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The Aseko District Church has utterly rejected the casualty figures released by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) regarding the brutal militant attacks in Arsi Zone, Oromia, on Ginbot 23 & 24, 2018 EC
While the Commission seems content to play down the bloodshed, His Grace Abune Elisa, Archbishop of the Arsi and Somali Region Jigjiga Dioceses of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, had already confirmed the grim reality at the time: 13 Orthodox Christians slaughtered, over 280 faithful displaced, and a century-old church reduced to ashes.
Local residents speaking to Borkena went further, placing the death toll at well over 50, with numerous others still missing.
Yet, in a staggering display of detached reporting last night, the EHRC claimed the fatalities amounted to a grand total of “three” conveniently categorised as two Christians and one Muslim. They also noted damage to the perimeter wall of Sheikh Mustafa Mosque, alongside the destruction of the Seleta St. Gabriel Church.

“We Were on the Ground!! They Wiped Out Scores”

Speaking on condition of anonymity following the EHRC’s whitewash, a senior official from the Aseko District Church Diocese didn’t mince words:

“We actually went to the massacre sites. The number of dead is massive.”

The official clarified that while one Muslim resident was tragically among the casualties, the total number of murdered victims exceeds 50.
“282 homes and a church were torched,” the official added, noting that recent assessments show the number of displaced people has now skyrocketed past 2,500. “As for the property destroyed? It is simply beyond measure.”

The Blatant Disconnect

When challenged on the glaring discrepancy between the Commission’s claim of “three” dead and the Church’s figure of “over 50,” the local church official shut down the EHRC’s narrative completely.
He confirmed that the diocese had explicitly provided the Commission with the exact figure of 52 dead and over 2,500 displaced.
“We didn’t rely on hearsay,” the official snapped. “We compiled hard data directly from the displaced survivors—we know exactly how many children they lost, and how many of their family members were butchered.”

The official completely dismissed the EHRC’s report as an offensive fabrication:
“It is completely detached from reality. It is erroneous, unconscionable, and flat-out wrong. Even government officials came to the site and saw the truth with their own eyes.”

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Bekele Gesesse (PhD), June 2026

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest condolences regarding the utterly shameful and barbaric massacre recently committed against the church and the faithful in Arsi. May the Lord our God rest the souls of the deceased, and may He bring His judgement upon the murderers and the destroyers of the church.

1st/ Who is Ethiopia? What has she contributed?

Ethiopia is a holy country that has existed for thousands of years, created by the Lord our God who endowed her with everything in abundance.
She is a unique country where Orthodox and Muslim followers have coexisted with mutual respect and love. It was a nation where various ethnic groups and tribes intermarried, cooperated, and lived together in peace. She is deeply hospitable.
When foreign invasions threatened her, she united through the power of God, repelled the forces, and preserved her independence. She is an honoured nation that contributed immensely to liberating Africa from slavery and colonialism. She was Africa’s sole member of the League of Nations and a founding member of the United Nations. She played a monumental role in the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity.
For these reasons, she became the seat of the African Union and various international branch organisations.

2nd/ Why have her enemies multiplied?

a) Historical foreign enemies harbour grudges against us.

• Emperor Tewodros did not surrender to the British invading forces at Maqdala.
• We made history by defeating Italy at Adwa.
• During the second invasion at Maychew, we resisted poison gas and modern weaponry, safeguarding our independence after five years of bitter struggle.
  As mentioned above, Ethiopia contributed immensely to the liberation of African countries from slavery and colonialism. Because the Amhara people and the Orthodox faith played a major role in this achievement, enemies wish to destroy them, dismantle Ethiopia, and return Africa to subjugation.
  b) The role of internal slaughterers and secessionist forces
  It was expected that the Italians would be completely cleared out after their defeat at Adwa. Instead, they retreated to the Bahre Negash (the maritime province) and occupied it, changing its name to Eritrea. Eventually, Eritrea reunited with its motherland through a federation. When that federation was dissolved, the ELF (Eritrean Liberation Front) rose up to reverse it. Subsequently, the EPLF was formed. Due to external backing and internal weaknesses, the question shifted from federation to secession.
  The military Derg regime, after seventeen years of weakening the country by slaughtering numerous leaders, generals, and intellectuals, handed over power to the EPLF and TPLF forces and fled abroad. When the TPLF took power, they quickly facilitated Eritrea’s secession. They introduced an ethnically divisive constitution. Through fabricated narratives, they framed the Amhara people, in particular, as the public enemy.
  After twenty-seven years of exploitation, a weakened TPLF handed power over to Oromo forces and retreated to Mekelle.

3rd/ The ongoing massacres and the campaign to destroy the country

The situation has rapidly deteriorated, particularly since the establishment of Abiy’s Oromuma administration.
The following explicit crimes are actively being perpetrated:

• The massacre of the Amhara people,
• The massacre of Orthodox Christians,
• Attacks on churches,
• The closure of schools,
• The denial of medical treatment,
• The displacement of people,
• The destruction of heritage and looting of property,
• The stripping away of stability,
• The destruction of the economy,
• Causing the nation to be despised in the eyes of Africa and the world,
• Dismantling the country,
• And so forth.
  Why? Why? Why?

4th/ Conclusion

Do we all equally understand the catastrophic dangers mentioned above? If so, why have we failed to form a grand alliance to swiftly bring about a change that benefits everyone? What more are we waiting for???
The TPLF’s dream of annexing fertile Amhara land to establish a Tigray nation is sheer madness. Similarly, the dream of the Oromuma forces to build an Oromo nation by slaughtering the Amhara, Orthodox Christians, and others is equally mad. It would be far better, especially for the Tigray and Oromo public, to wake up quickly and stand with others for unity, peace, and sustainable development.
Others, realising that tomorrow it could be them, must stand shoulder to shoulder with the Fano, who are currently fighting for their very survival.
If foreign powers believe they will benefit from the dismantling of Ethiopia, they are mistaken. They would do well to learn from their past errors and refrain from their malicious actions.
May the Lord our God stand by our innocent, impoverished citizens, break the arm of the murderous and destructive forces, and send down His peace. Amen.

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በቀለ ገሠሠ (ዶ/ር) June 2026

በመጀመሪያ በአርሲ ቤተክርስቲያንና ምእመናን ላይ ሰሞኑን ስለደረሰው እጅግ አሳፋሪ አረመኔያዊ ጭፍጨፋ የተሰማኝን ትልቅ አዘኔታ እገልፃለው፣ እግዚአብሔር አምላካችን የሞቱትን ነብስ ይማርልን፣ በነፍሰገዳዮቹና ቤተክርስቲያን አውዳሚዎች ላይ ፍርዱን ይስጥልን።

፩ኛ/ ኢትዮጵያ ማን ናት? ምንስ አበረከተች?

ኢትዮጵያ እግዚአብሔር  አምላካችን ሁሉን አሟልቶ ፈጥሮ ለብዙ ሺ ዓመታት የኖረች ቅድስት አገር ናት።

ኦርቶዶክስና ሙስሊም ተከታዮች ተከባብረው ተፋቅረው የኖሩባት ልዩ  አገር ናት። የተለያዩ ጎሣና ነገዶች ተጋብተው ተባብረው በሰላም የኖሩባት አገር ነበረች።
እንግዳ ተቀባይ ናት።

የውጪ ወረራም ሲመጣባት በእግዚአብሔር ኃይል በጋራ መክታ ነፃነቷን አስከብራ የኖረች አገር ናት። አፍሪቃን ከባርነትና ከቅኝ አገዛዝ ለማውጣት ከፍተኛ አስተዋጽኦ ያደረገች የተከበረች አገር ናት። ከአፍሪቃ የሊግ ኦፍ ኔሽን ብቸኛ አባል ነበረች። የዓለም መንግሥታት መሥራች አባል ናት።
በአፍሪቃ አንድነት ምሥረታ ከፍተኛ አስተዋጽኦ አድርጋለች።
በነዚህም ምክንያቶች የአፍሪቃ ህብረትና የተለያዩ ዓለማቀፋዊ ቅርንጫፍ ድርጅቶች  መቀመጫ ሆነች።

፪ኛ/ ጠላቶችዋ ለምን በዙ?

ሀ) የውጪ ታሪካዊ ጠላቶች ቂም ይዘውብናል።

ዐፄ ቴዎድሮስ በመቅደላ ላይ ለእንግሊዝ ወራሪ ኃይሎች እጅ አልሰጡም።
በአድዋ ላይ ጣሊያንን አቸንፈን ታሪክ ሠራን።
በማይጨው ዳግመኛ ወረራ ወቅት መርዝ ጪሶችንና ዘመናዊ የጦር መሣሪያዎችን ተቓቁመን ከአምስት ዓመት መራራ ትግል በኋላ ነፃነታችንን አስከበርን።

እላይ እንደተጠቀሰው የአፍሪቃ አገሮች ከባርነትና ከቅኝ አገዛዝ ነፃ እንዲወጡ ከፍተኛ አስተዋጽኦ አድርጋለች።
ለዚህ ደግሞ የአማራው ህዝብና ኦርቶዶክስ ሃይማኖት ከፍተኛ አስተዋጽኦ በማድረጋቸው ምክንያት እነርሱን አጥፍተው ኢትዮጵያን በትነው አፍሪቃን ወደባርነት ሊመልሱ ይፈልጋሉ።

