Ethiopian Review Editorial

It was reported on Saturday that the Debre Selam Kidist Mariam (DSKM) church’s board had sent a letter to officials of the Kidist Mariam Idir informing them that their church membership has been revoked. The letter also warned that if the Idir officials appear on the church premises, the board would take ‘police action.’

After consulting with their lawyer, the Idir officials ignored the board’s letter and went to the DSKM church on Sunday morning, as they have been doing for the past several years. When they arrived at the church, none of the board members could muster the courage to tell them to leave. The membership fee for one of the Idir officials, Ato Tadele, was due. So after the prayer service, he went to the membership fee collector, paid the fee and received a receipt while some of the board members looked on. Many of the church members warmly greeted the Idir officials and expressed to them their outrage at the board’s ill-advised letter.

During the prayer, the head priest acknowledged that the church is going through a crisis and called for a week of prayer.

As if handing over the church to the Woyanne patriarch is not enough, using the church’s financial and other resources, the DSKM board has unleashed a misinformation campaign against those who expressed opposition, such as the three officials of the Idir (self-help association).

The board has been trying to mislead members of the church that the Idir officials have made an unauthorized withdrawal of funds from the Idir’s account. As a matter of fact, the DSKM board is not the one that determines what is authorized or unauthorized withdrawal. It is the Idir officials who have full authority over the Idir’s funds, unless otherwise decided by members of the Idir at a general meeting. The DSKM board has no authority over the Idir what so ever. Its relation with the Idir is limited to allowing members and officials of the Idir to use the church’s facilities for meetings and other activities, and also to deposit the Idir’s money in the church’s bank account. (Since the Idir is not a legal entity, it could not open its own bank account.) That’s how it has been done for the past 7 years.

One may ask, ‘So what has changed now?’

It all began recently when the DSKM board started to flirt with Tagay Gebre-Medhin (formerly Aba Paulos). The DSKM board has launched an all out smear campaign against the three Idir officials when they started to take steps to protect the Idir from being taken over by Tagay Gebre-Medhin. After becoming aware of that, the DSKM board went on a vicious campaign of lies and misinformation to destroy the good names of Ato Seyoum Garedew, Ato Tadele Gebre-Wold and Ato Solomon Bedasso. The DSKM board has almost succeeded in discrediting these three innocent Ethiopians, until Ethiopian Review and Addis Dimts Radio stepped in and started telling the other side of the story. In retaliation, the DSKM board sent a lawyer after the Ethiopian Review publisher.

Members of the DSKM board have brought shame to the church and themselves by accepting a Woyanne cadre as the patriarch. Then they started to conducted themselves as a bunch of thugs against those who opposed their act of treachery. Their most recent unchristian behavior is the threat of ‘police action.’

The real force behind the DSKM board is a group of prominent individuals in our community who put the board up for all this mess — starting with accepting Tagay Gebre-Medhin as a patriarch. The group includes, among others, Prof. Getatchew Haile, Dr Aklilu Habte, Dr Almaz Zewde, and Ato Billilign Mandefro. Behind all the crises inside Ethiopian Orthodox churches around the world is this group of individuals. They present themselves as anti-Woyanne to the public, but turn around and promote the Woyanne-installed patriarch by campaigning against the legitimate leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The root cause of the crisis inside the DSKM and other Ethiopian churches around the world is this persistent, all-out effort by Prof. Getatchew Haile and friends (read this) to discredit the exiled leaders of the Orthodox Church. The likes of Frew Bulbula and Abebe Aboye are working for Prof. Getatchew’s group, directly or indirectly serving Tagay Gebre-Medhin.

* Listen to Addis Dimts Radio’s interview on Saturday with Abune Yoseph for further information [click here – forward to 31:00 minute]

* This letter was originally posted on Aiga Forum, a Woyanne web site. It talks about a meeting that was held in the DSKM church in Washington DC to condemn the exiled Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church. The meeting also called for greater tie with Tagay Gebre-Medhin.

* The DSKM was represented by Dr Aklilu Habte at a meeting in Minneapolis in April 2007, to discuss how to destroy the exiled Holy Synod of the EOTC. Read its resolution here, which was carried by Woyanne media like the Aiga Forum. There is clearly a close coordination of activities between Dr Getatchew Haile (mastermind of the anti-Abune Merkorios camp), Dr Aklilu, Dr Almaz and others with Woyanne organizations like Tagay Gebre-Medhin’s synod in Addis Ababa, the Aiga Forum and others.

