I respect your perspective and concern. I found another interesting story forwarded to me and I felt compelled to share it with you.
As we try to comprehend the challenges of Alqaeda masquerading as the Plight of Muslims in the Horn, here is the real challenge of geography, boundary, ports and global climate change.
I look for your perspective on this critical issue that is exposing to unrelenting famine and security challenges.
As usual, it is better to be informed and make appropriate analysis and readiness to respond to our impending dangers as a community and a people (80 Million self-landlocked people) where our own Djibutians and Eritreans and Somalis have declared to make ours, now (their) portes in accessible to our needy people.
Are the Horn Alqaeda Networks making the ports in accessible or charging us too high prices in our security, resources and personal wealth to access the prots?
I am not even sure about this and would like to learn from you: Haile Sellassie I and AAUniversity Alumni
This is a genuine request to be edcuated and any one can respond.
Can we or should we tolerate this? Do we have options and alternatives?
Let us see what we can do to change these hopeless situiations. Our generations intentionally or due to delinquency or incompetence handed over Jibouti in 1977 and the Red Sea Coast in 1991, what more are we handing over due to our short sighted ness and incompetence? I want to learn more!
The next generation will judge us harshly than we did to our predecessors! the time has come to be counted and do some thing that change s the current paradigm of hopelessness?
All the same, here are the facts:
Landlocked Countries: Higher Transport Costs, Delays, Less Trade
Available in: Español, العربية, Français
Website: Trade and CompetitivenessRelated Links
Report: Cost of Being Landlocked Website: Logistics Performance Index Website: Global Facilitation Partnership for Transportation and Trade
Bottlenecks in neighboring countries’ ports, not road quality, main reason for trade problems.
Delays at border crossings also add to shipment time.
Bank’s goal is to simplify logistics.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 16, 2008— High prices have hit many countries around the world, but landlocked developing countries bear an extra burden.
Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Burundi, and other countries without a port pay more and wait longer for imported oil, food, and other goods.
And they have an equally hard time exporting, with the result that they trade less and grow more slowly than their coastal neighbors.
Being landlocked is a major reason why 16 of the world’s 31 landlocked developing countries are among the poorest in the world, say three World Bank economists working on trade logistics issues.
Overcoming Geographical Disadvantages
The World Bank, United Nations, landlocked and donor countries are working together to try to reduce barriers to trade, growth, and development faced by the least developed landlocked countries. Experts met early this month in New York to assess progress in the 10-year Almaty program, launched in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 2003.
The program calls on countries to make transit and border regulations more transparent, streamline administrative procedures, and further simplify border control and procedures. It also underscores the importance of regional and sub-regional collaborative efforts in developing efficient transit transport systems.
The World Bank is helping by financing projects and technical assistance to make trade and transporting goods easier. It’s also contributing research, such as the Cost of Being Landlocked study and the Logistics Performance Index.
The Bank also supports global and regional initiatives, such as the Global Facilitation Partnership for Transportation and Trade. The Bank’s work shows that landlocked economies are affected by the high cost of freight services as well as the high degree of unpredictability in transportation time.
The main sources of costs are not only physical constraints but also widespread corruption and severe flaws in the implementation of transit systems, which prevent the emergence of reliable logistics services.
Gael Raballand and Jean-Francois Marteau of the Africa transport division, and Jean-Francois Arvis of the trade division of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management network (PREM), are trying to find ways to fix some of the trade problems that contribute to keeping landlocked least-developed countries (LLDCs) stuck in a low-growth pattern.
Their 2007 study, “The Cost of Being Landlocked: Logistics Costs and Supply Chain Reliability,” says that the condition of roads isn’t the main reason for inefficient and costly transport. Infrastructure improvements alone won’t solve the problem, they say.
“Many people said for many years that better infrastructure would solve the issue of the cost of being landlocked,” says Raballand. “But now we know we have to work more and more in coastal countries because the most important problem lies in ports and how to get goods out of them.”