ለ) የውስጥ ጨፍጫፊና ተገንጣይ ኃይሎች ሚና

ጣሊያኖች ከዐድዋ ሽንፈት በኋላ ተጠራርገው ይወጣሉ የሚል ግምት ነበረ።
እነርሱ ግን ወደባህረ ነጋሢ ሸሽተው ተቀመጡ። ስሟንም ወደኤርትራ ቀይረው ተቆጣጠሯት።
በመጨረሻም በፌደረሽን ከእናት አገሯ ጋር ተመልሳ ተቀላቀለች። ፌደረሽኑም ሲፈርስ ያንን ለማስመለስ ጀብኃ ተቋቁሞ ተነሣ። ቀጥሎም ሸዓቢያ ተፈጠረ። በውጪ ድጋፎችና በውስጥ ድክመቶች ምክንያት ጥያቄው ከፌደረሽን ወደግንጠላ ተሸጋገረ። ወታደራዊው ደርግም ለአስራ ሰባት ዓመታት ብዙ መሪዎችን፣ ጄነራሎችና ምሁራንን ጨፍጭፎ ሲዳከም ሥልጣኑን ለሸዓቢያና ወያኔ ኃይሎች አስረክቦ ወደውጪ ፈረጠጠ። ወያኔ ሥልጣን ስትረከብ የኤርትራን ግንጠላ ቶሎ አመቻቸች። ዘረኛ ህገመንግሥት አወጡ። በውሸት ትርክቶች በተለይ አማራውን የህዝብ ጠላት አስመሰሉ ።
ወያኔም ከሃያ ሰባት የብዝበዛ ዓመታት በኋላ ተዳክማ ሥልጣኑን ለኦሮሞ ኃይሎች አስረክባ ወደመቀሌ አፈገፈገች።

፫ኛ/ የሚካሄደው ጭፍጨፋና አገር የማፍረስ ዘመቻ፣

በተለይ የዐቢይ ኦሮሙማ አስተዳደር ከተመሰረተ ወዲሁ ሁኔታዎች በመባባስ ላይ ይገኛሉ።

የሚከተሉ ግልጽ ወንጀሎች በመካሄድ ላይ ይገኛሉ፣

የአማራ ህዝብ ጭፍጨፋ፣
የኦርቶዶክስ ተከታዮች ጭፍጨፋ፣
አብያተ ክርስቲያናት ጥቃት፣
ትምህርት ቤቶችን መዝጋት፣
የህክምና እድሎችን መንፈግ፣
ህዝብ ማፈናቀል፣
ቅርሶች ማውደምና ንብረቶች መዝረፍ፣
እርጋታ ማሳጣት፣
ኢኮኖሚ ማውደም፣
በአፍሪቃም ሆነ በዓለም ፊት እንድትናቅ ማድረግ፣
አገር መበተን፣
ወዘተ።

ለምን ለምን ለምን?

፬ኛ/ መደምደሚያ

እላይ የተጠቀሱትን እጅግ አስከፊ አደጋዎች እኩል እንረዳለን ወይ? ከሆነስ ለምን ታላቅ ህብረት ፈጥረን ለሁሉም የሚበጅ ለውጥ ቶሎ ማምጣት አቃተን? ከዚህ በላይ ምን እየተጠበቀ ይገኛል???

ወያኔ የአማራን ለም መሬት በመንጠቅ የትግሬ አገር የመመስረቱ ህልም እብደት ነው።
የኦሮሙማ ኃይሎች ደግሞ አማራን፣ ኦርቶዶክስንና ሌሎችንም በመጨፍጨፍ የኦሮሞ አገር የመገንባት ህልም እንደዚሁ እብደት ነው።
በተለይ የትግሬና ኦሮሞ ህዝብ ቶሎ ነቅቶ ለአንድነት፣ ለሰላምና ዘለቄታ ለሚኖረው እድገት ከሌሎች ጋር አብሮ ቢሰለፍ ይሻላል።

ሌሎችም ነግ በእኔ ብለው በመነሳት ለህልውናው በመዋደቅ ላይ ከሚገኘው ፋኖ ጎን መሰለፍ ይጠበቅባቸዋል።

የውጪ ኃይሎችም ኢትዮጵያን በመበተን ጥቅም እናገኛለን ብለው ከገመቱ ተሳስተዋልና ካለፉት ስህተቶቻቸው ተምረው ከሰይጣናዊ እርምጃዎቻቸው ቢቆጠቡ ይሻላቸዋል።

እግዚአብሔር አምላካችን በንፁሃን ምስኪን ዜጎቻችን ጎን በመሆን የጨፍጫፊና አውዳሚ ኃይሎችን ክንድ ይስበርልን
ሰላሙን ያውርድልን፣ አሜን።

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በቀለ ገሠሠ (ዶ/ር)

፩ኛ/ መንደርደሪያ፣

ብዙ ዓለማት ዞረን ዐይተናል። እግዚአብሔር አምላካችን ኢትዮጵያን የፈጠራት ሁሉን ነገር አሟልቶ ነው። የምድሯን ስፋትና ለምነት፣ የወንዞችና ሃይቆችዋን ብዛት፣ ንጹህ አየር፣ ደጋግ ህዝብ፣ ወዘተ ስንመለከት እጅግ በጣም ሃብታም አገር መሆን ነበረባት።

አልታደለችምና ዛሬ የምትገኝበትን የባሰ ሁኔታ ስንመለከት እጅግ በጣም እናዝናለን።

ጎሣን ከጎሳ ያጋጫሉ። የአማራ ህዝብ የትግሬ፣ የኦሮሞና የማንም ጎሣ ጠላት ሆኖ አያውቅም። ደጋግና እንግዳ ተቀባይ ህዝብ ነው። በማንኛውም ሥርዓት ሥር ጥሮ ግሮ ከመኖር በስተቀር ያገኘው አንዳችም ልዩ ጥቅም አልነበረም። ዛሬ ግን በገዛ ቀዬው እንኳን እንዳይኖር፣ አርሶ ነግዶ ልጆቹን እንዳያሳድግ ዘመቻ ሲካሄድበት ይታያል። ትምህርት ቤቶች ይዘጋሉ፣ የእምነት ቦታዎች ይደፈራሉ።

እነዚህን ከባድ ችግሮች እንደመቅረፍ ፈንታ ስለውሸት ምርጫ ሲወራ መስማት በጣም ያሳዝናል፣ ያሳፍራል።

፪ኛ/ የነፃ ምርጫ አስፈላጊነት፣

የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ነፃ  አገራዊ ምርጫን ሲጠማ ነው የኖረው።

የዲሞክራሲ ሥርዓት ምሶሶ ነፃ ምርጫ እንደሆነ ግልፅ ነው። ነፃ ምርጫ ከሌለ አምባገነንነት ይንሰራፋል፣ በውድ አገራችን ሲፈጸሙ የቆዮት አረመኔያዊ ጭፍጨፋዎች፣ ማፈናቀሎችና ዝርፊያዎች በዲሞክራሲ ሥርዓት እጦት ምክንያት ነው። 

፫ኛ/ የነፃ ምርጫ ቅድመ ሁኔታዎች፣

እውነተኛ ምርጫ ለማካሄድ፣

ሰላም ምስፈን አለበት፣
ነፃ የምርጫ ቦርድ መቋቋም አለበት፣
በየምርጫው ኬላ ላይ ገለልተኞች የሆኑ አገራዊና የውጪ ታዛቢዎች መገኘት አለባቸው።

፬ኛ/ አሁን ምን መደረግ አለበት?

መጀመሪያ ሁሉ-አቀፍ የሽግግር መንግሥት መቋቋም አለበት። ከፋፋዩ ሕገመንግሥ መለወጥ አለበት።
ወንጀለኞች ለፍርድ መቅረብ አለባቸው።

ከዚያ በኃላ ነፃና ፍትሐዊ ምርጫ ማካሄድ፣
ሰላም ማውረድና
እድገት ላይ ማተኮር ይኖርብናል።
እግዚአብሔር ይርዳን፣ ይታረቀን።

Given the Dire Situation, Thinking About Elections is Impossible

By Bekele Gessesse (PhD)

1. Introduction

We have travelled and seen much of the world. Almighty God created Ethiopia with everything she could possibly need. When looking at the vastness and fertility of her land, the abundance of her rivers and lakes, her clean air, and her generous people, she should have been an incredibly wealthy nation.

Unfortunately, she has been unlucky, and it is deeply saddening to witness the worsening conditions she finds herself in today.

They pit one ethnic group against another. The Amhara people have never been enemies of the Tigrayan, Oromo, or any other ethnic community. They are a kind and hospitable people. Under any regime, they have never received any special privileges, asking for nothing more than to live by working hard and honestly. Today, however, we see a campaign being waged against them, preventing them from even living in their own localities, or farming and trading to raise their children. Schools are being closed, and places of worship are being desecrated.

Instead of resolving these severe crises, it is deeply disheartening and shameful to hear talk of a sham election.

2. The Necessity of Free Elections

The people of Ethiopia have long thirsted for a free national election.

It is clear that free elections are the cornerstone of a democratic system. In the absence of free elections, tyranny flourishes. The barbaric massacres, displacements, and plundering that have been carried out in our beloved country are the direct result of a lack of a democratic system.

3. Preconditions for Free Elections

To conduct a genuine election:

 Peace must be established across the country.

 An independent electoral board must be set up.

 Neutral national and international observers must be present at every polling station.

4. What Must Be Done Now?

First and foremost, an all-inclusive transitional government must be established. The divisive constitution must be amended, and criminals must be brought to justice.

Only after these steps are taken can we: Conduct a free and fair election, Restore peace, and Focus on development.

May God help us and grant us His reconciliation.

About Post Author

Ethiopian Tribune editor

editor@ethiopiantribune.com

https://ethiopiantribune.com

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By Endex, the Chief Editor, Ethiopian Tribune

I have been a journalist for many years. I have written obituaries for kings and eulogies for activists, reported on wars and chronicled elections. But there are moments in a writing life when the subject demands not a report, but a confession a piece written not from the head alone, but from the marrow of one’s own story. This is such a moment. And the man who demands it is Haile Gerima.

Let me begin where it truly begins for me: 1993. A small cinema tucked away off Portobello Road in West London. It is a blustery autumn evening, and I have been dragged there, there is no more honest word, by a university friend whose enthusiasm for Ethiopian cinema far exceeded my own. She told me that a professor and filmmaker named Haile Gerima had made a film about slavery. She told me he had mentored extraordinary talent. She told me he was one of ours. I confess I was not immediately convinced. But I went.

What happened inside that cinema changed something in me permanently.

