In a blatant miscarriage of justice, a Woyanne Kangaroo court in Ethiopia today found Eskinder Nega and twenty-three other political opponents of the regime guilty on bogus terrorism charges. The only thing Eskinder Nega and other political prisoners are guilty of is speaking the truth and criticizing the regime for its brazen violations of human rights. Dictator Minister Zenawi is emboldened by the uncritical support he receives from the Obama Administration and other Western leaders. Consequently, Zenawi is on a rampage to bully his critics and stamp out any semblance of opposition. The world is allowing a serial miscarriage of justice because Zenawi is an ally in the so-called war on terror.
Ethiopia court finds 24 guilty of terrorism
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Twenty-four Ethiopians, including a leading opposition figure and a prominent journalist, faced life in prison Wednesday after a court found them guilty on charges of terrorism.
“Guilty as charged,” judge Endeshaw Adane said, referring to journalist Eskinder Nega, opposition member Andualem Arage and 22 others accused of links to US-based group Ginbot 7, considered a terrorist group under Ethiopian law, and other outlawed groups.
Under the anti-terrorism legislation, the defendants face the death sentence, but the prosecutor recommended life sentences for the 24, only eight of whom were present in court.
Both Eskinder and Andualem were found guilty of “participation in a terrorist organisation” and “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of (a) terrorist act.”
Andualem was also found guilty of serving as a “leader or decision maker of a terrorist organisation.” Another less prominent opposition member was also among the group convicted Wednesday.
Endeshaw said Eskinder abused his freedom of speech and accused him of threatening national security.
“Freedom of speech can be limited when it used to undermine security and not used for the public interest,” he said.
He was arrested last year after publishing articles asking whether the Arab Spring uprisings could have an influence in Ethiopia and questioning the arrests of Ethiopians under the country’s anti-terrorism law.
Five of the defendants, including Eskinder and Andualem, will reappear in court on July 13 to present their mitigating circumstances.
By Yilma Bekele
The origins of the Internet can be traced to ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) that was funded by the US Department of Defense (DARPA) for use by its research labs in the 1960’s. The Internet as we know moved from connecting research institutions and Universities into commercial use in the middle of the 1980’s.
Today the Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. The beauty of the Internet is nobody really owns it. Every computer that is connected to the Internet is part of the network. Your laptop or desktop together with millions of private, public, academic, business, government networks forms part of this vast system of interconnected computers.
The Internet has revolutionized human communication like nothing before. It is the most outstanding innovation in human history regarding communication capability. Our lives have changed dramatically due to the Internet. The great economic boom of the 90’s all over the world can be traced to innovation that accompanied the Internet. Where does our Ethiopia fit in this human advancement story?
I am afraid we are absent or unaccounted for! We are not even in the periphery. Our participation in this humongous, game changer event is nothing to write home about. It is so embarrassing the best option is not to talk about it, discuss it or raise the issue. If our country was a computer it will be considered to be in hibernation mode, not on not off barely alive. The Meles regime and his TPLF party can get all the credit for condemning eighty million people to live in darkness. That is exactly where we find ourselves-in complete darkness and no chance of light at the end of the tunnel either. You think I am exaggerating and being so negative because I am filled with hate. I am afraid that is not so. Look at the table below and you be the judge my friend.
Country Internet users % Of Population Internet providers
Ethiopia 666,101 0.75 1
Ghana 2,081,056 8.55 12
Uganda 4,174,835 12.5 9
Kenya 8,568,890 20.98 15
Tanzania 4,608,218 11.0 17
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users
See what I mean? Out of eighty million plus people only half a million Internet users. That leaves seventy nine million five hundred thousand in the dark. Why do you think this is so? Is it because we are poor? We are stupid? Uneducated? Unable to figure how it works? Not interested? Didn’t think it is important? Felt investment in such technology is a waste of time and resources? Or too busy developing other technology? Or you think it could it be due to lack of leadership? As people we are no different than Americans Europeans or our African neighbors. The only thing we see here is the quality of leadership that differentiates our country from others. The leaders set the pace, define the priorities and the people follow.
When it comes to the Internet our leader felt that is not a priority and that is not where our budget should be invested on. Why do you think Ato Meles and company felt the Internet not to be the place to invest and grow? The simple but obvious answer is the word ‘communication’. Communication is knowledge and knowledge is the first causality of a tyrannical regime. Keeping people in the dark is the main goal of a dictatorship. Illiterate people are docile. It is easy to manipulate a damned down population. Internet is the number one enemy of the Ethiopian government. Instead of laying fiber optic to speed up the wiring of our country the Meles regime invests the limited budget in blocking, censoring and spying on the citizen. The last two weeks have been a busy time to the TPLF regime. It has rolled out one draconian law after another to bully, intimidate and ride rough on our people. Here is the evidence.