Other problems include border delays, cartels in the trucking industry, multiple clearance processes, and bribe-taking, all of which keep transport costs artificially high,.
Goods Take ‘Twice as Long’ to Exit Ports
It can take “twice as long” for imports to exit ports than to actually travel from port to destination. In all, it can take four to six weeks for goods for goods to reach some landlocked countries from coastal countries, says Marteau..
Goods destined for landlocked countries sit longer in ports than domestically bound goods, and they also are subject to “multiple lengthy clearance systems on most corridors.”
“From what we have seen, the uncertainty in ports is extremely high, and it affects the whole rest of the trip,” says Marteau.
Goods bound for Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi spend an average of five days more (25 versus 20 days) in Tanzania’s Dar Es Salaam port than domestically bound goods. The same is true for goods shipped through Mombasa, Kenya, says the study.
Inefficient port processes in Douala, Cameroon, contribute to the delays and high cost of transporting goods to N’Djaména in Chad, 2,000 km from the sea.
The five-week journey over rail and road requires seven documents and suffers from poor and fragmented trucking services, widespread “rent-seeking resulting in many checkpoints,” security problems, and weak customs administration in Chad, according to a 2006 diagnostic trade integration study.
In Africa and Central Asia, goods bound for landlocked countries face at least three “clearance” processes, while coastal countries face only one. The first one is the Port.
The second happens at borders. It usually takes more than 24 hours to cross the Kenya-Uganda border. In Southern Africa, border delays between South Africa and Zimbabwe reached six days in 2003. In Central Asia, trucks can face a delay of three days at the Uzbek border.
A final delay occurs when goods are finally cleared in the capital city in the landlocked country.
“Ultimately, transit goods will have gone through three to four clearance processes, while coastal countries face only one,” says the Landlocked Countries study.
Shipping Costs and Food Prices
Shipping costs are also a key component of food prices, and are “generally far higher” for many low-income countries than for industrialized OECD countries, according to a World Bank paper on rising food prices released during the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings earlier this month.
Trucking operators in oil-importing countries, such as landlocked Zambia, for instance, were already paying as much as 50 percent more for fuel than in other countries of the region even before the recent oil price jumps.
Unpredictability a Problem
Delays increase costs and the uncertainty of delivery—and that’s as big a problem as a lengthy transport process, the study says.
The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, based on feedback from shippers around the world, indicates that in terms of trade, reliability is as important as how quickly a good reaches its destination.
The Landlocked Country study finds that uncertainty forces companies to turn to more reliable expensive transport, such as planes, or invest in large inventories—as much as a year’s supply.
Bank Focuses on Cutting Time and Uncertainty
Other factors drive up costs, such as cartels in the trucking industry in both landlocked and coastal countries and also bribe-taking.
“Facilitation payments” are a “serious problem” on some corridors. Roadblocks in West Africa add 10 percent to overheads and may occur every 30 km, or even more frequently.
Corruption may also be severe at border crossings, says the study. A Kyrgyz truck entering Uzbekistan has to pay up to US$700 to cross the border, a quarter of which are unofficial costs.
Streamlining the import-export process could lower costs to consumers and enhance a nation’s ability to trade, grow, and encourage investment, says Raballand. But such change faces hurdles.
“The problem with the system is you have huge vested interests. Many people extract rents in the current system—and you’re talking millions of dollars.”
Reducing customs duties could probably simplify the logistics system but isn’t easy because customs duties make up a large portion of government revenues in landlocked countries, says Raballand. The other option is to cut time and uncertainty as much as possible.
“Cutting costs implies looking at the way services are done,” says Marteau. “We know that there are ways to reduce costs, but we don’t know if the savings will be passed on to the consumer. That’s why we tried to focus more on the time issue, because that’s something that benefits everybody. Normally, this reduction in time should result in reduction in cost factors and transport costs eventually. But there are many ifs.
Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPHGlobal Strategic Enterprises, Inc. 4 Peace & ProsperityWin-win synergestic Partnership 4P&P-focusing on 5Es: Education+Energy+Ecology+Economy+Enterpriseswww.Globalbelai4u.blogspot.com; Globalbelai@yahoo.com C: 703.933.8737; F: 703.531.0545
--- On Tue, 6/17/08, A. Debebe
From: A. Debebe
Subject: Re: [Addis-Ababa-University-Alumni-Association] FW: Islam in the Horn
To: Addis-Ababa-University-Alumni-Association@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 7:37 AM
Any relation this article has with the Sudan getting the land that does not belong to it, such as, getting the heart and soul of the Muslims not to participate in any unity against the land offer to the Sudan.
Sometimes the western journals ( and journalists) are myopic when an article comes from any person with a money that refutes history, even if the core idea in the article is intended to kill their mother. The act of this journal in this case is like the tale of the donkey we learnt when we were 5 years of age.
--- On Tue, 6/17/08, Damtew Teferra
From: Damtew Teferra
Subject: Re: [Addis-Ababa- University- Alumni-Associati on] FW: Islam in the Horn
To: Addis-Ababa- University- Alumni-Associati on@yahoogroups. com
Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 7:11 AM
Selam all,
"Wushet sidegagem ewnet yihonal endilu"...we need to take this matter seriously and actually write directly to the site owners. Historians among us would do a better job. This reminds me of the discussion we had on the journal article on Ethiopian IQ that used Beth-Israel (Falashas) based in Israel.
I remember writing this article to the editors of the journal which prompted them to publish counter piece on subsequent issues http://www.addisvoi ce.com/news/ flawed.htm).
I actually read the editorial policy of the site which states: "Editorial Policy: Report Abuse or Policy Violations
We have a strict editorial policy and affirmatively seek articles that promote diversity and tolerance. We are not a forum for articles that promote hatred, racial or ethnic strife, homophobia, or intolerance of any kind. We have over 100,000 articles and over 3,000 contributors to our site.
If you believe an article on one of our sites violates our Editorial Board Contributor Policy, send us specific information about how and why the article violates our policy to this email address. Identify the author, article link, article number (available in the URL), and paragraph. Please provide specific information about how and why the article violates our policy.
However, if you simply disagree with the author about the points being made in the article, or if you wish to compliment or comment to the author directly about content of the article, then you are welcome to write the author directly by using the "author's email" link available in the biography box adjacent to the article."
The author claims that he is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on the site where the article appears and such kind of pitiable reporting would not make either institutions proud if not embarrassing.
Damtew
| On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:25:12 -0700 (PDT)
| solomon dejene
| Selam all,
| Thank you Helen for your critical questions. Primarily I found it distressing that the American Chrocnicle allows such articles to be published on its site without checking whether the points raised in the content are historically verifiable.
Most of the points the author mentioned are that of the 2oth century which can be easily checked on one of the Encyclopedias. Of course, Ethiopia is one out of the many poor countries that live on hand outs from among other the United States of America. Publishing such an article may not have any influence whatsoever on the institute or company that owns the site. So, why worry.
| Ok back to the point, even if I do not have so much doubt on the percentage of Moslims in Ethiopia, I do not share most of the ideas of Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi. It is also a common phenomenon in Wello, Gurage and Arsi, people switch from one religion to another. Even in one family you will have people who belong to different religions. But the danger of such presentations is the distorted historical facts.
In his presentation he mentioned the war/invasion of Ahmed Gragn, the 1964 and the 1967 Ethio-Somali conflicts along with the 2006 + intervension of Ethiopia in Somalia. A number of the statements he made tendentious and historically not true. The sad thing is that such I will not react in detail on such points but just put forth the points that are untrue even for the lay observer:
| "In 1977, Somalis retaliates and occupied 60% of Ethiopian land and even gone
| close to Addis Ababa in 18 kilometers."
| "In similar manner Oromo is facing insult and pressure from Ethiopian government,
| where they don´t get proper share in the government and even their children are not
| allowed to attend the universities in Addis Ababa."
| "Melese Sanawi selected Christian man from Oromo to be Ethiopian President.