A Revelation Off Portobello Road

The film was Sankofa. Named for the Ghanaian Akan word meaning ‘to go back, look for, and gain wisdom, power and hope’, it follows a Black American fashion model who undergoes a harrowing spiritual journey to a plantation in the antebellum American South. In lesser hands, this could have been melodrama, or worse, exploitation. In Gerima’s hands, it was something I had never encountered before in a cinema and have rarely encountered since: truth delivered with the full force of art.

I felt it from the opening frames. The visual language was unlike anything Hollywood had offered us raw yet luminous, poetic yet unflinching, expressionist in the way that only a filmmaker who has absorbed both African storytelling traditions and the radical energy of the American counter-cinema movement could achieve. Sankofa was formally ambitious to a degree that seemed almost reckless, and yet every choice was earned. When the drums sounded and the spirits of the enslaved rose from the floors of Cape Coast Castle, I was not watching a film. I was bearing witness.

The respect I felt rising in me during those two hours was immense, the kind of respect one cannot manufacture or perform. It came from recognising craftsmanship of the highest order in service of a moral imperative that could not be ignored. Here was a man who had spent twenty years researching the trans-Atlantic slave trade, who had been rejected by every major American distributor, and who had taken his film city by city, cinema by cinema, to Black communities across the United States until the world had no choice but to take notice. The film that no one would distribute was eventually ranked by Harvard Film Studies professors as one of the most essential films in the history of world cinema between 1980 and 2000. But that evening in Notting Hill, I knew none of this. I only knew what I felt.

When he stepped onto the stage for the Q&A, the room shifted. Here was my fellow countryman, standing with grace and quiet dignity and I felt, for the first time in a long while, the particular pride of shared origin.

He spoke about the sacrifices behind the work. He spoke with a candour that was electrifying, and at moments heartbreaking the years of fundraising, the rejections, the loneliness of making films that the industry did not want, the determination to carry stories that others feared to touch. I remember sitting very still. It was the kind of stillness that falls over you when you are in the presence of something authentic. He was not performing humility. He simply had the ease of a man who had decided, long ago, what he was for and had never wavered.

I left that cinema altered. I had gone in knowing almost nothing about Haile Gerima. I came out knowing that I would follow his work for the rest of my life.

Born in Gondar, Shaped by the World

To understand Haile Gerima is to understand where he came from. He was born on 4 March 1946 in Gondar a city of ancient castles and highland winds in northern Ethiopia, a place that carries centuries of royal history in its very stones. His father was a playwright and dramatist who toured the Ethiopian countryside staging local theatre; his mother was a teacher. The house he grew up in was saturated with storytelling, with the Amharic oral tradition, with the fierce independence of a people who had never been colonised, not fully, not finally and who knew it.

In 1967, at twenty-one, he left for the United States first to study drama at the Goodman School in Chicago, then to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he would discover the cinema that would become his weapon and his calling. At UCLA, he fell in with an extraordinary cohort of Black, Chicano, Asian, and international students who collectively refused the grammar of Hollywood. They formed what would later be known as the L.A. Rebellion, a movement that sought to build an entirely alternative, politically conscious, aesthetically radical Black American cinema. Haile Gerima is one of its most towering figures.

His early films announced him immediately. Harvest: 3,000 Years, made in Ethiopia in 1975, won the Grand Prize at the Locarno Film Festival. Bush Mama, made the following year, was a searing portrait of Black poverty and resistance in Los Angeles. Ashes and Embers followed in 1982, winning awards in Lisbon and earning recognition at the Berlinale. Each film was stamping his name deeper into the conscience of world cinema, even as mainstream Hollywood looked the other way.

A Question at SOAS, and an Answer That Stayed With Me

Some years after that first encounter in Notting Hill, I saw him again, this time at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, at the premiere of his documentary Adwa. The film concerned the extraordinary Battle of Adwa in 1896, when Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II defeated the Italian colonial army in one of the most significant military victories in African history: the first time an African nation had routed a European colonial power on the battlefield.

I was curious about the funding. The film, I had learned, had received Italian backing. This troubled me in a way I could not entirely articulate. Italy was the defeated party. Italy was, in the deepest sense, the villain of the story. Why had Gerima accepted their money? Was there not a risk, however subtle, of the narrative being shaped by the very power whose humiliation it documented?

I put the question to him after the screening. His answer was simple, disarming, and utterly characteristic of the man: no one else had been willing to finance it. The Ethiopian government had not come forward. The international co-production community had not come forward. The Italians had. And so he had taken their money, looked them calmly in the eye, and made a film that placed Ethiopia’s resistance and pride at its absolute centre, a film grounded in historical truth and the testimonies of those who had fought, refusing to soften a single frame of what Italy’s colonialism had meant.

He had taken the coloniser’s resources and turned them into a monument to the colonised. This is a particular kind of genius political, artistic, moral.

I walked away from SOAS that evening with a deeper understanding of what it means to operate without institutional support, without the safety net of a nation-state willing to fund its own history. Gerima had not waited. He had never waited. He had found whatever resource was available and bent it to the service of truth. This, I came to understand, was the defining characteristic of his entire career.

Teza, and the Courage to Look Inward

When Teza arrived in 2008, his first feature in nearly a decade, it felt like a homecoming of the most complicated kind. The film is a profoundly personal and politically courageous work, following an Ethiopian intellectual who returns home from Germany during the brutal era of the Derg military junta. It is a film about the particular tragedy of the educated African who goes abroad seeking knowledge and returns to find his country transformed into a place of terror, where the very idealism that drove him away has been weaponised into something monstrous.

Haile Gerima did not flinch from the darkness of the Mengistu era, the Red Terror, the disappearances, the way in which revolutionary rhetoric had curdled into authoritarian nightmare. Nor did he retreat into sentimentality. Teza is a film of extraordinary compassion and equally extraordinary rigour. It won the Special Jury Prize and the Best Screenplay Award at the Venice Film Festival. It won the Golden Tanit and four additional awards at the Carthage Film Festival. It won the Golden Stallion of Yennenga at FESPACO. The world’s cinema community recognised what Ethiopian audiences had perhaps always known: that here was a filmmaker who loved his country enough to tell it the truth.

When he brought Teza to London, I was in the audience again, older now, a consultant and chief editor rather than a young journalist, but feeling once more that particular stillness of being in the presence of authentic work. Gerima had done it again. He had refused to make the comfortable film, the redemptive arc that tidies everything up. He had insisted on the full weight of history, and the audience bore it willingly, because he had earned our trust.

Thirty Years in the Making: Black Lions – Roman Wolves

And now, in February 2026, as the lights of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival fall upon him, Haile Gerima has completed perhaps the most monumental work of his extraordinary life.

Black Lions – Roman Wolves is nearly nine hours long. It took thirty years to make. It is a reckoning, vast, meticulous, and unsparing with Italy’s brutal colonial campaign against Ethiopia. Drawing on archival footage that Italian filmmakers, at Mussolini’s direction, meticulously recorded during the 1935 invasion, and combining it with contemporary interviews with eyewitnesses and descendants of those who fought, Gerima has built an epic from the coloniser’s own images, turning them against the ideology that created them.

The paradox was not lost on him. At the Q&A following the Berlin premiere, he spoke of it with characteristic directness: his people had not filmed. The Italians had. And so he took those images racist in their framing, propagandistic in their intent, and asked a radical question: how can I use the image depicted by the coloniser against itself? The answer, running to nine hours and screened in two parts across consecutive days at the Delphi Filmpalast, is his most sustained and audacious work to date.

He told the packed Berlin audience that he had begun the project in 1996, fed up with what he called the ‘fake history’ of Italy’s Ethiopian campaign the selective memory, the glossing over of mustard gas attacks, of massacres, of the systematic attempt to humiliate and subjugate a proud nation. He had been raised, as he put it, under the miseducation of the British education system that followed the Italian war, and he had never forgotten what that meant: to have the story of your own people’s suffering filtered through the lens of those who had caused it.

He had spent thirty years correcting that record. Thirty years giving the barefoot soldiers of Ethiopia their voices back.

The Berlinale Camera: A Recognition Long Overdue

On 17 February 2026, at four o’clock in the afternoon, in the grand hall of the Delphi Filmpalast, the Berlin International Film Festival presented Haile Gerima with the Berlinale Camera, the festival’s honorary award, given since 1986 to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to cinema and with whom the Berlinale feels a special and enduring connection.

The award itself is a remarkable object: crafted by Düsseldorf goldsmith Georg Hornemann, it is assembled from 128 individual components into the form of a real film camera. It is, in its way, a perfect symbol for what Gerima has built, piece by piece, film by film, year by year, into a body of work that has transformed not merely African cinema, but the global conversation about colonialism, memory, and resistance.

Berlinale Director Tricia Tuttle said it with admirable precision when she announced the award: Gerima’s works bear witness to histories marked by oppression, resistance, and the unfinished work of decolonisation stories that speak with urgent force to the world today. It is an honour to present the Berlinale Camera to a filmmaker who has transformed the way so many understand the world.

For those of us who have followed him for decades who sat in a small London cinema in 1993 and felt something shift inside us this recognition carries a particular weight. Not because we needed the Berlinale’s validation to understand Gerima’s greatness. We never did. But because there is something profoundly moving about watching the world finally, formally, say: yes. We see him. We always should have.

Teacher, Builder, Cultural Keeper

No account of Haile Gerima is complete without speaking of the life he has built beyond the camera. Since 1975, for more than half a century, he has taught film at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he holds the title of Professor Emeritus. He has mentored hundreds of young filmmakers from Africa, the Caribbean, and the African-American diaspora, insisting to each of them that their stories matter, that their voices are necessary, that the industry’s indifference is not a verdict but an invitation to build something better.

With his wife and fellow filmmaker Shirikiana Aina Gerima, he founded Mypheduh Films, a distribution company dedicated to ensuring that independent African cinema reaches audiences without surrendering to the gatekeepers of the mainstream. In 1996, they opened Sankofa Video, Books & Café in Washington a cultural institution offering film screenings, book signings, community discussions, and a physical space for the kind of intellectual life that sustains a people’s sense of themselves. That café has been sustained, in no small part, by the revenue from Gerima’s own films, self-distributed with the same grassroots determination he has brought to every project.

