Press Release
Ethiopian Community Association in Ottawa
Ethiopia continues to inspire the world with its magnificent history, culture, religion, flora and fauna, as diverse as its captivating history and landscape. Ethiopia’s lone millennium due to be celebrated this month inspires millions around the world. This inspiration and enthusiasm has led Amsterdam, Atlanta, Brussels, Edmonton, Calgary, Finland, Frankfurt, London, Nashville, Portland, Seattle, Stockholm, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington DC to officially declare Ethiopian Millennium Day.
As we prepare for the celebrations, it is with great joy and enthusiasm that we received the declaration of Larry O’Brien, Mayor Ottawa, of one of the most beautiful cities of the world, announcing September 11, 2007, as “Ethiopian Millennium Day.” (see the declaration here)
The Ethiopian Community Association of Ottawa seizes this opportunity to thank Mayor O’Brien for his recognition of the festivals of Ethiopians and Ethio-Canadians in Ottawa.
The Association would also like to thank Ato Samuel Getachew for his untiring effort to make this happen.
Ethiopian Community Association in Ottawa
1365 Richmond Road, 2nd Floor
Ottawa, K2b6G7, Canada
613 371 3874; [email protected]
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Sept. 2 — A powerful rebel group in the Ogaden desert of Ethiopia has declared a temporary cease-fire to allow a United Nations fact-finding team to gain access to the war-torn region, a rebel spokesman said Sunday.
Fighters from the group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, will not attack government soldiers while United Nations officials are in the area, said Abdirahman Mahdi, a spokesman for the rebels.
“We appreciate what they are doing and won’t put any obstacle in their path,” he said.
The Ogaden desert is a desolate corner of eastern Ethiopia where impoverished nomads are waging a separatist war against the Ethiopian Woyanne military, one of the biggest armies in Africa. After the rebels killed more than 60 Ethiopian Woyanne guards and Chinese workers at a Chinese-run oil field in April, government troops cracked down by blockading much of the area, Western diplomats and aid workers say.
Many Ogaden residents have described a widespread and longstanding reign of terror, with Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers gang-raping women, burning down huts and killing civilians at will, accusations that the Ethiopian Woyanne government vehemently denies.
Concerned by the reports of human rights abuses and the risks of a government-made famine, United Nations officials set off last week on a fact-finding mission to the Ogaden. The mission included human rights officers and experts in child welfare, food and health.
The Ethiopian Woyanne government has said it has nothing to hide, though several aid organizations have recently complained about lack of access to the Ogaden. On Friday, Doctors Without Borders, an international aid agency, said its workers were being blocked from the region.
The agency said in a statement that there were “urgent health needs and a deteriorating humanitarian crisis” in the Ogaden and that “despite a signed agreement” with the group, the Ethiopian Woyanne authorities continued to deny it access to the area.
In July, the Ethiopian Woyanne government expelled the Red Cross from the Ogaden, accusing its workers of being rebel spies.
An Ethiopian Woyanne spokesman, Zemedkun Tekle, said Sunday that he did not know which aid organizations had been restricted but that “the U.N. mission will be free to conduct its work.”
(AFP) Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal has grabbed her first world gold medal in women’s 1,500 meters after beating her Russian rival Yelena Soboleva.
The Ethiopian-born Jamal struck for home with 300 meters to go but Soboleva stayed with her; however, it was Jamal who first crossed the line in three minutes 58.75 seconds.
Jamal’s victory over Soboleva was a milestone for her who could win Russia, the country, which held sway in the event claiming the three previous gold medals.
(AFP) Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal has grabbed her first world gold medal in women’s 1,500 meters after beating her Russian rival Yelena Soboleva.
The Ethiopian-born Jamal struck for home with 300 meters to go but Soboleva stayed with her; however, it was Jamal who first crossed the line in three minutes 58.75 seconds.
Jamal’s victory over Soboleva was a milestone for her who could win Russia, the country, which held sway in the event claiming the three previous gold medals.
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.
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.
(AFP) Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal has grabbed her first world gold medal in women’s 1,500 meters after beating her Russian rival Yelena Soboleva. 
