The Washington DC Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Church’s board has filed $1 million lawsuit against three Ethiopians.
The board is accusing the Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Idir officials of stealing $300,000.
In a Washington DC court on July 30, the Idir officials Ato Seyoum Garedew, Ato Tadele Gebre-Wold and Ato Solomon Bedasso, told the judge that not a penny was moved from the account and that the board is harassing them for trying to give the Idir legal status, which it never had.
The Idir officials also believe that the Kidist Mariam board, which has recently put the church under the Woyanne patriarch, Aba Gebremedhin, is using a lawsuit as a pretext to take over the 400-member strong Idir (self-help group).
The Church’s board members include Dr Almaz Zewde, a close friend of Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew and a member of his splinter Kinijit group.
The three Ethiopians who were dragged to court by the Church’s $300/hour attorney are highly respected members of the Church, and have been serving the Idir for the past 7 years without any glitch or controversy. The only time a controversy arose when the Church’s Board illegally withdrew $47,000 from the Idir’s account last year without the approval of the Idir’s officials. The Board quickly returned the money after being confronted by the Idir’s chairman, Ato Seyoum Garedew. The Board said that it was a mistake, and the Idir officials left it alone, but started to closely monitor the account. Since then every thing was going smoothly until last month when the Board started to take measures to bring the Idir under its full control, which is in line with Woyanne’s modus operandi of controlling and dominating every thing with what ever means… – detailed reports will be posted shortly
Ethiopian Review introduces a new tool for its readers. You can now type Amharigna, Oromigna, Guragigna, Tigrigna and all the other Ethiopian languages on any computer with an Internet connection and Ge’ez Unicode fonts. All you have to do is go to this page
www.ethiopianreview.com/ethiopia/amharic.html
and start typing in the box. See the character map for reference.
You don’t have to install any software, but need to download a Ge’ez font, if you don’t have one already installed.
You can copy what you write, past and email it or save it on your word processing program such as Microsoft Word. You can also type your comments in Amharic and paste it in Ethiopian Review’s comments box or Forum to express your views in Amharic. See examples below.
የኢትዮጵያ ሊቃውንቶች
ዶክተር፣ ፕሮፌሰር፣ ጠቢብ ኢንጂነሮች. . .
ባለ ሁለት ዲግሪ፣ ባለ “ሦስት” እውቀቶች፣
ባለም ዙሪያ ያላችሁ እናንት የ”ጨው ዘሮች”…!
እስኪ ተሰብስቡ ባንድጋ ምከሩ፤
የኢትዮጵያን እጣ እድሏን ቀምሩ፤
“ሙጃሌ” ለማውጭያ፣ ለእሾኽ መመንገያ…
እስኪ “መርፌ” ስሩ!
እናንት ምሁራን የኢትዮጵያ ሊቆች፤
መሰረተ-ግኝት የገበሬ ልጆች፤
እስኪ ላባታችሁ ማረሻ ስሩለት!
እስኪ ለናታችሁ ወፍጮ ትከሉላት!
ከግል ጥቅም ዝና ከወረት ባሻገር፣
እስኪ ጥቂት ጊዜ ከፍላችሁ ለአገር፣
የእውቀታችሁ ውጤት መላችሁ ይሰንዘር!
በፈረንጅ መጽሔት የወጣው ዝናችሁ፣
እናንት የጭቁን ልጅ፣ መነሻ ቤታችሁ…
አዝማለችና… ሳትፈርስ በሕይወት፣
በዚህ ጭንቅ ጊዜ ቶሎ ድረሱላት፤
ከመቀመቅ ጉዞ ከጥፋት Aድኗት!
ሊቀ-ሊቃውንቶች አንቱ የተባላችሁ፣
በገበሬው ግብር ለዚህ የበቃችሁ፣
እስኪ ለአንድ አፍታ አስቡት ያንን ሕዝብ፣
በረሃብ፣ በስቃይ፣ ባምባገነን ጡጫ በግፍ ሲደበደብ…፤
“የናቴ መቀነት ጠልፎኝ ነው” ሳትሉ፣
ለፍትህ፣ ለእድገት… እስኪ መላ በሉ!
“ኦክስፎርድ”፣ “ሐርቫርድ”፣ የ “የል”. . . ምሩቃን፣
ባለማረግ ጀግኖች እናንት ሊሂቃን፣
እድሜ ልካችሁን ባእድ ስትገነቡ፣
ከገበሬው ጎጆ ጠልቃችሁ ሳትገቡ፣
ምን ተብሎ ይጻፍ? ሕይወት ታሪካችሁ፣
መጪው ምስኪን ትውልድ እንዴት ያስታውሳችሁ?!
በሣይንስ ቅምራ በሂሳብ ስሌቱ፣
በእደ-ጥበብ ዘርፉ በምጣኔ ሃብቱ…፣
የባእድ ጎተራ ጥቅጥቅ የምትሞሉ፣
ለእማማ ኢትዮጵያም እስኪ መላ በሉ!
ጌታችው አበራ
ሐምሌ 1999 ዓ.ም.
OPEN LETTER TO THE ETHIOPIAN PRIME MINISTER MR. MELES ZENAWI
[በኣማርኛ, pdf]
Mr. Meles Zenawi,
Prime Minister
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
August 8, 2007
Mr. Prime Minister,
The characteristic peculiar to our country, which distinguishes it from other countries, is the fact that it played an exemplary role in fiercely defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity at the time when powerful foreign powers were on the rampage to subjugate most lands on the globe.