He is not merely a filmmaker. He is an ecosystem of resistance. He built the conditions in which the next generation of African storytellers could imagine themselves.

What He Carried And What He Gave Back

There is a word in the Ghanaian Akan language sankofa that Gerima made the title of his most celebrated film. It means, at its most literal, to go back and retrieve. It is often symbolised by a bird flying forwards whilst its head looks back. It speaks of the necessity of understanding where you have come from in order to know where you are going.

Haile Gerima has lived this word. He left Gondar as a young man, carrying the landscape and the stories of his highland childhood into the lecture halls of Chicago and the film schools of Los Angeles. He carried the memory of his father’s plays into the grammar of his own cinema. He carried the defeats and the dignities of Ethiopian history, the Italian occupation, the Derg’s terror, the Battle of Adwa, into works that ensured that those events would not be forgotten, not be distorted, not be claimed by anyone but those who lived them.

And he gave it all back. Every film is a gift to Ethiopia, to Africa, to the African diaspora, to anyone who has ever had their history stolen and replaced with someone else’s version. Every student he trained is a continuation of this act of giving.

Watching him receive the Berlinale Camera alongside his old comrade Charles Burnett, the two old warriors of the L.A. Rebellion, grey now, unhurried, utterly undiminished felt less like a prize ceremony and more like a moment of profound historical reckoning. The industry that once ignored them was now placing golden cameras in their hands. I suspect Gerima found some quiet satisfaction in that. I suspect he also found it, in some deep part of himself, beside the point. The work was always the point.

Haile Gerima has never simply made films.

He has made memory.

He has made resistance.

He has made truth visible.

And for those of us who first met him in a darkened cinema in London, who felt something change inside us as his images unfolded and his voice filled the room — he has made something rarer still.

He has made pride. Deep, resonant, enduring pride.

May his lens never rest.

Endex, Chief Editor, Ethiopian Tribune

London, 20 February 2026

The Ethiopian Tribune celebrates Ethiopian excellence in arts, culture, politics, and society.

About Post Author

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editor@ethiopiantribune.com

https://ethiopiantribune.com

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An investigation into how Jeffrey Epstein’s tentacles reached Ethiopia, and what it reveals about power, complicity, and the global reckoning with sexual predation

By E Frashie Ethiopian Tribune Columnist

In the grand tradition of British scandals involving the powerful and the predatory, the Jeffrey Epstein affair has proven to be the gift that keeps on giving—or rather, taking. As the US Department of Justice released millions of documents related to the convicted sex trafficker and financier, Britons watched with grim familiarity as two of their own, Lord Peter Mandelson and Prince Andrew, found themselves ensnared in the lengthening shadow of Epstein’s crimes. For Ethiopians and East Africans, however, the revelations have taken on a peculiar local dimension: their country appears in approximately 334 of the released documents, raising uncomfortable questions about who knew what, and when.

The British experience offers a cautionary tale. Lord Mandelson, the Labour grandee and former EU trade commissioner, has faced renewed scrutiny over his association with Epstein, leading to swift rejection of his potential appointment as US ambassador and intense public opprobrium. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has become a pariah within his own family, stripped of royal duties and forced to settle a civil sexual abuse case brought by Virginia Giuffre for a reported £12 million. Both men’s falls from grace illustrate a crucial shift in public tolerance: proximity to a convicted paedophile is no longer merely unfortunate it is damning.

For Ethiopia, a nation already grappling with internal conflicts, economic challenges, and questions of governance, the Epstein connection represents yet another unwelcome international embarrassment. But it also raises profound questions about how predators like Epstein exploited developing nations, and whether enough is being done to investigate his network in Africa.

Britain’s reckoning with the Epstein scandal has been particularly visceral, perhaps because it touches upon enduring anxieties about privilege, power, and paedophilia within the establishment. Lord Mandelson’s association with Epstein reportedly introduced through mutual connections in elite circles—has proven politically toxic. Despite his protestations that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes during their acquaintance, the court of public opinion has rendered its verdict. His nomination as ambassador to Washington was effectively dead on arrival, with both Conservative and Labour figures expressing alarm.

The Mandelson affair echoes the Prince Andrew debacle but with notable differences. Whilst Andrew’s relationship with Epstein was documented through photographs, flight logs, and eventually legal testimony, Mandelson’s connection appears more tangential, dinners, social gatherings, the sort of networking that defines elite circles. Yet in the post-Epstein era, such distinctions matter less than they once might have. The question is no longer “Did you know?” but “Should you have known?” and increasingly, “Why didn’t you ask?”

Prince Andrew’s trajectory from the Queen’s favourite son to virtual exile illustrates the mechanism of social rejection in real time. The now-infamous BBC Newsnight interview in November 2019, in which he claimed he couldn’t have been at a nightclub with Virginia Giuffre because he was at Pizza Express in Woking and suffered from a medical condition preventing him from sweating, became a masterclass in self-immolation. Public revulsion was swift and comprehensive. Corporate sponsors fled. Charities distanced themselves. The military stripped him of honorary titles.

What united both men’s downfalls was their association with a man whose crimes were, by 2008, a matter of public record. Epstein’s initial conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor, a sweetheart plea deal that saw him serve just 13 months, should have ended his social acceptability. That it didn’t speaks to the power of wealth, influence, and the willingness of elites to overlook uncomfortable truths.

Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal charges of sex trafficking minors and his subsequent death by apparent suicide in a Manhattan jail cell merely confirmed what investigators had long suspected: his earlier conviction represented only a fraction of his crimes. The subsequent releases of court documents, flight logs from his private jet (dubbed the “Lolita Express”), and now the DOJ files have painted a portrait of industrial-scale sexual exploitation involving girls as young as 14.

Yet the released documents reveal something far more disturbing than the already horrific sex trafficking operation. Buried within thousands of pages are references to Epstein’s fascination with eugenics, transhumanism, and what can only be described as a God complex that would make Lucifer himself envious. Witnesses and associates described Epstein’s interest in using his New Mexico ranch to seed the human race with his DNA, impregnating multiple women to create a “superior” bloodline a scheme that echoes the darkest chapters of 20th-century pseudoscience.

The files contain disturbing allegations that extend beyond sexual abuse into territory that seems almost mediaeval in its barbarity. Court testimonies reference Epstein’s circle discussing practices that blur the line between scientific experimentation and occult ritual. One particularly harrowing account describes conversations about cellular regeneration theories and the procurement of biological materials from young victims allegations that, whilst unproven in court, paint a portrait of a man whose depravity knew no bounds.

Whether these represent literal truths or the exaggerations of traumatised witnesses struggling to articulate unspeakable experiences, they underscore a crucial point: Jeffrey Epstein was not merely a sex offender but a man who believed himself above natural and moral law. His interest in cutting-edge science, from artificial intelligence to genetics, was inseparable from his conviction that wealth and intellect entitled him to treat human beings, particularly young girls, as experimental subjects. This, then, was the “Lucifer” that Professor Berhanu Nega might have unwittingly invoked.

The revelation that Berhanu Nega, now Ethiopia’s Minister of Education, received scholarship funding from Jeffrey Epstein takes on an almost prophetic irony given the professor’s own public statements. During his years in opposition to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government, Nega famously declared that he would “work with Lucifer himself” if it meant overthrowing the regime he despised.

It was not mere rhetoric. Nega’s political journey has been one of scorched-earth pragmatism. Having left the United States, where he held academic positions, he took the extraordinary step of accepting Eritrean citizenship to wage an armed insurgency against the Ethiopian government. His organisation, Ginbot 7, launched attacks from Eritrean territory, making common cause with one of Africa’s most repressive regimes a government that has held no elections since independence in 1993 and operates what human rights organisations have described as an open-air prison.

The insurgency failed militarily but succeeded in keeping Nega relevant. When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, Nega was among the formerly exiled opposition figures welcomed back to Addis Ababa. His transformation from armed rebel to Minister of Education was swift and, to many observers, bewildering. That he now oversees the education of Ethiopia’s children whilst having received funding from a convicted paedophile strikes many Ethiopians as a cosmic joke in exceptionally poor taste.

Nega has maintained that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes when he received the scholarship funding in the early 2000s. This is plausible, Epstein’s 2008 conviction came later, and his ability to maintain a veneer of respectability amongst academics was well-documented. Yet the symbolic resonance remains inescapable: a man who vowed to work with Lucifer did, in fact, accept money from perhaps the closest thing to a living embodiment of evil that modern America has produced.

The question now confronting Nega and the Ethiopian government is whether historical ignorance absolves present responsibility. Should a Minister of Education, responsible for safeguarding children, remain in post whilst associated, however tangentially, with the world’s most notorious child sex trafficker?

The Epstein connection to Ethiopia becomes more disturbing when examined alongside recent developments in the country’s digital infrastructure. According to documents circulating amongst civil liberties advocates and technology researchers, the Ethiopian government has harvested DNA and biometric data from approximately five million children as part of a digital identity programme. The initiative, ostensibly designed to improve access to education and health services, has raised alarm bells amongst data protection experts.

What transforms this from a concerning privacy issue into a potential Epstein connection is the funding architecture. Investigative journalists have identified links between the biometric programme and funding arrangements involving entities connected to Epstein’s network of technology investments. Moreover, contracts with United Arab Emirates-based businesses, some of which appear in the periphery of the Epstein files, suggest a complex web of financial relationships that demand scrutiny.

The UAE connection is particularly troubling. Epstein maintained extensive business relationships in the Gulf states, where privacy laws and less stringent regulatory oversight provided convenient cover for questionable transactions. That Ethiopian government contracts for biometric data collection involving children might flow through similar channels raises urgent questions.

To be clear: there is no evidence of direct Epstein involvement in Ethiopia’s digital ID programme, which postdates his death. But the pattern is familiar developing nations desperate for technological advancement and foreign investment, complex funding arrangements involving offshore entities, and programmes that collect sensitive biological data from vulnerable populations. These are precisely the conditions that predators like Epstein exploited.