Skype is a voice- over-Internet Protocol service and software application. Skype allows users to communicate over the Internet using voice, video and instant messaging. As of September of 2011 Skype has over six hundred million users worldwide. The Ethiopian government has made using Skype a crime punishable up to fifteen years in prison.
Tor (short for The onion router) is a system intended to enable online anonymity. The Tor project a 501(c) research/education nonprofit organization distributes the software free of charge. According to the wonderful people of Tor network their ‘client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers to conceal a user’s location or usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis.’ The Ethiopian government is actively blocking Tor network.
There are over eighty million Ethiopians. As of 2012 there are about a million fixed line service users and close to three million mobile users in Ethiopia. It is the lowest teledensity in Africa. There are less than half a million Internet users in Ethiopia and that is in the bottom even for Africa. That number constitutes .06% of the Ethiopian population.
Why is the Ethiopian government enacting such draconian law when you can clearly see Internet does not play any major role in the life of the citizen? Why is the government becoming the laughing stock of the planet by equating phone usage to committing murder? All indications are the issue is not about Skype or Tor but it is all about control and bullying into submission. It is all about instilling fear. Fear is the main currency of a dictator. They are not worried about the .06% but they are very much interested in showing the ninety nine percent who exactly is in charge. In your face is how they like to operate. They are saying we can do anything we want and tough luck there is nothing you can do about it!
Do you think they are crazy? I am afraid not. They have been getting away with that kind of attitude the last twenty years what makes you think it will be different this time? We will talk about it, we will gossip, we will condemn silently ( yechelema gelmecha) and life will go on as usual. Actually that is not true about all of us. There are a few working hard to circumvent this tragedy. Groups such as Ginbot7, OLF, ONLF, ALF, Andenet Party, our independent Web sites, ESAT among others are working day and night to teach, organize and help our people stand up to Woyane abuse.
There are different avenues to fight injustice. There are hundreds of ways to resist oppression. I will paraphrase two Chinese educators on this subject. According to Sun Tzu the ‘best defense is a good offense’ and Mao Zedong followed it with ‘the only real defense is active defense.’ meaning for the purpose of counter attacking and taking offense. I believe the current aggression against our people begs for a robust counter offense. Here I am speaking about cyber warfare.
It is about time our people developed this type of self-defense to protect our freedom. It is within our capability and it is our moral duty to protect our country and people. According to a recent Time magazine article that is what the US is helping the Syrian opposition with. Developing a cyber warfare capability. They are training the freedom fighters to resist the Assad regime in the art of circumvention technology. The use of encryption, SIM card in cheap burner phones that can easily be discarded and developing ‘Internet in a suitcase’ to provide Web access when Assad shuts it down is being explored. Apps are being developed that download a panic button that will instantly wipe out contacts and documents from smart phones and computers. They are experimenting with Apps that present a false screen when the wrong security code is entered and Apps that blur the faces of dissidents when posting videos and photos on line. Today the camera is as powerful as the AK47.
It is also important our highly educated lawyers and Human Rights advocates explore the concept of ‘I am just following order’ defense that is sure to be used by those that are doing the dirty work for the minority based illegal regime. Whereas the current Ethiopian Constitution is full of guarantees of rights and freedom to the citizen those that are killing, imprisoning, torturing, spying and using their know how to block and jam should be warned about accountability. They should be made aware of their oath to uphold the Constitution not the rule of one man or a single party. ‘I am just following order’ did not hold water in the Nuremberg trials of Nazi criminals.
Those educated Ethiopians that are enabling the regime to spy on fellow citizens, block Web sites, target emails and social media postings should be warned about the consequences of their actions. They are following illegal and immoral orders given by those that are using force and coercion to stay in power. Sooner or later this house of cards will come tumbling down and it will be time to answer for all those that used their technical know how to hurt their people. Blind allegiance is not a wining strategy or ignorance a valid defense. It is a shame some sell their soul to the devil for fame and fortune.
Internet intrusion and increased repression in Ethiopia
By Graham Peebles | Redress.cc
19 June 2012
Graham Peebles views the Meles Zenawi regime’s chronic suppression of the internet and media freedoms in Ethiopia and asks how long will Addis Ababa’s allies in the US, Britain and the European Union tolerate the regime’s flagrant violations of rights enshrined in domestic and international law.
Freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are basic human rights and are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is not for a government – whose function is to serve the people – to decide who or indeed if these freedoms should be allowed. Although etched into the Ethiopian constitution, freedom in its various democratic manifestations remains a fantasy for the people, who are increasingly controlled, inhibited and impoverished. The Ethiopian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is imposing ever more stringent and repressive measures of subjugation. If it could it would control and restrict the very air the people breath.
Internet control and privacy
In its latest assault on the human rights of the people, the governing Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) decreed certain activities on the internet to be illegal. Access to the internet inside Ethiopia is very poor. According to Open Net Initiative (ONI) Ethiopia “has the second lowest internet penetration rate in sub-Saharan Africa (only Sierra Leone’s is lower)… Only 360,000 people had internet access in June 2009, a penetration rate of 0.4 per cent.”
The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC), a government owned and run body, and the Ethiopian Telecommunication Agency (ETA) have exclusive control over internet access in the country. According to the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RWB) on 7 June, “Ethiopia’s only ISP [Internet Service Provider], state-owned Ethio-Telecom, has just installed a system for blocking access to the Tor network, which lets users browse anonymously and access blocked websites”. In order to achieve such selective blocking, according to RWB, “Ethio-Telecom must be using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), an advanced network filtering method” that is used by repressive states, such as China and Iran. This sophisticated system, RWB says, “allows governments to easily target politically sensitive websites and quickly censor any expression of opposition views”.
Internet filtering in Ethiopia has been in place for some years, according to Freedom House. Its report, “Freedom on the Net 2011”, states: “Tests conducted by Freedom House found that in mid-2010 the websites of Freedom House, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International were inaccessible. In March 2010, Voice of America reported that its website was blocked in Ethiopia.” The BBC reported that in June 2010 emails sent from Ethiopia to the Committee to Protect Journalists were also blocked.
This latest invasion of privacy and restriction of freedoms comes on the back of a new law passed on 24 May which, among other things, bans the use of Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP) hardware and software, such as Skype, which enables people to use the internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls, and imposes a penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment for the heinous crime of making a telephone call to a family member or friend.
Internet access, and national and international calls, which have to be made through the state telecommunications provider, the ETC, are extremely expensive. A 2010 study by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) found that Ethiopia’s broadband internet connections were among the most expensive in the world when compared with monthly income, and come second only to those in the Central African Republic.
The new legislation also allows the government to inspect any imports of voice communication equipment and accessories, and to ban such imported shipments without prior notification. One suspects this may well simply be the first step in establishing total government control over access and use of the internet, leading to monitoring of emails, social network sites, chat platforms and so on, all of which could now be targeted and monitored. Indeed, RWB has already voiced its fears that the DPI “will be misused for surveillance purposes by a government that already subjects the political opposition and privately-owned media to a great deal of harassment”.
Up until now government acts of repression have been mainly targeted at independent journalists, political activists and opposition supporters living and working outside the country. Journalists working abroad and publishing online find themselves attacked in print by comments from government stooges, as Freedom House states in its report. It said: “In addition to censorship, the authorities use regime apologists, paid commentators and pro-government websites to proactively manipulate the online news and information landscape.” This new move, however, throws a noose around all internet users. As ONI states, “Ethiopia is increasingly jailing journalists, and the government has shown a growing propensity toward repressive behaviour both off- and online. It seems likely that censorship will become more extensive as internet access expands across the country.” Such is democracy under Meles Zenawi.
Unlawful laws of control
The reasons offered for the new legislation by the regime are the well-trodden justifications of the unjust, made by the unlawful. RWB quotes the authorities, as saying that “the ban was needed on national security grounds and because VoIP posed a threat to the state’s monopoly of telephone communications”. Duplicitous at best, such actions of extreme repression are born out of paranoia. And let us point out there should be no such state telecommunications monopoly anyway.
These measures fit into a broader pattern of restrictions of freedom, all of which violate human rights laws. The Anti Terrorist Proclamation that came into effect in 2009, to a chorus of international criticism and fury, set the tone of repression and is being followed with ever-greater ferocity. The Ethiopian constitution, a legally binding document, of course proclaims universally recognized freedoms – all of which the government contravenes. As ONI states, “The Ethiopian government maintains strict control over access to the internet and online media, despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press and free access to information.”
