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[Zmeselo]

Emperor Halie Selassie to be canonized as a saint

July 23, 2019

Ejersa Goro, Harar

Mulugeta Haile

https://www.zehabesha.com/emperor-halie ... s-a-saint/

For the 127th birthday of Emperor Haile Selassie, Abuna Selama, the Archbishop of the Harar region had instructed the heads of the 53 churches in his archdiocese to hold special prayers and to speak about the contributions of the Emperor to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Melak Sahal, chief administrator of the 53 churches, said:

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church never forgets the Emperor’s contribution to our ancient church’s glory. Today, on his birthday, we will still talk more about his astounding contributions.

Melak Selam Tebebu, head of the St Trinity Church in Harar, despite his health, came out to celebrate the Emperor’s birthday and said,

It is not we who give a testimony for the Emperor’s inputs, but his colossal and exceptional works which they speak volumes to save our preaching.

Jorge Mandes, who came for the occasion from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said:

People of Harar are friendly and warm like the Emperor’s approach to humanity. Out of humanity, the Emperor advocated for the survival of mankind in the international arena.

Jorge Mandes, has recently built a tabernacle, ‘Selassie House’, in his home town, Rio de Janeiro. His younger daughter, Nayana Mendes attending services at St Kidan Mehert Church in Harar, said:

My father taught me a lot about Emperor Haile Selassie’s role in the world and I grew up with great history of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and now here I am celebrating the Emperor’s birthday in Harar with my father.

This morning, Melak Sebatu Bekalu, head of Ejersa Goro Churuch, said,

Hamlae 16(July 23) is an appropriate day to honor the legacies of the Emperor. One day, Ejersa Goro, a birth place of the Emperor will be an international town as the result of the Emperor’s repetition.

Priest Moges, head of Kombolcha Church, said,

Kombolcha, Harar is a depository of the Emperor’s childhood history. A high moral ground of the Emperor was groomed right here in his early learning period.

SID-Ethiopia, Stand for Integrated Development Ethiopia, an NGO based in Harar sent a message to the holy synod of the Ethiopia Orthodox Church in Addis Ababa, which stated that the Emperor’s legacies qualified him to be canonized as a saint like King Lalibela, the 12th century Ethiopia’s leader.

It is to be noted that in 1965, the Emperor was honored by five Oriental Orthodox Churches: Egypt, Syria, India, and Armenia as a “Defender of the Faith”, similar to ‘Saint’ for his unwavering commitment being a voice of morality which is absent in today’s world leaders. Through his guidance, the Emperor helped to bring the above churches’ leaders around table for the first time after 431 A.D.

A long awaited debt of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church remained at large as he was the one who liberated it from Egyptian direct rule after 1600 long years. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church gained its full independence in 1959 with the proven diplomacy skill of the Emperor. This alone meets the criteria of recognition of sainthood.

As an apostle, the Emperor expanded the Ethiopia Orthodox Church’s philosophy in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, St.Tomas, St. Kitts, the United Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Guyana, South Africa, Sudan, and Djibouti through his messenger, Abuna Yesehaq, posthumously called St Yesehaq by his disciples, the Jamaican Orthodox.

The Emperor inspired millions of Rastafarians throughout the world to be more Ethiopian than the Ethiopians themselves. According to study, the majority of Ethiopian youth today would prefer to be identified with their ethnicities rather than Ethiopian nationality. How can one run a country without the sense of nationality? If the western embassies in Addis Ababa offered visas, no single youth would remain in Ethiopia today. The country is like an open prison for the youth whose mind and soul abroad, but for the Rastafarian Ethiopia is remained to be a holy ground.

In conclusion, the legacies of Haile Selassie that were eclipsed for 45 years in Ethiopia have finally shined at his birthday through the shadows of the Harar region. Despite ethnic tensions over the cloud of Ethiopia, the Emperor’s legacies still shed light rather than shadow.

History has bestowed eight vitals upon Ethiopia since the 1930s, seven to the Emperor Haile Selassie and one to his adversaries who dragged Ethiopia first to communism and now to tribalism.

Happy 127th birthday!

[Zmeselo]

Bloodline Politics in Ethiopia and its destructive power


PM Abiy Ahmed during his appearance in parliament in early July of this year.

By Wegene Demeke (PhD)

https://borkena.com/2019/07/24/bloodlin ... ive-power/

July 24, 2019

The honeymoon of the government of Dr Abye is now over. The business, as usual, is now truly started; the mass arrest, the lack of due process, the terrorism law has been resurrected and used on people who have different or critical voices to the government. The right indicator is that this law is used on the members of the Balderass movement lead by the journalist and human rights defender Eskendir Nega. This group has no intention or aim to hold government power.