| He overlooked the Muslim majority of Oromo, because, simply, he does not want
| Muslim. This shows that Ethiopian government is not killing all Oromo but only the
| Muslims because of their believe in the Greater Islam."
| "90% of Oromo practice Islam as fundamental religion..."
| "Ahmed Guray freed many parts of Ethiopia from the emperors who restricted the
| freedom of the people... captured more than 50% of Ethiopian highlands, which
| accelerated the number of Ethiopians embracing Islam." please read this against the
| statement he made earlier that says, "Ahmed Guray, who was an Arab, led full-scale
| war against Abyssinia" (If he is an Arab what does he do in Ethiopia? Why should he invade in the first place the High Lands of Ethiopia if they were Christians?
|
| The article seems to be written more out of ressentment than critical reflection. Even if the author might think that the historical facts he wrote would be true, his presentation are both partial and partisan. The only purpose of such an article is in my view to divide people along mostly religious line. His appeal to the Oromo quest is also in my view very superficial. He does not also have the overall picture of the political situation of current Ethiopia.
| All in all, it is far from academic away from any journalistic ethics. I would rather not forward such articles. It only sends wrong signals to people.
| Selam lehulachin
|
|
|
|
| helen ayele
| Selam,
|
| I have many doubts on this article Let's start from the beginning it says the musilim number is 40% . Amusing how come it reaches to this big number? what was his reference to say this?. where comes this imagination from? by which formula is the musilim number increases? and why not the number of Christian's decline while the number of population of Ethiopia increases .
i know also the number of mosques is greater than the number of churches in addis ababa.any ways i have seen many many false things in this article..i wonder if one Ethiopians reads this article and say this writer has wrote one true thing.
|
| Yours
|
| H.
|
|
| ----- Original Message ----
| From: Belai FM Habte-Jesus
| To: Addis-Ababa- University- Alumni-Associati on@yahoogroups. com
| Cc: nwMariam@yahoo. com; globalbelai@ yahoo.com; adm@Aigaforum. com; Ben EthiopiaFirst
| Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 3:45:23 AM
| Subject: Re: [Addis-Ababa- University- Alumni-Associati on] FW: Islam in the Horn
|
|
| Please find below a very interesting article posted in the American Chronicle and would seek your comments on its veracity and its implication.
|
| with regards
|
| Dr B
|
| http://www.american chronicle. com/articles/ 65083
|
| Islam in the Horn of Africa
|
| Abdulazez Al-Motairi
|
|
| June 15, 2008
|
| Presently, Islam is the most widely practiced religion
| in the Horn of Africa, including Somalia, Ethiopia,
| Djibouti, and Eretria. Some of today's Muslims in the
| region had their ancestors converted from Christianity
| and others had theirs migrated from the Arab
| peninsula. Ethnically, these Muslims belong to
| different tribes, such as Somalis, Oromo, Afar, and
| others and they mainly speak Cushitic Language.
|
| Today, Somalia and Djibouti are predominantly Muslim
| and Ethiopia has about 40 percent and Eretria 50
| Percent Muslim Population. In Eretria most Muslims
| belong to Jabarti tribe and many of them are
| descendants of Arab tribes.
Some major Somali tribes | have Arab roots like Isaaq, of Iraqi roots, and
| Daarood, of Yemeni roots. The region had historical
| trade and economic relations with Arabs in the gulf
| including Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman in addition
| UAE.
|
| History of Islam in the region
|
| Islam and Somalis
|
| Beginning of Salafi Group in Somalia
|
| Islam-o-phobia of Ethiopia
|
| Islam vs. Ethiopian Emperors
|
|  History of Islam in the region
|
| Islamic history reveals the first Muslim immigration
| by Sahaba (apostles) of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) to
| Ethiopia to save their religion from "Idol worshipers"
| in Makka of Arab decedents on 615 AD. Sahaba were
| forced to leave their homes in Makka due to pressure
| and killing by the Arabs of Makka.
|
| The King of Abyssinian (Habash) Nagashi welcomed the
| Sahaba to his kingdom and permitted them to teach and
| preach their religion in Habash.