Indeed, there have been periods in our history where our country had land mass many folds more than of the present one and trade relations and influence extending into the interior of the then neighboring Nubian Empire. This glaring history has been attested by innumerous literary works of ancient and modern scholars, both foreign and local origins.
Virtually, all Ethiopian governments prior to that of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front ( EPRDF ), although rightfully criticized for their autocratic and repressive leadership style, decidedly took preserving the unity and territorial integrity of the nation as their primary undertaking. Under their leadership, and largely because of it, our country repulsed powerful invaders such as the Ottoman Turks, Egyptians, Italians and Mahadists.
And it has now become the historical burden of this generation to carry on the great tradition of keeping the territorial integrity of the nation as the best way of commemorating the sacrifices of our forefathers. However, recent international media coverage of giving away another part of our country in the making is in circulation.
On July 4, 2007, the Sudan Tribune, under the title ‘Eastern Sudan farmers get back disputed lands from Ethiopia’, wrote, “A joint Sudanese-Ethiopian committee would start today to hand over agricultural lands to residents of more than 17 Sudanese villages located in eastern Atbara River along the Ethiopian-Sudanese border.”
The Sudan Tribune further reported that the governor of Al-Gadarif State, in eastern Sudan, Abdelrahman al-Khidir as saying, “… technical arrangements have been finished and a committee of seven experts from each side would give the Sudanese farmers their lands, pointing out that his government is ready to append these farmers with the current agricultural season. …with the end of the committee’s work which might last for a week, the lands would be back to their owners…that the final operation of border re-demarcating which might conclude after the autumn season would put an end for all kinds of security breaches and instability situation in the area.”
This clearly states that handing over the territory is already in advanced stages, and yet the Ethiopian government has not made any public statement of denying or sanctioning the report. It is extremely difficult to believe what type of package deal could make your government hide behind the screen of secretly negotiating and carving out a piece of our land to a foreign nation; and it is viciously wrong to keep the Ethiopian people in the dark on such most ominously crucial issue.
Not surprisingly, traumatized echoes are becoming progressively louder over this issue, inside and outside of the country, and at a time where the public is highly skeptical over anything that goes to the credibility of your government in preserving national unity and territorial integrity.
Ethiopians today are clamoring so desperately for answers to this crucial issue and we, groups of concerned Ethiopians, earnestly request your government to provide detailed account to the Ethiopian people regarding the alleged negotiations and the handing over the North Western part of Ethiopia to the Republic of the Sudan.
Respectfully,
Groups of Highly Concerned Ethiopians
CC
1. The Ethiopian House of People’s Representatives Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2. Amhara Kilil Administration, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
3. Beneshangul-Gumuz Kilil Administration, Assosa, Ethiopia
4. North Gondar Administration, Gondar, Ethiopia
5. South Gondar Administration, Debretabor, Ethiopia
6. All Ethiopian Opposition Political Organizations
By Donald N. Levine, University of Chicago
My title “An Ethiopian Dilemma” stands to evoke an association to the book by Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma, which played a signal role in helping Americans resolve their longstanding conflict of values regarding racial discrimination. My hope is to suggest ways in which a social scientist, and a ferinj at that, might help Ethiopians get a better grip on their country’s problems.
Although work by social scientists gets valued often for methods of securing more reliable data, there are three other ways in which our disciplines provide more objective analyses. One is to locate current issues in a larger historical context. One is to bring to bear sharper theoretical tools. And one is to undertake comparative analyses. Here I shall offer suggestions in all three modes.
First, to history. Not since the 16th Century has Ethiopia experienced changes so convulsive as in the past fifty years. The 16th-century changes were instigated by the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Suleiman, who gave arms and soldiers to satellite state Adal under Ahmad Grañ. Grañ assassinated the rightful Harari ruler Sultan Abu Beker Mohammed and abrogated the Islamic doctrine that Ethiopia was a righteous land to be spared jihad. His attacks destroyed vast stretches of highland Ethiopia and created a vacuum that invited Oromo peoples to conquer vast parts of the country, initiating the chronically contested multiethnic rulership of the Ethiopian state. Turks later invaded Ethiopia directly and wrested away Ethiopia’s historic coastal strip, paving the way for conflict three centuries later.
20th-century turbulence likewise stemmed from invasions: first Sudan, then Italy–twice. These invasions pushed Ethiopia toward deliberate programs of internal change, what sociologists call “defensive modernization.” One way or another, however, a push toward modernization was inevitable, given steady engulfment by a global civilization. What was not inevitable was how Ethiopia faced the challenges of becoming modern… [read more]
Another high-level delegation of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit) led by Ato Muluneh Eyoel will tour Europe starting on August 20.
The five-member delegation includes Ato Muluneh Eyoel, Secretary General, and executive committee members Dr Yacho Hailemariam, Ato Abayneh Berhanu, Ato Kifle Tigneh, and Ato Aschalew Ketema.
The letter signed by Kinijit chairman Hailu Shawel specifies that the delegation’s tour is being coordinated and organized by the European and African Council of Kinijit Support Groups.
The Council said [በኣማርኛ, pdf] that details of the tour, such as itineraries, will be announced shortly.