በአዲስ አበባ እና በክልል ከተሞች የመንግሥት መስሪያ ቤቶች ለሚሰሩ ሰራተኞች ከ37-38 በመቶ የደሞዝ ጭማሪ ይደረጋል ሲል የገንዘብና ኢኮኖሚ ልማት ሚኒስቴር አስታወቀ፡፡

ባለፉት ሁለት ዓመታት በኢትዮጵያ በታየው ከፍተኛ የኑሮ ውድነት ከተወሰኑት በስተቀር ሁሉንም ሕዝብ የጎዳ ነበር፡፡ በተለይ አነስተኛ የኑሮ ደረጃ ላይ ያለውን የህብረተሰብ ክፍል፡፡ በተለያየ መንገድ የኑሮ ውድነቱ የሚቀንስበትን መንገድ መንግሥት እንዲያስተካክል ጥረት ቢደረግም “ለኑሮ ውድነቱ መባባስ ምክንያት እድገት ነው” እየተባለ ያለምንም መፍትሄ ሕዝቡ አሁንም በኑሮ ውድነት እየተሰቃየ ይገኛል፡፡

በዛሬው ዕለት የገንዘብና ኢኮኖሚ ልማት ሚኒስትሩ አቶ ሶፊያን አህመድ ለጋዜጠኞች እንደገለፁት የኑሮ ውድነቱን ለማረጋጋት ለመንግሥት ሰራተኞች የደሞዝ ጭማሪ ይደረጋል ብለዋል፡፡ ለሚደረገው የደሞዝ ጭማሪም ለ2000 ዓ.ም 1.8 ቢሊዮን ብር ተመድቧል፣ ከዚህ ውስጥ 1.3 ቢሊዮን ብር ለክልሎች የተመደበ ሲሆን 500 ሚሊዮን ብር ለአዲስ አበባ ከተማ ነዋሪ የመንግሥት ሰራተኞች መመደቡን ነው፡፡

እንደሚኒስትሩ ገለፃም ለአንድ የመንግሥት ሰራተኛ ደሞዝ ተከፋይ ከ37-38 በመቶ የደሞዝ ጭማሪ ይደረጋል፡፡ ይህም ከመስከረም ወር ጀምሮ ተግባራዊ እንደሚደረግ ነው፡፡

የኑሮ ውድነቱ ሳይባባስ በፊት የደሞዝ ጭማሪ እንዲደረግ ግፊት ሲደረግ የነበረ ቢሆንም መለስ ዜናዊ “የደሞዝ ጭማሪ መፍትሄ አይሆንም” ሲሉ ጠንካራ አቋሟቸውን ሲገልፁ እንደነበር ይታወሳል፡፡ ለኑሮ ውድነቱም አሳማኝ ያልሆኑ ምክንያቶችን ሲደረድሩ ቆይተዋል፡፡

አንዳንድ ኢኮኖሚስቶች እንደሚሉት አሁንም ቢሆን በተደረገው የደሞዝ ጭማሪ የኑሮ ውድነቱ ሊረጋጋ እንደማይችል ነው፡፡ የዋጋ ንረቱና የተጨመረው ደሞዝ በፍፁም አይመጣጠንም፡፡ በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ ከመንግሥት ሰራተኛው ውጭ ኑሮውን ለመደጎም ሌላ አማራጮችን እየተጠቀመ ደፋ ቀና የሚል በርካታ ህዝብ በመኖሩ ነው ይላሉ፡፡

መንግሥት ከምርጫው ጋር በተያያዘ የአዲስ አበባን ሕዝብ ለመበቀል በመፈለጉ ሆን ተብሎ በተቀነባበረ ዘዴ ዋጋ እንዲንር ተደርጓል፡፡ ከዛም ለሕዝቡ የተጨነቀ በሚመስል ስሜት መፍትሄ ያልሆነ ግን መፍትሄ የሚመስል ነገር ይዞ እዛም እዛም ይላል የሚሉ አስተያየት ሰጪዎችም አሉ፡፡ ወደዚህም ተባለ ወደዚያ ዋናውና ትልቁ ነገር መካከለኛና አነስተኛ ገቢ ያለው የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ኑሮው ከብዶታል እጅግም ተወዶበታል፡፡ በዚህ አቅጣጫ ከቀጠለም ደሐ፣ መካከለኛና ሐብታም ተብሎ በሶስት የተከፈለውን አኗኗር የኑሮ ውድነቱ በሁለት እንደሚከፍለው ነው፡፡ ሐብታምና ደሐ በሚል፣ መካከለኛ የኑሮ ደረጃ ላይ ያለው ይጠፋል ይላሉ ኢኮኖሚስቶቹ፡፡ የተደረገው የደሞዝ ጭማሪ ለህዝቡ መፍትሄ ሊሰጠው እንደሚችልና እንደማይችል የመመልከቻው ግዜ ሩቅ እንደማይሆንም አስተያየት ሰጪዎቹ ጠቁመዋል፡፡

The Washington DC Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Church’s (DSKM) board has  sent a letter  to officials of the Kidist Mariam Idir informing them that their church membership has been revoked and that they are prohibited from coming to the church any more.