Even, Nagashi turned | down the request of Arab delegate from Makka who
| demanded extradition of the Sahaba. Some Ethiopians
| embraced Islam at the hands of the Sahaba who stayed
| in Habash many years until Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)
| asked them to come back to their homeland. The
| spreading of Islam stopped for a while after Sahaba
| returned to Makka.
|
| Islamic History says first Islamic Funeral prayer in
| absentee was performed by Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) from
| Madina on body of Nagashi (The King of Abyssinia)
| after his death in Harare City, Ethiopia.
|
| Islam entered Ethiopia as primary believe in the 16th
| Century by Arab traders and preachers, which led 65%
| of Ethiopians to embrace Islam. This created fear in
| the Ethiopian Church who later considered the Muslims
| as the principal threat to their existence.
|
| In 16th and beginning of 17th Century, Islamic State
| of ADAL was announced by Somalis and Arabs led by
| Warrior Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Ghazi known (Ahmed Guray).
| Ahmed Guray, who was an Arab, led full-scale war
| against Abyssinia and defeated them. Ahmed Guray army
| captured more than 50% of Ethiopian highlands, which
| accelerated the number of Ethiopians embracing Islam.
| Ahmed Guray received support from Othman Emperor
| (known Turkey) and King Saeed Barqash of Sultanate of
| Oman.
|
| The bad feeling of Ethiopian Church towards Muslims
| increased very sharply, and after they failed to stop
| Ahmed Guray and his army; they appealed to Portugal
| for support. Ahmed Guray continued a chain of
| victories against Abyssinian army for about two
| decades. History says that Ahmed Guray dead during
| fighting with Portugal forces who arrived to support
| Ethiopia. The widow of Ahmed Guray, called Bati Del
| Wambara overtook the leadership of ADAL and continued
| the fighting.
|
| ADAL's headquarter was located in Zayla, the coast
| town connecting between Djibouti and Somaliland. ADAL
| collapsed awhile after the death of Ahmed Guray. This
| gave the Ethiopians the chance to recapture back the
| land they lost to ADAL without resistance.
|
| Also, Arabs preached Islam in neighboring Kenya and
| Tanzania. The King of Oman Saeed founded strong bases
| in the coast areas including Mombasa, Kenya and
| Zanzibar of Tanzania. Somalis are part of 30% of
| Kenyan Muslims mainly in the Northern Regions and
| Coast Areas. In Tanzania the Muslims form 50%.
|
|  Islam and Somalis:
|
| Somali, the name is derived from the Somali word (Soo
| Maal), which means milking the livestock. Somali is
| basically a Cushitic language spoken in many countries
| including Somalia, Ethiopian, Djibouti and Kenya as
| primary and official languages. Somali speaking
| population is about 10 million.
|
| Somalia is the only country in the world that is 100%
| Muslim. Somalia Muslims are all Sunnis who practice
| the Shaafi faith. The people living in Somalia speak
| Somali and Arabic in addition to Rahanwayn language in
| the south of Somalia.
|
| There are about four major tribes in Somalia including
| Hawiye, Isaaq, Daarood and Rahanwayn. Isaac, Daarood
| and Hawiye have Arabian roots, where Darood are the
| children of Darood Ismail Jabarti, who was from
| southern Yemen, Isaac are the children of Sheikh Isaaq
| bin Ahmed who was from Mosul, Iraq. Hawiyo is
| combination of different groups but mainly from Yemen.
|
|
| Islam entered Somalia and Ethiopian within first ten
| centuries of the Georgian calendar by Arab traders and
| Preachers. Somalis, after the collapse of ADAL,
| attended Arabian universities mainly Egyptian Al-Azhar
| University. The relation between the Arabs and Somalis
| had grown stronger particularly with Yemen and
| Sultanate of Oman.
|
| After western colonizers divided Somalia into five
| main parties leaving Djibouti with France, Somaliland
| with British, South Somalia with Italy, and Reserve
| Area with Ethiopia in addition to NFD with Kenya. The
| occupation of these areas happen different times,
| Britain sold Reserve Area and NFD to Ethiopia and
| Kenya in 20th Century.