The collection of children’s DNA in particular evokes Epstein’s documented fascination with genetics and eugenics. His stated desire to “seed the human race” with his genetic material, his funding of research into human longevity and enhancement, and his connections to the transhumanist movement all suggest a man obsessed with biological manipulation on a grand scale.

For five million Ethiopian children to have their genetic information collected and stored in databases accessible to foreign contractors recalls the darkest elements of the Epstein files. What safeguards exist to prevent this data being sold, shared, or exploited? Who has access? What purposes, beyond the stated administrative ones, might it serve?

These questions acquire particular urgency given Ethiopia’s political instability and history of surveillance. The EPRDF government, which Nega spent years fighting, was notorious for its extensive security apparatus. The current government under Abiy Ahmed has shown little inclination toward greater transparency or respect for privacy rights. The Tigray conflict demonstrated the willingness to use technology, including telecommunications shutdowns, as weapons of war.

The majority of Ethiopian references in the released documents relate to market intelligence reports that Epstein commissioned from consultants, suggesting he had, or was considering, investments in the country. One confirmed investment was iCog Labs, an artificial intelligence research laboratory co-founded by Ben Goertzel, a prominent AI researcher, and Getnet Aseffa. The emails reveal Goertzel’s energetic cultivation of Epstein as a funder, with repeated assurances that “the guys” in Ethiopia were doing “amazing things”, the sort of vague enthusiasm that signals either genuine excitement or, more cynically, the massaging of a wealthy patron’s ego.

The iCog Labs connection is particularly relevant because it illustrates Epstein’s modus operandi in respectable society. By positioning himself as a patron of cutting-edge scientific research, he also funded Harvard University’s Programme for Evolutionary Dynamics and MIT’s Media Lab, Epstein purchased legitimacy. Scientists and academics who accepted his funding found themselves in an impossible position after his crimes became undeniable: return the money and acknowledge poor judgment, or keep it and face accusations of complicity.

Given Epstein’s documented interest in artificial intelligence, genetics, and human enhancement, his funding of an AI laboratory in Ethiopia takes on sinister overtones. Was this genuine philanthropic interest in African technological development, or was Ethiopia, with its limited regulatory oversight and desperate need for investment, an attractive location for research that might face ethical objections elsewhere?

More colourful, if less consequential, are the emails from Shaher Abdulhak, a Yemeni billionaire who died in 2020 and who addressed Epstein as “cousin brother” a term of endearment that sounds rather less charming in English than presumably intended. Abdulhak’s pitches to Epstein included the gloriously ill-conceived idea of creating an energy drink from khat (a stimulant plant chewed across the Horn of Africa and Yemen) mixed with lemon juice to compete with Red Bull.

More seriously, Abdulhak sought a $20 million loan for National Tobacco Enterprise Ethiopia, claiming his Sheba Investment Company owned 60% of it. Whether Epstein provided the funds remains unclear, though the brazen nature of the request speaks to the casual corruption that characterised elite interactions with the financier.

Buried in the correspondence is one email that transforms the Ethiopian connection from merely embarrassing to potentially sinister. In a message apparently sent to Abdulhak, Epstein mentioned that a “good friend who runs a modelling agency” believed there were “interesting girls” in Ethiopia.

In isolation, this phrase might be innocuous. In context, an email from a convicted sex offender who trafficked underage girls internationally, it becomes chilling. The term “interesting girls” echoes the euphemistic language Epstein and his associates used to discuss recruitment of victims. Modelling agencies, legitimate and otherwise, have long been identified as potential vectors for exploitation, offering young women from impoverished backgrounds promises of international careers whilst potentially exposing them to abuse.

Court documents from Epstein’s trials reveal a recruitment pattern that was both systematic and global. Victims were often approached through seemingly legitimate channels, modelling scouts, educational programmes, employment opportunities, before being groomed and trafficked. The operation relied on local recruiters who understood cultural contexts and could identify vulnerable targets.

Ethiopia, with its poverty, limited opportunities for young women, and a culture where deference to wealthy foreigners remains common, would have been an ideal hunting ground. That Epstein’s private jet received permission to land in Ethiopia, and that he mentioned visiting the country in correspondence with Steve Bannon, confirms he had physical presence there.

There is no direct evidence in the released documents that Epstein trafficked Ethiopian girls or engaged in criminal conduct within Ethiopia. But the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, particularly when so much of Epstein’s operation was deliberately hidden. Victims have described being trafficked to numerous countries, being flown on his private jets to locations where their passports were confiscated and they were kept in conditions resembling sexual slavery.

For Ethiopian law enforcement and civil society, these revelations demand investigation. If Epstein visited Ethiopia, whom did he meet? Were any young Ethiopian women recruited through his network? Did any of his associates, the modelling agency friend, for instance, operate in the country?

The reaction amongst Ethiopians and East Africans to the Epstein revelations has been complex, reflecting broader ambivalences about corruption, foreign influence, and accountability. On social media and in diaspora communities, there is genuine anger, not merely at Epstein, but at the Ethiopian individuals and institutions that enabled his presence.

The revelation about Berhanu Nega has proven particularly divisive. His supporters argue that accepting scholarship funding from Epstein over two decades ago, before the full extent of his crimes was publicly known, represents an unfortunate association rather than complicity. His critics counter that a man who vowed to work with Lucifer cannot now claim shock at having done precisely that.

The controversy has reignited broader questions about Nega’s judgment and principles. His acceptance of Eritrean citizenship to fight Ethiopia, making common cause with a regime at least as repressive as the EPRDF he opposed, already raised eyebrows. His seamless transition from armed insurgent to government minister suggested a pragmatism that borders on opportunism. The Epstein connection adds another troubling layer.

Yet there is also a strain of fatalism in East African responses, a sense that corruption and exploitation by wealthy foreigners is simply business as usual. Ethiopia has long experience with foreign actors from colonial powers to modern corporations and NGOs extracting value whilst leaving minimal benefit. In this reading, Epstein is merely the latest in a long line of predators, and focusing on him distracts from structural problems.

This cynicism, whilst understandable, is dangerous. It normalises exploitation and discourages the accountability mechanisms necessary to prevent future abuses. The global reckoning with Epstein’s crimes has demonstrated that exposure and prosecution are possible, albeit belatedly.

The convergence of Epstein’s eugenic obsessions with Ethiopia’s biometric data collection programme represents a thoroughly modern nightmare. Epstein’s interest in “improving” the human race through selective breeding was, at least in his expressed ambitions, constrained by biology how many women could he impregnate? But contemporary genetic databases and artificial intelligence offer possibilities that would have seemed like science fiction even a decade ago.

The five million Ethiopian children whose DNA has been harvested now exist as data points in systems whose full capabilities and access protocols remain opaque. In the wrong hands, such databases could enable precisely the sort of genetic manipulation and selection that Epstein fantasised about. Even in benign hands, the data represents extraordinary value pharmaceutical companies pay enormous sums for genetic information from diverse populations.

That contracts related to this programme involve UAE-based entities with peripheral connections to Epstein’s network may be coincidental. But given the pattern of Epstein’s investments, artificial intelligence in Ethiopia, genetic research globally, transhumanist projects, the possibility of intentional targeting cannot be dismissed.

The Ethiopian government’s response to questions about data security has been, at best, inadequate. Officials tout the benefits of digital identity whilst providing few details about encryption, access controls, or international data-sharing agreements. For a government that has demonstrated willingness to use technology repressively, and which employs a Minister of Education who received funding from a paedophile eugenicist, assurances ring hollow.

What the Epstein files ultimately reveal, whether the references are to Britain, Ethiopia, or the dozens of other jurisdictions touched by his crimes, is the banality of elite evil. Epstein was not a Bond villain operating from a secret lair. He was a fixture of respectable society, funding university departments, advising the wealthy, socialising with princes and presidents.

His crimes were enabled not by exotic conspiracy but by the mundane mechanisms of wealth and power: the assumption that rich men deserve privacy, the reluctance to ask awkward questions of generous donors, the willingness to overlook earlier convictions in exchange for access and funding.

For Ethiopia, the lessons are particularly stark. When Professor Berhanu Nega vowed to work with Lucifer himself to achieve his political aims, he articulated a principle, that ends justify means, which is fundamentally corrupting. Whether he knowingly accepted money from a monster is less important than his demonstrated willingness to do so. That such a man now oversees the education of Ethiopia’s children, whilst his government harvests their genetic data through murky international contracts, should alarm anyone concerned with child welfare.

The parallels with Britain’s experience are instructive. Lord Mandelson and Prince Andrew discovered that wealth, title, and power provide no immunity from public judgment when the crimes are sufficiently heinous and the association sufficiently close. Both have been effectively exiled from polite society, their legacies permanently tarnished.

Ethiopian figures connected to Epstein deserve similar scrutiny. The fact that Ethiopia is poorer than Britain, that its media infrastructure is weaker, that competing crises demand attention none of these absolve the moral responsibility to investigate and, where appropriate, demand accountability.

As more files are released and investigations continue, the full extent of Epstein’s Ethiopian connections may become clearer. For now, Ethiopians are left with uncomfortable questions, partial answers, and the knowledge that their country appeared on the radar of one of history’s most prolific sexual predators a man whose interests in genetics, artificial intelligence, and young girls may have found fertile ground in a nation desperate for investment and incapable of effective oversight.

If Berhanu Nega truly made a Faustian bargain, working with his Lucifer to achieve power, the devil has certainly had his due. The question now is whether Ethiopia’s children will pay the price for their elders’ moral compromises. With five million of them reduced to data points in databases connected, however tenuously, to a dead paedophile’s trans humanist fantasies, the answer may already be written in code we’ve yet to fully decrypt.

The Ethiopian Tribune continues to investigate the Epstein files and welcomes information from readers regarding any connections between Epstein’s network and activities in the Horn of Africa. We particularly seek information about the biometric data collection programme, its funding sources, and its international partnerships.