What the constitution says
Relevant constitutional statements of intent specifically relating to the media; include Article 29on the “Right of Freedom of Thought, Opinion and Expression”. This states:
Everyone has the right to freedom of expression without any interference. This right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any media of his choice.
It also says: “Freedom of the press and other mass media, and freedom of artistic creativity, is guaranteed.”
Regarding the right to privacy, Article 26 makes plain that “Everyone has the right to the inviolability of his notes and correspondence, including postal letters, and communications made by means of telephone, telecommunications and electronic devices. It adds that “Public officials shall respect and protect these rights.”
Censorship by the printing presses
In tandem with the current illegal attacks on internet freedom, the state-owned printing presses are tightening the screws of suppression and are, according to RWB, “demanding the right to censor the newspapers they print”.
Not only is there a state monopoly on telecommunications, but the press are also state owned. There is only one Amharic-language daily national paper, with around 32,000 readers, in a country of 85 million people.
Both television and radio are firmly under the control of the Meles regime.
Berhanena Selam is the main state printer, and has a virtual monopoly on newspaper and magazine printing. Along with other state-owned printers, it is trying to impose political censorship on media content before publication. According to RWB, “In a proposed ‘standard contract for printing’ recently circulated by state printers, they [the printers] assume the right to vet and reject articles prior to printing.” Article 10 of the proposed contract, entitled “Declining to print content violating the law”, states “the printer has the right to refuse to print any text if he has ‘adequate reason’ to think it breaks the law”. This in itself breaks the law as it contravenes Article 29 of the constitution, which prohibits any form of press censorship.
Not only do the actions of the Meles regime – a centralist government in the extreme – contravene the Ethiopian constitution, but the the grave breaches of human rights contravene numerous legally binding international treaties signed by the government. Internet access is a human right and is covered by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This has been clearly emphasized by the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, who has reminded “all states of their positive obligation to promote or to facilitate the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression and the means necessary to exercise this right, including the internet”. He also stresses that “there should be as little restriction as possible to the flow of information via the internet”.
Complete control of the media pertains inside Ethiopia, and these controls are becoming ever more intense with greater disinformation and manipulation of the press and the primary source of news, television.
The Meles regime exercises a brutal and deeply repressive dictatorship. How long will the West, whose dollars, pounds and euros support the needy throughout Ethiopia, continue to turn a blind eye to the myriad human rights violations and a deaf ear to the cries of the people for justice and freedom? Sit not in silence America and Britain as your strategic, undemocratic “ally” in the Horn of Africa suppresses and controls the people of Ethiopia while claiming to act in their interest. Demand that international law is observed, federal law honoured and human rights upheld.
Ethiopia ‘forcibly displacing’ for sugar plantations
By BBC News
18 June 2012 . The sugar plantations will be irrigated in part by the Gibe III hydropower project, HRW says
The Ethiopian government is forcibly displacing tens of thousands from their land to make way for state-run sugar plantations, a campaign group has said.
The displacements are happening in the country’s Omo Valley, according to a report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The valley, a World Heritage site, is also the site of a controversial dam.
The Ethiopian government has denied forcing anyone from their homes and says the project will create jobs.
HRW says that in order to make space for the plantations, government security forces are compelling communities to relocate from their traditional lands, using violence and intimidation.
In its report, the campaign group says that at the time of its visit to the area – in June 2011 – “military units regularly visited villages to intimidate residents and suppress dissent related to the sugar plantation development”. It added that “soldiers regularly stole or killed cattle”.
These allegations were denied by government spokesman Bereket Simon.
“There is no forcing out of people from their residence, if there is any reason to relocate people, then it is based on… open communication,” he told the AFP news agency.
‘No shortcut’
The sugar plantations will be irrigated in part by the Gibe III hydropower project, the group says.
The dam, which would become Africa’s largest and the fourth-biggest in the world, has provoked much controversy.
The Ethiopian government says that the project must be completed in order to bring energy and development to the country.
But campaigners fear it will fuel conflict over already scarce water resources, and rob communities of their livelihoods.
According to the report, previously unpublished Ethiopian government maps show plans for sugar plantations covering nearly a quarter of a million hectares.
The maps, HRW says, also show processing factories, irrigation channels and large tracts of land reserved for other forms of commercial agriculture.
The group says that if the plans go ahead they could affect at least 200,000 people in the Omo Valley and another 300,000 Kenyans living across the border around Lake Turkana, which derives up to 90% of its water from the Omo River.
The Ethiopian government has said that the dam’s impact on Lake Turkana will be negligible.
