The Co-ordinating Committee of Ethiopian Communities
August 4, 2005
The Ethiopian Community in the United Kingdom and in particular the community in London has been greatly shocked by the despicable terrorist mayhem that took place on July 7.
Our Community has been more disturbed by the continuity of terrorist action as that attempted on July 21. We are issuing this statement out of our collective concern on what has happened on and since July 7, and the subsequent information issued by the authorities that there might be more groups lurking within the broader community marking their time to take more terror actions against the wider community.
The Ethiopian Community would like to express its unreserved condemnation of all forms of terrorist actions initiated and executed by anyone in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, whatever the cause for contemplating such actions.
The Ethiopian Community at large would like to reassure the Home Secretary that it strongly supports the actions taken by the police, the government and local authorities in pursuing and putting under control all those involved in causing the July 7 loss of life, destruction of property and disturbance of the peace in London, and the July 21 repeat attempt.
It is a collective and individual aspiration of members of our community to positively contribute to the society we have been well received and given opportunities to contribute in a positive and constructive way. Despite the comparatively recent emergence of our Community as an element in the wider spectrum of ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom, its Ethiopian origins and cultural roots, has started to be visible in the running of small businesses, working in the services industry and a very limited number ascending to the level of the professions. However, the Community is extremely concerned by the implied links of the July terror groups with Ethiopia and Ethiopians in one form or another. While terrorist actions are completely alien to our community, it acknowledges the need to co-operate fully with the authorities and the public to, both, uproot such tendencies that may exist, or dispel allegations that may have been made by circumstantial evidences or personal associations.
The Ethiopian Community has its roots in the diverse culture that draws from Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Until very recently, when religious cohesion and coexistence was transversed by ethnic divisions as a policy of governance, the population has been inter-linked in its history, belief systems, culture, and language. Stability in our community has been so reassuring that there was no cause for concern about what may be considered ‘the devious side of youth culture’. Religious fanaticism of any variation was not entertained at all if not out-rightly despised.
Implications made on Ethiopia and people of Ethiopian decent, in relation to the recent terrorist activities has seriously concerned our community. This statement is issued to the media and the general pubic to express the commitment of the Ethiopian Community to stand against evil in any form that it manifests in the society that we live in.
Our community hopes that public and the media would accept this statement as a positive and constructive initiative of co-operation with the government, police, local authorities and the wider public, to flush out any and all evil individuals or groups that may be embedded in our community or loosely associated with it. The Ethiopian Community appreciates the good work that the Metropolitan Police are doing against all active and latent terrorist activists.
The Community expresses its condolence to all the families affected in the July 7 atrocities.
Issued by The Co-ordinating Committee of Ethiopian Communities.* London
ECB, TEL. 020-7794 4265; ECCUK, TEL. 020-8801 9224; & ECL, TEL. 020-7207 4523.