About Post Author

Ethiopian Tribune editor

editor@ethiopiantribune.com

https://ethiopiantribune.com

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በጋሻው አደመ

ኢትዮጵያ ልዕልናዋን፣ ክብሯን፣ ህልው ምግባሯን በጀግኖቿ ተጋድሎና በመስዋዕትነት ያጸናች ሀገር ናት።

ኢትዮጵያ ከታሪካዊ ጠላቶቿ መንጋጋ የወጣችባቸው የዘመን ሽራፊ አሻራዎች እንደሚነግሩን በየጊዜው ጊዜ የማይሽረው የታሪክ ጉልላት መሠራቱን ነው።

የድል ታሪኮቿ ኹሉ በ‘ዕድል’ የተገኙ ሳይኾኑ ኢትዮጵያዊነት ወኔንና ጀግነትን በታጠቁ ክንደ-ብርቱ ልጆቿ የተገኙ ስለመኾናቸው ታሪክ ምስክር ነው።

የጥቁር ሕዝቦች ኹሉ የነጻነት መስታዎት የዓድዋ ጦርነት የነጻነት ድል ታሪክ፣ እብሪተኛው ዚያድ ባሬ ድል የተደረገበት የካራማራው ጦርነት የድል ታሪክ የተገኘው በዕድል አልነበረም።

ፋሽስት ጣሊያን በ1888 ዓ.ም አድዋ ተራሮች ስር እርም በልታ ብትመለስም ከ40 ዓመታት በኋላ ግን እረመ-ቢስ ኾና የበቀል ስሌት ሰንዳ ለዳግም ወረራ መጣች። የሽንፈት ካባዋን ልታወልቅ፣ የበቀል በትሯን አነሳች። እኒያን የአድዋ ልጆች አደብ ልታስገዛ፣ ያችን የጥቁር ሕዝቦች ኹሉ ተምሳሌት ሀገር ልትረግጥ ወረራ ፈጸመች፤ በ1928 ዓ.ም።

ይኽ ድርጊቷም ቀድሞውንም በሀገራቸው ኅልውና ሰንፈው የማያውቁት ጀግኖችን ለሀገር ክብርና ልዕልና ተጋድሎ ቀሰቀሰ፤ የአርበኝነቱ ምዕራፍ ተጀመረ።

በዚያ የአርበኝነት ዘመን እነማን ነበሩ?

ጣሊያን በዳግም ወረራዋ ኢትዮጵያ ላይ ጦርነት ስትከፍት የሀገርን ኅልውናና ልዕልና ለማስጠበቅ ወኔ የከዳው አልነበረም ማለት ይቻላል።

ስለ የኢትዮጵያውያን አርበኝነት ገድል ስናወሳ የሴት አርበኞችን ሚና ማስታወስ ተገቢ ነው።

በእውቀቱ ስዩም ከአሜን ባሻገር መጽሐፉ “ሴቶች በዋሉበት” በሚል አርእስት ባሰፈረው ሃሳብ የሴቶችን በየዘመኑ ኹሉን አቀፍ አበርክቶ አብራርቷል።

በእውቀቱ እንደሚለው የሴቶች የድል በረከት “ከጓዳ እስከ አውደ ግንባር” ሚዛኑ ከባድ ነው። ሴቶች በጦርነት ወቅት ምግብ ያቀርባሉ፣ ሃሳብ ያቀርባሉ፤ ወኔ ያስታጥቃሉ፤ ጥይት ያቀብላሉ፤ ታጥቀው ያዋጋሉ፤ ይዋጋሉ። በዚኽም ለሀገር ክብርና ልእልና በሚደረግ ተጋድሎ ያስቀመጡት አሻራ ታሪክ የሚዘነጋው አይደለም።

“…እናንተም ወዲህ ኑ እኛም
እንመጣለን
አረበረከቴ ላይ እንገናኝ፡፡ …

ምናባቱ ፋሽስት፣
ፋሽስት ምናባቱ፣
እንወጋዋለን በገዛ ብረቱ፤”

ይህ ግጥም ጀግኖችን የፈጠረ፣ የይቻላል ስነ-ልቦናን የገነባ፣ የጀግና ደንቡን ጥሪ ያስተጋባ፣ የቁርጥ ቀን አለኝታዎችን ያሰባሰበ፣ የጀግኖች አርበኞች ድምጽ በመኾን አገልግሏል።

በአርበኝነት ዘመኑ የተጋድሎ ታሪክ ሲወሳ ስማቸው ከፍ ብሎ የሚነሳ እልፍ ጀግኖች አሉ።

የጎጃሙን አባ ኮስትር በላይ ዘለቀን ስናነሳ – የሸዋዋን ቅምጥል ሸዋረገድ ገድሌን አንዘነጋም። የሸዋውን አይደፈሬ ራስ አበበ አረጋይን ስናወሳ – “አምሳለ- ጣይቱ” የሚባልላትን አርበኛዋን ልዕልት ከበደች ሥዩምን አንዘነጋም።

በሰሜን የማይጨው ግንባር ከዘመቱት ሴቶች መካከል ከአርሶ አደር ቤተሰብ እስከ ልዕልቶቱ ይገኙባቸዋል፡፡

“አፍሪካና ሁለተኛው የዓለም ጦርነት” በሚል ርዕስ በአሜሪካ ካምብሪጅ ፕሬስ በታተመ የጥናት መድበል ውስጥ ዶክተር ኀይሉ ሀብቱ ፋሽስቱን የተዋጉ የኢትዮጵያ ሀገር ወዳድ ጀግና ሴችን የቃኙበት ጥናት ተጠቃሽ ነው።

በዚህ ጥናታዊ ዳሰሳ ከተጠቀሱ ሴቶች መካከልም ወይዘሮ ዘነበች ወልደየስ ባለቤታቸውን ተከትለው የዘመቱት አርበኛ ከአርሶ አደር ቤተሰብ የተገኙ ናቸው ይሉናል።

ሌላዋ ዘማች ልዕልት ሮማንወርቅ ኃይለሥላሴ ከባለቤታቸው ከባሌው ገዢ ጋር አብረው ዘምተዋል።

ከባላቸውና ከልጃቸው ጋር የዘመቱት አርበኛዋ ወይዘሮ ልክየለሽ በያን በፋሺስት ጣሊያን ወረራ ጊዜ ባለቤታቸው ሰማዕትነትን ሲቀበሉ ያዩትንና እሳቸው የፈጸሙትን ጀብዱ ደግሞ ፀሐይ ብርሃነ ሥላሴ “ኖርዝኢስት አፍሪካን ስተዲስ” ባሳተመው መድብል ውስጥ “ሽምቅ ተዋጊ ሴቶች” በሚለው መጣጥፋቸው ገልጸውታል፡፡

አርበኝነት በየዘርፉ

ፋሽት ጣሊያን ባሕር ተሻግሮ ድምበር ጥሶ የኢትዮጵያን ሉዓላዊነት ሲዳፈር ጀግና ሀገር ወዳድ ሁሉ ግምባር የዘመተው በየፊናው ነበር።

ከትጥቅ እስከ ስንቅ፣ ከሥነ-ልቦና ግንባታ እሰከ ሕክምና ሴቶችም ተሳትፈዋል።

ጦር ግንባር ድረስ በመሄድ ተዋጊው የሀገር ጀግና በቆሰለ ጊዜ ደሙን አጥበው፣ የተገኘውን የሀገር ባሕል መድኃኒት አድርገው፣ መግበውና ውኃ አጠጥተው ያድናሉ፡፡

በሕክምናው በኩል ወይዘሮ ስንዱ ገብሩ እና ወይዘሮ ጽጌ መንገሻ ተጠቃሽ መኾናቸውን ታሪክ ሰንዷል፡፡

ለዚኽም ‹‹ኢጣልያ በኢትዮጵያ – ከወልወል እስከ ጎንደር›› የተሰኘውን የተድላ ዘገየን መጽሐፍ ልብ ይሏል።

ክብር ለኢትዮጵያ አርበኞች!

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ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ጸሐፌ ትዕዛዝ አክሊሉ ኃብተወልድ ፣ በአለም የፖለቲካ መድረክ ኢትዮጵያን በከፍተኛ ደረጃ ያስተዋወቁ ፣ ብሔራዊ ጥቅሟንና የግዛት ሉአላዊነቷን ያስጠበቁ ፣ ከነበሩን ትላልቅ ነፍሳት መሀከል አንዱ ነበሩ። ምሥጋና ላይ በአያሌው ቁጥብ መሆናቸው የሚነገርላቸው ፕሮፌሰር መስፍን ፣ መጨረሻ ባሳተሙት መጽሐፋቸው “…ከ 1960 ዓ.ም በሁዋላ ያለውን የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ አቅጣጫ የለወጡ አንድ ጸሐፊ ትእዛዝ አክሊሉ ኃብተወልድ ናቸዉ።

አክሊሉ ኃብተወልድ የውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር ፣ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ፣ ጸሐፌ ትእዛዝ ነበሩ። ከሁሉም በላይ በነጮች ዘረኛነት ዘመን ፣ የጥቁር ድምጽ በማይሰማበት ወቅት በተባበሩት መንግሥታት ጉባኤ የማይደፈሩትን ነጮች በሙግት እያሳፈሩ ቀልባቸውን ሲገፉ የነበሩ ሰዉ ናቸው…” በማለት ምስክርነታቸውን ሰጥተዋል።

በዚያን ሰሞን አሮጌ መጽሔቶች ሳገላብጥ “የመጨረሻው ኑዛዜ… !” በሚል ርዕስ እኚህ ታላቅ ሰው ለሀገራቸው የፈጸሙትን ታላቅ ገድል የሚያወሳ ጽሑፍ አገኘሁ። እሥር ላይ ሆነው ከመሞታቸው በፊት በማስታወሻ መልክ ያኖሩት አስገራሚ ታሪክ ነው።

አፋምቦን ከፈረንሳይ ፣ ጋምቤላን ከእንግሊዝ እጅ ፈልቅቀው ወደ ቀድሞ እናት ግዛታቸው ኢትዮጵያ የቀላቀሉበት የዲፕሎማሲያዊ ጥበብ በእጅጉ ያስደምማል።