HRW describes the region as among the most ecologically and culturally diverse areas on the planet and says it is currently home to eight different agro-pastoral communities.
“Ethiopia’s ambitious plans for the Omo Valley appear to ignore the rights of the people who live there,” said Ben Rawlence, of Human Rights Watch.
“There is no shortcut to development; the people who have long relied on that land for their livelihood need to have their property rights respected, including on consultation and compensation.”
Many other African countries are reserving huge tracts of land for commercial agriculture – often leased by foreigners in order to export the crops cultivated there abroad.
Gibe III would be one of the biggest dams in the world, dwarfing its neighbours
Alemayehu G Mariam
One People, One Country!
For the past two decades, Ethiopia has been the scene of crimes against humanity and crimes against nature. Now Ethiopian religious leaders say Ethiopia is the scene of crimes against divinity. Christian and Muslim leaders and followers today are standing together and locking arms to defend religious freedom and each other’s rights to freely exercise their consciences. But they face a formidable and treacherous foe who thrives on division and discord. Not long ago, a wicked but lame attempt was made in broad daylight to spark strife and friction between Christians and Muslims. The head honcho of the ruling party in Ethiopia told his rubber stamp parliament:
At the recent Timket (baptism of Jesus, epiphany) celebrations, there was a slogan which declared, “One country, one religion.” Those who carried this slogan were few. We don’t have a constitution that says one country, one religion. The constituion says one country, diverse religions. It is evident that there are some, few as they may be, who want to have a Christian government [in Ethiopia]. These are mostly people who lack critical thinking but we believe they can be straightened out through re-education.
One cannot say all Salafis are Al Qaeda. That’s a mistake, a crime. But all Al Qaeda are Salafis. For the first time, an Al Qaeda cell has been found in Ethiopia. Most of them in Bale and Arsi. All of the members of this cell are Salafis. This is not to say all Salafis in Ethiopia are Al Qaeda members. Most of them are not. But these Salafis have been observed distorting the real teachings [of Islam]. They [Salafis] say most people in Ethiopia are Muslims. They say the official statistical reports are false. They say since most Ethiopians are Muslims, there must be an Islamic government. Such agitation is currently underway on a mass scale by these fundamentalist agitators…
Hmmm!!?? Now, who could possibly benefit from stoking the fires of fundamentalism and sectarianism and fanning the flames of religious conflict and rivalry in Ethiopia? Who could possibly be behind the alleged group barking for “one country, one religion”? Who could have possibly set up “Al Qaeda cells” in Ethiopia “for the first time” eleven years after 9/11? Is the core problem of Ethiopia today a dispute between those who clamor for an “Islamic government” and those jabbering for a “Christian government”? Is the real question facing Ethiopia democracy vs. dictatorship or “Islamic fundamentalism” vs. “Christian fundamentalism?” Are “Al Qaeda cells” the malignant virus threatening Ethiopia’s existence? Or is the metastasizing cancer in the Ethiopian body politic one-man, one-party dictatorship?
The whole attempt to spark religious antagonism and conflict between Muslims and Christians could be overlooked as the bizarre machinations of a warped and depraved mind but for the fact that it is the manifest strategy of the leaders of the ruling party in Ethiopia to prolong their grapple hold on power. Inflammatory and incendiary claims are made against alleged religious extremists and presented in such a way as to panic ordinary Muslims and Christians into fearing and loathing each other. “We don’t have a constitution that says one country, one religion.” The constitution says one country, diverse religions (sic!).” Why talk about what the Constitution does not say? Why not talk about what the Constitution exactly says?
Article 11 of the Ethiopian Constitution makes it crystal clear: “There shall be no state religion. The state shall not interfere in religious matters and religion shall not interfere in state affairs.”
Article 27 emphatically declares: “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or in private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching. No one shall be subject to coercion by force or any other means, which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.”
Does it make sense to talk about what the Constitution does not say? Only if there is an ulterior motive!
“Religion is a Personal Choice; Country is a Collective Responsibility”
There are no credible Ethiopian Christian or Muslim leaders who subscribe to, endorse or in any way promote religious or political extremism of any sort. There is no evidence that any credible religious leader of any faith in Ethiopia has ever proposed a theocratic state of one religion or another. Yet, the lunatic fringe is paraded out in public as representatives of mainstream members of the Islamic and Christian faiths. But no reasonable Ethiopian would buy the “bedtime story” about some unidentified Christian or Islamic groups establishing a theocratic state of one kind or another or Al Qaeda cells poised to take over Ethiopia. The problem in Ethiopia is dictatorship, not dogma.
