is preparing to destroy 18 churches and the historic Waldeba Monastery in Gonder, northern Ethiopia.”

    “Woyanne to export 45,000 Ethiopian women to Saudi per month.”

    “The Ethiopian girl who was beaten by Lebanese men died.”

  9. what is the point if we don’t do some thing about it? Elias if we don’t do some thing to ENVOLVE the people it will just demoralize the very people we are trying to help..ELIAS think about this….if you don’t want to to post this i can understand!!!! we are harming the people morally and psychologically…

  10. It is a grand plan to destroy the south and make equal to Tigray. The fire is everywhere in Arsii and Balee. They have done the same thing for the last 20 years. God will make rain every year and the tree will come back. But Woyyanes will gone with thier evil dead.

  11. The Woyane Tigreans are working hard day and night to distroy any thing Ethiopian. That is their goal. That is why they are there. Distroy, chase, loot and burn what is Ethioipan; that is their motto. And we as a people are still in hibernation or in a coma. We will wake up when every thing Ethiopian has vanished from the face of the earth. Don’t you think we as a people diserve that???????????
    I SAY YES WE DO!!!!!!!!!

  12. woyane gujile are going beserk. this is all masterminded by the woyane gujile, to incite relegious and ethnic violence in this region of Ethiopia which has been relatively isolated and calm.

    The woyane thugs burn and loot, destroy and kill. that is the nature of the gun tauting woyane, nothing new.

  13. This is a clear picture that the current Ethiopian Government is a mafia group leaded by the so called prime Minister the head of the Mafia and his assistance is his beloved wife. Imagine how the country is suffering now and the Government is happy to hear the devastation of Ethiopia. We still sadly remember what happened in Bale 18 years back when Ethiopia lost huge forest area.

  14. As a society,deserve what we got. I am not referring the activists who are trying to do their best to save that country from TPLF destruction. I am referring to the selfish majority who kept silent. For them, as long as they don’t directly affected, life good. what a shameful society. I am ashamed of being from this society.

  15. do not worry brothers i will only ask you to keep”the sprit of ethiopianism ”which is a defeating and winning sprite ,all oromo ,amhara tigre ,gurage, sidama ,welayta ,somalla ,gambella ,benishangule we will all come together to defend our digenity and restore peace .

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