“….ውጪ ጉዳይ እንደገባሁ ኢትዮጵያ ከሌሎች ሀገራት ጋር ያላትን ወሰን በኢንተርናሽናል ውል መሠረት በትክክል መወሰን ዋና ጉዳይ አድርጌ ነበር ያየሁት ።….ትንሽ መንግሥት እንደመሆናችን መጠን የተከበብነው ያን ግዜ በነኛው በቅኝ ገዥዎች ስለሆነ ‘አጥራችንን ደህና አድርጎ ማጠር አስፈላጊ ነበር። ብዙ ግዜ ከአጼ ሚኒልክ ጋር የተደረገው ውል ግልጽ ያልሆነ ነበር። ኢትዮጵያ ከመወረሯ በፊት (1935) ካንድ ሀገር ጋር ብቻ ነበር ወሰናችን የተካለለው (ከእንግሊዝ ሶማሌ) በዚህ ምክንያት ነው ከጎረቤት ሀገራት ጋር በየጊዜው የድንበር ግጭት የነበረን…” በማለት ከባዱን የዲፕሎማሲያዊ ሥራ እንዴት እንደተያያዙት ጸሐፊ ትእዛዝ ያወሳሉ።

እስኪ ጋምቤላ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ እንዲመለስ (ከ 1954 — 1955 ዓ.ም) ያደረጉትን ትግል እንይ ፤ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር እንደገለጹት ኢትዮጵያ ዙሪያዋን በቀኝ ገዥዎች የተከበበች ብቸኛ ነጻ ሀገር ነበረች። እንዲህ እንዳሁኑ በዘርና በጎሳ ተከፋፍለን ፣ በጦርነት እርስ በእርስ ስንተላለቅ ፣ አጋጣሚውን በመጠቀም ቅኝ ገዢዎች በመስፋፋት ድንበራችንን ጥሰው በመግባት ብዙ ቦታዎችን ይዘውብን ነበር። በኃይል ከተያዙብን ሥፍራዎች አንዱ ጋምቤላ ነበር።

የኢትዮጵያና የሱዳን ድንበር የሚወሰነው በአጼ ምኒልክና በእንግሊዞች መካከል በተፈረመው ውል መሠረት ነበር። እዚህ ውል ላይ “…ጋምቤላ በእንግሊዞች እጅ ይቆያል ፣ ይኸውም እንግሊዝ ሱዳንን እስከያዘች ድረስ ነው ….”የሚል ነበረበት።

በ 1954 ዓ.ም ንጉሠ ነገሥት ግርማዊ ቀዳማዊ ኃይለሥላሴ እና ጸሐፊ ትእዛዝ አክሊሉ እንግሊዝን ይጎበኛሉ። አጋጣሚውን በመጠቀም ብልሁ አክሊሉ “..ሱዳን በቅርብ ግዜ ነጻ መሆኗ አይቀርም ፣ ስለዚህ በውሉ መሠረት አሁኑኑ ጋምቤላን ብታስረክቡን? ” ብለው የእንግሊዙን ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ኤደንን ይጠይቃሉ ኤደንም “..የሱዳን ነጻነት ገና ነው።
ቢያንስ ሁለትና ሦስት አመት ይወስዳል። በውሉ መሠረት ሱዳንን እስክንለቅ መጠበቅ አለባችሁ.. !”በማለት ኮስተር ብሎ ይመልሳል። "...ይሄማ አይሆንም! ሱዳን ነጻ መንግሥት እስክትሆን ጠብቀን በሁዋላ ከሱዳን ወንድሞቻችን ጋር ጋምቤላን አስረክቡን ብለን መጣላት አንፈልግም ስለዚህ አሁኑኑ ጋምቤላን አስረክቡን "በማለት አክሊሉ አጥብቀው ይጠይቃሉ። ከብዙ ክርክር በሁዋላ በአይበገሬው ኢትዮጵያዊ ጽናት አንድ ስምምነት ላይ ይደርሳሉ። ይህም "...ሱዳን ነጻ ከመውጣቷ ከሦስት ወር በፊት ጋምቤላን ለማስረከብ ሁለቱ መንግሥታት ተነጋግረው እንዲረካከቡ..."የሚል ነው።

ግን እንግሊዝ ውሉን ችላ ብላና ቃሏን አጥፋ ሦስት ወር ባልሞላ ግዜ ውስጥ ለሱዳን ነጻነቷን የምትመልስ መሆኗን በሬድዮ ታውጃለች። እንግሊዝ ጋምቤላን ሳታስረክብ ሱዳንን ለቃ መውጣቷ በኢትዮጵያና በሱዳን መሀከል ጦርነት መጫር ፈልጋ መሆኑን ለመረዳት አክሊሉ ግዜ አልወሰደባቸውም። ዜናውን እንደሰሙ በፍጥነት ማስታወሻ አዘጋጅተው በኢትዬጵያ የእንግሊዙን አምባሳደር ጠርተው ማስታወሻውን ይሰጡታል። የማስታወሻው ቃል "...በውሉ መሠረት ጋምቤላን እንግሊዞች የሚይዙት ሱዳን እስካለ ድረስ ነው። አሁን እንግሊዞች በድንገት ሱዳንን ስለሚለቁ ፣ በተስማማነው መሠረት ከሰኞ ጀምሮ (ከሁለት ቀን በሁዋላ) ኢትዮጵያ ጋምቤላን ትይዛለች ...!" የሚል ቆፍጠን ያለ መልእክት የያዘ ነበር። አምባሳደሩም ሀሳቡን ተቃውሞ መልእክቱን ግን ለሀገሩ መንግሥት እንደሚያስተላልፍ ተናገረ።

ወዲያው ለሱዳን የውስጥ አስተዳደር ባለስልጣናት በአቶ መለስ አምዶም (በወቅቱ የኢትዮጵያ አገናኝ ሁዋላም በግብጽ አምባሳደር በነበሩት) በኩል ቴሌግራም ይልካሉ።
“..ለነጻነታችሁ መልካም ምኞታችን ነው። ወደፊት እንደ ወንድማማቾች አብረን እንድንሠራ ጋምቤላ በቅኝ ገዢዎች በኃይል ተይዞብን ስለነበር ከሰኞ ጀምረን መያዛችን…. ወዳጅነታችንን የማይነካና የሱዳንም ቆንሲላ ማናቸውም ቤትና ንብረት ቢኖር ለግዜው መቆየት ይችላል… “የሚል ሀሳብ በመልእክቱ ተካቷል። አክሊሉ እንዳቀዱት ሰኞ እለት የኢትዮጵያ የፖሊስ ኃይል ጋምቤላ ገብቶ የኢትዮጵያን ባንዲራ ሰቀለ። አስተዳደሩንም ሙሉ በሙሉ ያለምንም ችግር ተቆጣጠረ። ሱዳኖች በወቅቱ በነጻነታቸው ተደስተው በጎ ምላሽ የሰጡ ቢሆንም.. ፣ ዘግይተው ሀሳባቸውን ለውጠዋል። ከሦስት ወር በሁዋላ በምክትል የውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር የሚመራ ልዑክ ጋምቤላ ስላላቸው ንብረት ለመነጋገር አዲስ አበባ ይገባል። በስብሰባ ወቅት በቁጣ "..ለእንግሊዞች የፈቀዳችሁትን ጋምቤላን ለምን ለእኛ አፍሪካውያን ትነፍጉናላችሁ? ጋምቤላን መልሱልን.. !"በማለት ጠይቀዋል።

አክሊሉም “…እኛ ወደን የሰጠናቸው አይደለም! የእንግሊዝ ቀኝ ገዥዎች አፍሪካን ሲከፋፈሉ በኃይል የወሰዱብን ነው። አሁን ቅኝ ግዛት ሀገራት ነጻ ይውጡ ሲባል.. እንዴት እናንተ እንዲህ አይነት ጥያቄ ትጠይቃላችሁ? ! ይልቅ በሰላማዊና በወንድማማች መንፈስ የምትወስዱትን እቃ ዝርዝር ብንነጋገር ይሻላል። ወደዚህ የመጣችሁበትና የተስማማንበት ጉዳይ ይህ ነው!ከዚህ ውጪ በሌላ ጉዳይ ለመነጋገር የተስማማንበት ሥርአት አይፈቅድም.. !” አሏቸው። ሱዳኖችም ተቆጥተው ስብሰባውን ጥለው ወጡ። ጸሐፊ ትእዛዝ በማስታወሻቸው እንደሚዘክሩት "..በሌላ ጉዳይ ካልሆነ በቀር ከዚያን ግዜ አንስቶ የጋምቤላ ጉዳይ በሱዳኖች ተነስቶ አያውቅም.. !" ይሉናል።

“ክብር ኢትዮጵያን ከነ ነፃነቷ ላስረከቡን ጀግኖች አባቶቻችንና እናቶቻችን ይሁን🙏

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By Professor Girma Berhanu Department of Education and Special Education University of Gothenburg

Introduction

This paper is motivated by a recently circulated video produced in Gondar that documents practices of forced religious conversion and coercive manipulation directed at members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The video

[i] depicts economically vulnerable Orthodox believers being pressured by Pentecostal groups—identified as “Mulu Wongel” (“Full Gospel”)—to renounce their faith, burn their kitab, and denounce Saint Mary (Kidist Mariam) in exchange for food aid and other forms of material assistance. Such practices raise serious concerns regarding freedom of religion, informed consent, and the exploitation of poverty.

The involvement of foreign religious actors, reportedly operating in coordination with local authorities, suggests a broader structural problem rather than isolated incidents. Anti-Orthodox campaigns have historical depth in Ethiopia and cannot be understood as recent developments. These campaigns intensified during the Woyane (the other name for Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) period and appear to have become increasingly visible and institutionalized in the post-TPLF/EPRDF era. The instrumentalization of material deprivation to induce religious conversion constitutes a violation of basic human dignity and, under international human-rights norms, may qualify as coercion.

This paper does not aim to engage in theological debate, nor does it seek to adjudicate doctrinal differences. Religion is acknowledged as a sensitive domain that often elicits strong reactions. Instead, the focus is on the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as a historical, cultural, and social institution that has played a central role in shaping Ethiopian identity, social cohesion, and political sovereignty[ii].