At a recent joint press conference in Toronto, Canada, leaders of the Islamic and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo faiths joined hands to show their unity indefending the ancient monastery of Waldeba in northern Ethiopia from destruction by foreign investor commercial agricultural enterprises. The ruling regime is currently engaged in a project to convert the holy land surrounding the Waldeba monastery into a vast sugar cane planation.
At the press conference, Le’ke Kahenat Mesale Engeda, a prominent exiled prelate of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Toronto, reaffirmed Christian Muslim unity and described Ethiopia’s current condition:
… Our brothers and sisters who are followers of Islam have always served to protect our country. Recorded history shows many Muslim fathers fought for and suffered in defense of our country. Muslims and Christians have lived in Ethiopia peacefully [throughout history]. When trouble rises to face the [Orthodox] Church, Muslims have risen up with us to face them. Today a Muslim leader from Toronto is standing with us. As you know, at this time in Ethiopia our Muslim brothers and sisters are facing extreme hardship… But we are all standing together…
… Our brothers and sisters who are followers of Islam have always served to protect our country. Recorded history shows many Muslim fathers fought for and suffered in defense of our country. Muslims and Christians have lived in Ethiopia peacefully [throughout history]. When trouble rises to face the [Orthodox] Church, Muslims have risen up with us to face them. Today a Muslim leader from Toronto is standing with us. As you know, at this time in Ethiopia our Muslim brothers and sisters are facing extreme hardship… But we are all standing together…
… To all members of Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church members: Do not join with the forces of darkness and whose work will not bear fruit. The great and ancient country of Ethiopia, the beacon of freedom for all Black people in the 21st Century is [facing great danger]. It is now clear to all that the woyanes [the ruling regime] environmental program [land giveaway to foreign investors] is destroying our Church and faith and reaching its ultimate stage. The woyanes’ terror and chaos has brought great shame to Ethiopia. Previously, the Church administration of Wedi Zenawi and Aba Gebremedhin [ruling party appointed head of the Ethiopian church] allied with the ruling regime has been the cause of church burnings, imprisonment, torture and killing of religious leaders. They have also caused the burning of Ziqulla monastery.
Now using the excuse of building a sugar factory, they are planning to destroy Waldeba monastery, which has been one of the major holy sites of faith and religion for our Church for over a thousand years. Waldeba is a historic and holy place. It is a place where learned church leaders have come. It is a place for which our forefathers have given up their lives in its defense. So to uproot the people in Waldeba, to create commercial farms on this holy ground and to dig up the remains of the holy fathers is a great shame… People of Ethiopia! What do you think? What do you see? What is the role of Ethiopia’s religious leaders as we stand and watch Ethiopia’s churches burning and our Faith destroyed?
Hajj Mohamed Seid, a prominent Ethiopian Muslim leader in exile in Toronto, urged strong commitment to Ethiopian unity:
… As you know Ethiopia is a country that has different religions. Ethiopia is a country where Muslims and followers of the Orthodox faith have lived and loved each other throughout recorded history. Even in our lifetimes — 50 to 60 years — we have not seen Ethiopia in so much suffering and tribulation. Religion is a private choice, but country is a collective responsibility. If there is no country, there is no religion. It is only when we have a country that we find everything. Today, Ethiopia, which has been strong in its religious faiths, has been broken up into pieces. They are trying to get Muslims and Christians to fight. They campaigned for that for a long time. But it did not work. They tried to get the Oromo to fight with the Amhara. But that did not work…. We know of only one type of Muslim in hsitory — one who honors his word. [The saying is that] when a Muslim does not stand by his word and the rain does not fall, that spells doom for the country. They have brought a new religion and are creating chaos in Ethiopia…
…As you know today is Friday. On Firday, I should be at the Mosque for prayers and not attend to secular matters. But I am here because of the situation in our country. If there is no country, it makes for a difficult time to pray and uphold religion. Churches and monasteries are respected by Muslims and Christians but Ethiopia’s foundation is religion. The [Waldeba] monastery is in a land where the pious have lived a monastic life eating the berries and leaves in the wilderness. It is not a land to be sold to China and India. Today starving people are forced to dig and shovel day and night [so that Chinese and Indian investors can profit]. This is a great shame for Ethiopians. They [the rulers in Ethiopia] have sold the land [to foreigners] and have kept the most arable land to themselves. The money from the sale is not in our country. It is in their pockets.