|
| Some of Al-Azhar University Graduates arrived back
| home including Sayed Abdullah Hassan, nick named The
| Mad Mullah. He was not wise man and started armed
| struggle against British. He tried to overtake some
| parties of Somaliland mainly Hawd Area. British
| disbanded his army by air bombing. The Mad Mullah dead
| during the air bombing by British.
|
| Sayed Abdullah Hassan (the Mad Mulla) was Sufist and
| convinced many Somalis to practice the Sufi faith.
| Sufi faith permits Spiritual attainment in Islam,
| where Muslim is allowed to pray to Allah via another
| religious person. But Salafi Group, also called
| Wahabist in Somalia, rejects the idea of attainment.
| Salafi or Wahabist faith entered Somalia about four
| decades ago.
|
|  Beginning of Salafi Group in Somalia:
|
| Until 1960´s majority of Somalis practiced Sufi faith
| of Islam that had wide respect among Somali tribes.
| Somalis consider Sufi faith as less violent compare to
| Salafi faith.
|
| The Qur'an was taught using Somali language as the
| people were unfamiliar with Arabic. Somalis use to
| write Qur'an on wooden sheet like instrument using ink
| made of traditional Somali coal. Such practices
| remains active until now but with less percentage.
|
|
| In mid 1970s the Salafi faith of Islam was introduced
| in Somalia by Somali students graduated from Saudi
| Arabian Islamic universities. The students started
| teaching the Nobel Qur'an and gradually gained very
| wide popularity across Somalia.
|
| In less than ten years, the Salafi faith replaced Sufi
| faith; the leaders of the mosques turn into Salafi,
| and Sufi faith started disappearing slowly until
| today. The Salafi faith had strong relation with their
| counterparts in else where in the world mainly Saudi
| Arabia.
|
| After 1977, Salafi revolution in Somalia spread into
| the neighboring countries like Ethiopia and formed an
| armed group called Al-Itahad Al-Islamiya, with their
| main aim is to liberate Somali dominated areas in
| Ethiopia from Ethiopian occupation.
|
| Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and Al-Shabab were product
| of Al-Itahad Al-Islamiya, as major senior leaders in
| both ICU and Al-Shabab are co-founders of Al-Itahad
| Al-Islamiya.
|
| Today, Salafi faith is widely practiced inside
| Somalia, and with very high speed. The youth and
| middle age follow Salafi faith except the elderly who
| still practice the Sufi faith. Majority of the mosques
| in Somalia is led by Salafi preachers.
|
|  Islam-o-phobia in Ethiopia:
|
| After collapse of ADAL, Kingdom of Abyssinia put
| pressure to Muslim and forced many of them to return
| to Christianity. The kingdom did not allow the Muslims
| to practice their religion in public, where prayers
| were performed in-house only. Muslims were not allowed
| officially to travel to Makka to perform Hajj until
| 1974, after military coup led by Migusto Haile Mariam.
| Mariam ordered freedom of religion and allowed Muslims
| to perform Hajj. Muslims in Eritrea were under similar
| condition.
|
| Today, more than half of Ethiopians are devout
| Muslims, mainly in the outlying regions, and in the
| Eastern Lowlands.
|
| Traditionally, the status of Islam has been far from
| equal with that of Christianity. However, the emperor
| Haile Selassie gave audiences to Muslim leaders and
| made overtures in response to their concerns, and
| under the Derg even more was done to give at least
| symbolic parity to the two faiths. Nevertheless, the
| perception of Ethiopia as "an island of Christianity
| in a sea of Islam" has continued to prevail among both
| highland Ethiopians and foreigners.
|
| In 1964, Ethiopian Christian leaders attacked Somalia
| in a plan to end the Islamic presence in the region.
| At that time, Somalia was only four years old without
| proper military and government institutions. But
| overall this, Somalis defend their country very
| bravely and forced Ethiopia to retrieve. This was the
| first religious war between Ethiopia and Somalia.