The incoherent letter states that if the Idir officials come to the church, the board will take “police action” to remove them. Is Agazi on stand-by, too?

After consulting with their lawyer, the Idir officials, who are upstanding members of the church, have said that the board does not have the authority to ban them and that they will go to the church on Sunday and assert their right to be there. If the board carries out its threat and tries to forcibly remove them, then they will immediately go to court and fight for their right.

The DSKM board members have become unabashed servants of Aba Gebre-Medhin, the Woyanne-installed patriarch in Addis Ababa. It is therefore not surprising that they resort to crude threats and ‘police action.’

This matter also poses a challenge to the Ethiopian community in the Washington DC area. Are we to allow Frew Bulbula, Abebe Aboye and the other agents of Tagay Gebre Medhin to strip the rights of our brothers here in the United States of America where rule of law prevails? Isn’t enough that Aba Gebre Medhin and his Woyanne thugs brutalize our people back home?

These three individuals — Seyoum Garedew, Tadelle Gebre-Wold, and Solomon Bedasso — are conscientious Ethiopians. All three of them have nothing to gain personally from the Idir. They could have kept quite and save themselves from all this. The only reason the DSKM board is persecuting them is that they are vocal opponents of the board’s decision to hand over the church to Tagay Gebre Medhin and their attempt to save the 400-member Idir from being taken over as well.

The Ethiopian community in the Washington DC area needs to come to the side of these brave Ethiopians who said NO to Aba Diabilos and his agents. On Sunday, let’s join our brave brothers and stand with them.  

Read the DKSM board’s outrageous letter here.

ወደ አሜሪካ ጉዞ የሚያደርጉት አራት የቅንጅት አመራሮች ከስቴት ዲፓርትመንት ክሊራንስ መጣላቸው፡፡ ለፓርቲው መሪ አቶ ኃይሉ ሻውል ግን ክሊራንሱ እንዳልመጣላቸው ታውቋል፡፡

በትናንትናው እለት አዲስ አበባ ከሚገኘው አሜሪካን ኢምባሲ ተደውሎ ወ/ት ብርቱኳን ሚዴቅሳ: ዶር ኃይሉ አርአያ: አቶ ግዛቸው ሽፈራው እና አቶ ብሩክ ከበደ ከስቴት ዲፓርትመንት ክሊራንስ እንደመጣላቸው ሲነገራቸው አቶ ኃይሉ ሻውል ግን የተባሉት ነገር የለም፡፡

ምንጮች እንደጠቆሙት አመራሮቹ ዛሬ ከሰዓት በኋላ ወደ ኤምባሲ መሄዳቸውን ቪዛም እንዳገኙ የገለፁ ሲሆን አቶ ኃይሉ ሻውልን በሚመለከት በዛሬና በነገ መካከል ስቴት ዲፓርትመንቱ ክሊራንስ ሊልክ ይችላል የሚል ግምት መኖሩን ነው፡፡

Ato Andargachew Tsige is considered to be one of the brightest and the most visionary politicians we have today. In this 13-page article (in Amharic) he talks about his observations of the Kinijit movement in the past two years and makes recommendations on the direction the party needs to take in order to succeed.

የዲሞክራሲ ግንባታ ፈተናዎች በዲያስፖራ

ከአንዳርጋቸው ጽጌ

ትልቁን የነጻነትና የዲሞክራሲ ክንፍ አጥልቀው እንደ ንስር አሞራ በወያኔ አናት ላይ መብረር እየቻሉ በኋላ ቀር ባህል ተተብትበው እንቅስቃሴውን እንደብል እየበሉ ለመኖር የሚፈልጉ ግለሰቦችን ትርጉምና ቦታ አሳጥተን በብዙሀን ተሳትፎ ላይ የተመሠረተ ዲሞክራሲ እንገነባለን። ጥቂት ግለሰቦች ሲያኮርፉ፤ ሲቆጡና ሲከፉ የሚፈርስና የሚጠፋ ድርጅት መሆን እንደሌለበት ማረጋገጥ መቻል አለብን… ለመቀጠል እዚህ ይጫኑ (click here to continue reading)

(The Associated Press) ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: The Great Ethiopia Run has been postponed because of unspecified security concerns ahead of next month’s millennium celebrations.

The 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) race, which draws 30,000 runners and is organized by distance great Haile Gebrselassie, had been scheduled for Sept. 9 — three days before Ethiopia rings in the third millennium. The race was moved to November.

“It’s really, really very hard to accept,” Gebrselassie said Thursday. “But what can we do? Our top priority is the safety of the people, nothing else.”

More in Amharic:

‘ታላቁ ሩጫ’ ተላለፈ

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