…. Is there an Ethiopian generation left now? The students who enrolled in the universities are demoralized; their minds are afflicted chewing khat (a mild drug) and smoking cigarettes. They [the ruling regime] have destroyed a generation. Truly, I have never read of the history of a government or administration that commits such atrocities on its people [as the one currently in Ethiopia]. If each one of us is given a full day to tell about the suffering and tribulation of the people, it would not be enough.
What greater tyranny is there than destroying religion? Is there a greater tyranny? If religion is destroyed in Ethiopia, that means Ethiopia does not exist. The only thing that is left is the name on a map. They have divided us into 9 pieces, but our land has already been sold to foreigners. They have moved their money out of the country. They are enjoying it. Their plan for us is to fly 9 flags, remain divided into 9 pieces and shoot and kill each other. That is what they have prepared for us in their program. We must not be divided by religion or ethnicity. We have the responsibility of history to keep Ethiopia united. Our children and children’s children must not remain exiled yearning for their country.
Let’s stop and think for a moment. Have you ever read in history or seen with your own eyes a regime such as the one in Ethiopia today? Therefore, Muslims and followers of other religions must submit our supplication to the Almighty our Creator. In my days in Ethiopia, there were locusts and other parasites that invaded the land. At that time, religious leaders prayed; the Muslims to Allah; the Christians prayed in the churches and monasteries. That was a time of judgment. Therefore, we have to be strong in our faiths. We have to work with greater strength to protect and defend our country. This is our obligation. Those of us living outside Ethiopia, knowing that effort is being made to destroy the younger generation, must rise up and help to the best of our abilities. It is not only financial help. You must also give moral support. We have to confer and consult with each other. We must have our cries heard. I ask all of us to pray so that Ethiopia can survive in peace and this government will be changed.
Plural Religions, One Country!
Hajj Mohammed Seid resonated a long held sentiment among Ethiopians that “religion is a private choice, but country is a collective responsibility.” Le’ke Kahenat Mesale Engeda makes an incontrovertible statement when he said, “Muslims and Christians have lived in Ethiopia peacefully [throughout history]. When trouble rises to face the [Orthodox] Church, Muslims have risen up with us to face them.” Now trouble has risen to face both Christians and Muslims. It is trouble borne of dictatorship, despotism and tyranny. It is a mortal threat to religion and country. It can only be overcome only through unity of Ethiopians across religious, ethnic, regional and linguistic lines. The example of these two religious leaders goes a long way to show us the need and importance of continuing the religious harmony between Christians and Muslims that has persisted over centuries. It also underscores the need for greater mutual understanding, reaffirmation of peaceful coexistence and the vital importance of resolute cooperation across religious lines to create a new Ethiopia where religious freedom is secure and every individual is free to exercise his/her conscience according to one’s faith.
The Price of Sectarian Strife
Recent events in Nigeria are instructive of the harmful consequences of religious strife. For decades, in many parts of Nigeria Christians and Muslims have lived together peacefully sharing customs and working cooperatively in different facets of social life. Though tensions and episodic conflicts have occurred from time to time, generally there has been peaceful coexistence between adherents of the two religions in Nigeria. Over the past decade, this peaceful coexistence has been tested severely by religious fringe groups who have launched violent attacks on houses of worship, public places and government offices. There has been much loss of innocent lives and wanton destruction of property. But Muslims and Christians often point out the fact that what appears to be sectarian strife is actually rooted in disputes over land and rights. Unscrupulous politicians have fanned the flames of sectarian hatred and exacerbated differences for their own narrow ends. The press has been blamed for sensationalizing incidents by publishing stories that breed fear and distrust in the society. But Christian and Muslim leaders have risen up to condemn the spiraling violence perpetrated by fringe groups. Last week, in an open letter to the federal government, Jama’atu Nasril Islam, an umbrella group for Muslim organizations in Nigeria, condemned the recent church bombings in Jos and Biu that killed three people and wounded 41. President Goodluck Jonathan, who happens to be a Christian, says sectarianism is destructive of the Nigerian nation. His Administration’s position is that there is no “major conflict between the Christian community and Muslim community. Retaliation is not the answer, because if you retaliate, at what point will it end? Nigeria must survive as a nation.” Ethiopia must survive as a nation!