|
| In 1977, Somalis retaliates and occupied 60% of
| Ethiopian land and even gone close to Addis Ababa in
| 18 kilometers. The objective of Somalis was to return
| the Reserve Area illegally sold by British to
| Ethiopia. Ethiopia was unable to stop the Somalis. And
| as usually, Ethiopia pleaded to international support,
| and received military support of Russia and Cuba.
| Russia-Cuba Alliance forced the Somali military to go
| back into Somalia border.
|
| In 2006, Ethiopian invaded Somalia on the bases of
| similar background. Ethiopia always considers the
| Somali Islamist as #1 enemy. Ethiopia saw the Islamic
| Courts Union (ICU), as the new threat to their
| national unity; Ethiopian Prime Minister Melese Zanawi
| follows the old procedure of the church, who considers
| the Muslims as major enemy of Ethiopia. Zanawi is man
| of principle but the unfortunate is those supporting
| Zanawi and Church Plan in Somalia like Transitional
| Government of Somalia (TGS) leader Abdullah Yusuf.
|
| In similar manner Oromo is facing insult and pressure
| from Ethiopian government, where they don´t get proper
| share in the government and even their children are
| not allowed to attend the universities in Addis Ababa.
|
|
| Melese Sanawi selected Christian man from Oromo to be
| Ethiopian President. He overlooked the Muslim majority
| of Oromo, because, simply, he does not want Muslim.
| This shows that Ethiopian government is not killing
| all Oromo but only the Muslims because of their
| believe in the Greater Islam.
|
| Oromo is the largest community in Ethiopia in middle
| of lowlands, 90% of Oromo practice Islam as
| fundamental religion, Islam was introduced to Oromo in
| 16th century with neighboring Somali Community. Oromo
| has anti-Ethiopian armed movements and recently
| accused receiving military support and training from
| Eritrea. Current President of Ethiopia is from
| Christian Minority of Oromo, where Muslims has little
| access to government due to their armed struggle.
|
|  Islam vs. Ethiopian Emperors:
|
| The battle between the Muslim leaders and Ethiopian
| emperors is active until today, because the Ethiopian
| invasion in Somalia has strong roots into the
| centuries old conflict between the Muslims and
| Ethiopian Christian emperor.
|
| Ahmed Guray freed many parts of Ethiopia from the
| emperors who restricted the freedom of the people; the
| parties that ADAL army captured include Shewa, Gonder,
| Wollo and parts of Tigray. Some historians say the
| struggle between the Christian Emperors in Ethiopia
| and Somalis started from 1528 until today.
|
| Emporer Lebna Dengel, who was ruling Abyssinia during
| the war with ADAL, plead for support from Portugal
| after his army failed to stop ADAL army.
|
| In the same manner, United States of America (USA) is
| helping Meleze Sanawi to stop the Islamist growing in
| the region. Ethiopia knows, if Muslim government comes
| to power in Somalia then it will come to ethiopia to
| free the thousands of the Muslim ethiopians trapped
| under Melese regime.
|
| The government don´t allow construction of new mosques
| in the capital, Addis Ababa. In other hand, the
| European Christian missionaries builds new church
| every one month. Church bells are famous in Addis
| Ababa more than the Mosques.
|
| The present mosques in Addis Ababa are centuries old;
| it is remainings of Othman Emporers. The Muslims don´t
| take part in the central government, and if any Muslim
| gets chance in the central government, he/she should
| be lapdog for Ethiopian Christian Emporer Meleze
| Sanawi. Muslims in Addis Ababa feel overtaken and
| always seek help from the Muslim world, but the
| failure of Somalia has led them into endless problems.
|
|
| By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
|
| Email: az.almutairi@ yahoo.com
|
| ************ ***
|
| Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi, MA in Journalism and Mass
| Communication, Columnist, Freelance Journalist and
| Weekly article writer about Middle East and African
| politics and human rights. He is member of
| International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
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