I see a danger when a leader thinks that he knows it all, any field, from philosophy, economy, religion, education, medicine to law. When a leader summoned almost all professions from artists, politicians, to medical doctors telling them about their profession what they should and should not do must worry many professionals. Ethiopia’s problems are complex; you need all experts, elders, traders and farmers to work together to bring about lasting peace and democracy in the country.

The danger created by bringing in all independent voices to the government side, who stand against tyranny in the past is Abye’s perfect strategy to neutralise any sensible critical voices. These independent voices become part of the government, have access to government officials, have their channel to the government that they will express their critical voices discreetly. As Professor Berhanu informed us, they have passed their concern through the appropriate channel to the government of Ethiopia.

It is clear where the main point of argument by those who recently joined the government including ESAT who are staunch supporters of Abye’s Government; for the greater good, for building of democracy and the continuation of Ethiopia as a country, we have to tolerate some level of human right violation by Dr Abye’s government. This makes those supporters accessories to human rights violation. The more they stay in the government, the less acceptable they become an independent defender of human rights. The mass arrest, after the alleged coup, is a reminder of the TPLF era. If they are silent now, or claims that they have advised/consulted/warned the government, does not mean much for the cause for defending human rights in the country. As the human right violation continues, it contaminated these individuals, and their influence reduce to the extent they will be irrelevant to the struggle to establish a democratic nation or even to hold the country together as we know it. The good indicator of the erosion of trust and support in the past few months clearly show that ESAT becomes irrelevant in the struggle as it becomes the new Fana.

There are some politicians that their relationship with Ethiopian people can only be explained as host and a parasite relationship. Dr Abye’s treatment of this politician, letting them live on the public expense to create peace is justifiable for some. However, that politician accepted to leave on the taxpayers, mind you the money is collected from the farmers and traders, that they always claim they fought for and represent. This is an immoral act accepted and executed by the government. These immoral politicians have a justification for their immoral act, you can make a living by creating chaos.

This appeasing strategy by Abye’s government is not going to help, for how long you continue to support these politicians is to be seen. The logical argument is that these politicians will continue to create chaos to sustain their lifestyle. Their comfortable life is based on the existing of continued problems, that they will continue in this strategy to maintain their significant role in creating a chaotic condition in the country. They will use their influence to hold the government hostage.

Abye’s strategy of bringing all critical voices to his side, by offering government posts, or by creating new organisation such as the Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund removes all critical voices. The impact created by this strategy resulted in the split of ESAT. One thing should be clear to all; there is no change in the main structure of the political system in Ethiopia.

These dissenting voices brought to the government side, for example, the election commissioner, Birtkan Mideksa, is powerless to exercise the office’s primary function in all regions. Dr Daniel of the Ethiopian Human commission can not investigate human right violation in Tigray, Oromia or any other regions without the blessings of the regional administrators. Many of the board members of the Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund are human rights defenders, with an impeccable record of voicing the inhuman treatment of the Ethiopian people. However, once they become the insiders, once they think they have access to power, completely stop defending the human right, at worst these makes them accessories to the human rights violation.

Those who have joined Abye’s government should ask themselves two main questions. For how long they will tolerate the human rights violations in the government before they start voicing. What they should have asked before they joined the government is what are the minimum organisational capabilities that they must have to be real on what they can do to bring a democratic system. The core point is that the current Ethiopian political structure will not allow the implementation of the changes required to bring about democratic change.

Ethiopia has a huge structural problem to sort itself out and build a functioning democratic government. The political system that is defined on bloodline, where ownership of the land is demarcated based on the same principle is a cause for conflict. What we are witnessing at the moment in Sidamo is a demonstration of the political system. You can be born, raised, and build your fortune there if you are not Sidama (you are mete [መጤ]), as the claim goes “Sidamo for the Sidama” is the moto, your bloodline matters.

The bloodline politics is Abye’s principal guideline, that is why he declares war on Balderas. Balderas stand against this principle that is why their representatives are in prison. The government is now following a twin-track security strategy. The bloodline politicians and their associates are going free even if they are committed severe crimes. Good examples are twenty banks robbed; many were uprooted from the place they call home or worst killed; all this initiated by these politicians ( who follow bloodline politics) and their associates; the government response is to negotiate with robbers and killers (Shemagle melake). Whereas if your principle is against a bloodline politics, you will be in prison (Balderas is a good example). This trend will continue in the future, wait until Professor Berhanu’s new party becomes a significant player, will face a similar fate like Balderas.

Long live Ethiopia!

The writer can be reached on wdemeke@mail.com