The Unity Challenge
Christians and Muslims in Ethiopia have coexisted peacefully for centuries. No doubt, that will continue. But together they face numerous challenges imposed upon them by dictatorship. Where political leaders have failed, religious leaders could succeed. Christian and Muslim religious leaders can play a critical role in preventing conflict and in building bridges of understanding, mutual respect and collaborative working relations. They can plant the seeds of harmony, understanding, respect and love as others toil day and night to spread the seeds of hatred, discord, division, conflict and antagonism. The people need spiritual guidance to do good and act with moral probity as much as they need laws to ensure their political freedoms. When religious leaders show the way, the people will joyfully work together to build bridges of understanding and mutual respect.
In the U.S., and quite possibly in other countries, communities of faith organize “interfaith councils”. These councils bring diverse faith communities to work together to foster greater understanding and respect among people of different faiths and to address basic needs in the community. Many such councils go beyond dialogue and reflection to cooperative work in social services and implementing projects to meet community needs. They stand together to protect religious freedom by opposing discrimination and condemning debasement of religious institutions and faiths. There is no reason why Ethiopians could not establish interfaith councils of their own.
Ethiopia’s unity challenge can be effectively addressed if we practice the basic principle: “Religion is a private choice, country is a collective responsibility.” In fact, the centuries long peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians is based on this very principle. In practicing this principle today, it is our moral obligation to condemn and oppose religious and other forms of extremism by any group; but it is also the obligation of faith leaders, civic society organizations and human rights advocates to undertake public education and awareness programs on the mortal dangers of such extremism. Religious leaders in Ethiopia enjoy great trust and command the respect of the people. Where entrenched political interests promote religious antagonism, it is up to the religious leaders to preach and teach tolerance. Ethiopia’s problems do not originate from differences in theology. Ethiopia’s problems originate from those who want to use theology as Ethiopia’s eschatology (a theology of doom)!
“Religion is a private choice, but country is a collective responsibility.”
“People of Ethiopia! What do you think? What do you see? What is the role of Ethiopia’s religious leaders as we stand and watch Ethiopia’s churches burning and our Faith destroyed?”
Unity in humanity is unity in divinity!
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
US senator condemns Ethiopia’s persecution of the press
By Mohamed Keita | Committee to Protect Journalists
June 15, 2012.
On Wednesday, the same day the White House announced a strategic plan committing the United States to elevating its efforts in “challenging leaders whose actions threaten the credibility of democratic processes” in sub-Saharan Africa, a senior member of the U.S. Congress challenged the erosion of press freedom in a key U.S. strategic partner in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia.
Underscoring the importance of Ethiopia as an important partner for the United States in containing terrorism and ending poverty and famine in the region, Senator Patrick Leahy, a democrat from Vermont, published on Thursday a statement in The Congressional Record, the official daily journal of U.S. Congress, in which he condemned the assault on the freedom of the Ethiopian press under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The senator argued that success for the Obama administration’s new partnership with Meles on food security depends on “broad national consultation, transparency, and accountability,” values, he said, that “depend in no small part on a free press.”
Leahy highlighted the emblematic case of Ethiopia’s most prominent imprisoned journalist and blogger, Eskinder Nega. Eskinder, whom PEN American Center honored this year with the Freedom to Write Award, could be convicted on June 21 on vague terrorism charges that carry a life sentence “simply for refusing to remain silent about the Ethiopian government’s increasingly authoritarian drift.” Five days prior to his arrest in September 2011, Eskinder had published an article criticizing the Meles administration “for misusing a vaguely-worded 2009 antiterrorism law to jail journalists and political opponents,” Leahy said.
In public statements and state media, Ethiopian government officials have sought to discredit Eskinder and the other 10 journalists, calling them terrorist accomplices involved in anti-state activities.
The evidence offered against the journalist in court, Leahy said, included “a video of a town hall meeting in which Eskinder discusses the Arab Spring and speculates on whether similar protests were possible in Ethiopia.” The journalist also consistently highlighted “the government’s denial of human rights, and call[ed] for an end to political repression and corruption” despite being jailed seven times, his wife imprisoned, and his newspapers repeatedly banned over two decades, Leahy said.
Leahy was the third member of Congress, after Alaska Senator Mark Begich and California Representative Edward Royce, to publicly voice concern over the persecution of 11 Ethiopian journalists “for questioning government actions and policies–activities that you and I and people around the world would recognize as fundamental to any free press,” he wrote. He added, “Ironically, by trying to silence those who do not toe the official line, the government is only helping to underscore the concerns that many inside and outside of Ethiopia share about the deterioration of democracy and human rights in that country.”
In the statement, Leahy, the chairman of a sub-committee responsible for funding portions of U.S. assistance to foreign countries, said the “importance of respecting freedom of the press cannot be overstated” in the disbursement of aid to the government.