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is among the oldest Christian institutions in the world, yet it has faced sustained external and internal pressures since the sixteenth century, beginning with Portuguese Jesuit interventions. Subsequent periods witnessed continued incursions by both Islamic powers and Western evangelical missions. These efforts often relied on direct proselytization practices that were intrusive and coercive in nature, particularly when directed at economically marginalized communities. The author has observed these dynamics firsthand over several decades.

The manifestations of these pressures are complex and frequently parallel broader colonial or neo-colonial projects. During the Italian occupation, for example, Orthodox institutions and clergy were explicitly targeted. Italian forces carried out documented massacres of Orthodox monks, recognizing the church as a core pillar of Ethiopian nationalism, cultural continuity, and resistance to foreign domination. This historical record underscores the extent to which assaults on the church have also been assaults on Ethiopian sovereignty.

Of particular concern is the role of the Ethiopian state in the contemporary period. Since the rise of the TPLF/EPRDF, there has been documented evidence of systemic discrimination against the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and its adherents, alongside preferential treatment and institutional support extended to evangelical, Pentecostal, and Protestant groups. This pattern of state alignment has contributed to religious inequality, social fragmentation, and the erosion of long-standing communal structures. The Prime Minister and his high-ranking official belong to this group. They openly use the muscle of the state institutions to suppress the Orthodox Christians.

This paper argues that these developments warrant serious scholarly and advocacy-based attention. Addressing coercive religious practices and state-sanctioned disparities is essential not only for protecting religious freedom, but also for preserving social stability and historical continuity in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia at a Crossroads: Religious Violence, Ethnic Federalism, and Regional Instability

In the article “Ethiopia, the Land of the Bible, Brutally Targeting and Killing Christians,” Blanquita Cullum (December 25, 2025), presented on The National Security Hour, examines the contemporary crisis affecting Christian communities in Ethiopia. The presentation situates the origins of Christianity in Ethiopia within the ancient Aksumite Kingdom of the fourth century, 325 CE, following the conversion of King Ezana. Ethiopia possesses one of the world’s oldest continuous Christian traditions, reflected in its extensive religious heritage, including the eleven rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, carved from a single living rock. The country is referenced more than forty times in biblical texts, and longstanding traditions identify Ethiopia as the promised land of St. Mary and as the custodian of the Ark of the Covenant.

Christianity remains a major religious force in Ethiopia, with adherents of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as well as Greek Orthodox, Coptic, and other Christian denominations, numbering in the tens of millions. This enduring presence is largely attributable to Ethiopia’s historical role as a refuge for persecuted Orthodox Christian communities. Armenian and Greek Christians, fleeing persecution in the Ottoman Empire and other regions, migrated to Ethiopia and established enduring diaspora communities. Despite this substantial historical and demographic significance, Ethiopia is currently listed on several international risk assessments identifying heightened threats of armed conflict, political violence, terrorism, and kidnapping. Recent reports suggest that Christian populations—particularly members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church—have increasingly become targets of violence, with incidents rising in both frequency and severity. The crisis raises critical questions regarding the motivations behind attacks on Christian communities and the strategic importance of Ethiopia within the Horn of Africa. Regional instability is underscored by Ethiopia’s proximity to Somalia, a country long affected by state fragility and armed conflict. Furthermore, the involvement of external actors, Egypt, the Gulf states, Turkey etc. warrants examination in light of Ethiopia’s geopolitical significance.

In response to these developments, the United States House of Representatives introduced Resolution H.R. 937, which condemns the Government of Ethiopia for actions that threaten regional stability, violate fundamental human rights, and undermine U.S. strategic interests in the Horn of Africa. The resolution emphasizes that violence has disproportionately targeted the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and other religious institutions. Substantial evidence suggests the involvement of the Oromo Liberation Front and Oromo Liberation Army (OLF/OLA), and Islamic Oromya operating in complicity with elements of the current governing structure.

Ethiopia’s historical identity extends beyond religion. It is the site of the paleoanthropological discovery of Australopithecus afarensis (“Lucy”), the location of Lalibela’s UNESCO-recognized churches, the alleged resting place of the Ark of the Covenant in Axum, and the birthplace of coffee. These widely recognized cultural and historical markers heighten international awareness and underscore the gravity of the country’s present suffering.

Contemporary reports describe a systematic campaign of violence affecting both religious and ethnic communities. Ethiopian Orthodox clergy have been killed, churches destroyed, and entire populations forcibly displaced. Documentation includes accounts of mass killings, sexual violence, and drone strikes against civilian populations. The Amhara people, in particular, have experienced displacement on a scale involving hundreds of thousands.

This crisis is not solely a localized humanitarian emergency but is rooted in a broader political framework of ethnic federalism that has, according to numerous analyses, been instrumentalized by political elites to consolidate power. The resulting fragmentation threatens the cohesion of a state that has endured for millennia. The potential collapse of Ethiopia would have profound regional consequences, jeopardizing trade routes, exacerbating security vacuums, and enabling extremist organizations and foreign powers to expand their influence across the Horn of Africa. H.R. 937 represents a formal acknowledgment of these abuses and calls for concrete measures to protect civilian populations and ensure accountability for perpetrators. The resolution advocates targeted sanctions and the conditional provision of international assistance aimed at safeguarding civilians rather than entrenching political regimes. As such, it constitutes a normative and policy-oriented response to a crisis with significant humanitarian, regional, and geopolitical implications.

Moral Silence in the Face of Atrocity: Religious Leadership and Mass Violence in Contemporary Ethiopia

Ethiopians are currently enduring profound suffering and a pervasive, collective national grief. The country’s fate appears increasingly shaped by ethnonationalist forces, ethno-fascist mobilizations, and violent groups operating both within and outside the present political leadership. Atrocity crimes—including murder, mass killings, arbitrary detention, and other forms of inhumane treatment of civilians—have become disturbingly routine.

At the time of writing, violence continues unabated, particularly in the Amhara region, which has effectively become a war zone. Approximately six million school-aged children are out of school, state institutions are largely nonfunctional, agricultural activity has been disrupted, and access to health services is severely limited. The region has witnessed large-scale internal displacement and migration. International reporting indicates that tens of thousands—though the precise number remains undetermined—have been killed, including through drone strikes and other weaponry. Civilians endure indescribable suffering, compounded by reports of forced religious conversion and systematic abuses directed at Ethiopian Orthodox Church institutions and clergy[iii].

Amid these conditions, pressing questions arise: Where are the voices of international humanitarian organizations? Where is the collective response of the international community? Why is there such limited global condemnation of the killing of Ethiopians—young and old alike? Equally troubling is the relative silence of domestic religious leadership. Ethiopia’s religious institutions are moral centers where fundamental ethical principles are taught—most notably, that the taking of life is wrong and that inflicting suffering upon others constitutes a grave violation of divine law. Yet these principles are not being articulated with sufficient clarity or urgency in response to the current crisis.

It is widely recognized that there is no military solution to the ongoing violence and genocidal acts in Ethiopia. Religious and spiritual leaders—both within the country and throughout the diaspora—must therefore speak out forcefully, consistently, and unambiguously. They must affirm that all Ethiopians are children of God and that murder represents a profound desecration of the very faith such violence claims to defend. The ongoing silence of religious establishments in the face of mass atrocities is deeply troubling and risks becoming catastrophic for efforts to preserve Ethiopia’s unity and to protect the sanctity of human life. Forced religious conversion, moreover, constitutes a violation equal in moral gravity to physical violence.

In times of national disaster or collective trauma, religious leaders traditionally serve as frontline caregivers and trusted moral authorities. Communities look to them for comfort, healing, and guidance, and they are expected to act as the voice of the voiceless. While the primary role of religious leadership is spiritual care—providing compassion, empathy, clarity, and hope in moments of crisis—it also includes a responsibility to condemn killings, denounce inhumane treatment and forced conversion, and publicly admonish political leaders who perpetuate violence.

The current situation in Ethiopia urgently requires such leadership. Religious institutions possess a unique capacity to help halt the violence orchestrated by political elites whose actions threaten to destroy Ethiopia’s social fabric, undermine the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and provoke prolonged civil war. Beyond condemnation, these leaders are also positioned to facilitate national dialogue, reconciliation, and the pursuit of sustainable peace. Their established social authority, extensive networks, and faith-based moral frameworks equip them to respond meaningfully to the profound suffering experienced by millions of Ethiopians.

It must be acknowledged that some courageous religious figures have spoken out against these atrocity crimes. Notably, several bishops from the Amhara region and the late Sheikh Haji Omar Idris—the Grand Mufti of Ethiopia and former president of the Islamic Affairs Supreme Council—publicly expressed grave concern regarding the deteriorating situation and the commission of mass atrocities. It is possible that other leaders have voiced similar concerns privately or within limited forums. Nevertheless, what is required now is a far stronger, unified, and unequivocal public condemnation by Ethiopia’s major religious institutions. Such moral leadership is not optional; it is imperative.

Faith Under Siege: Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church in a Changing Religious Landscape

I want to believe that the majority of Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Ethiopian Protestant Churches (including Pentecostals, both as organizations and as individual believers) have fought—and continue to fight—for justice, truth, and the rule of law throughout Ethiopian history. However, the forms of resistance and protest have varied significantly among these religious communities. Compared to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, one of the oldest Christian institutions in the world, Protestant denominations—including Evangelical, Pentecostal[iv], Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Mennonite, Seventh-day Adventist, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and numerous other fragmented Protestant churches—are relatively recent arrivals in Ethiopia. Consequently, their roles and engagements in Ethiopian political life differ accordingly.

As Haustein (2014) [v]notes, a new religious factor has emerged in Ethiopia that attracts considerable public attention, invites controversy, influences social behavior, and has even generated new Amharic expressions. This phenomenon is visible in the proliferation of church signs in towns and villages bearing names such as “Full Gospel Believers Church” (ሙሉ፡ወንጌል፡አማኞች፡ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን, Mulu Wängel Amañočč Betä-Krəstiyan), “Paradise Church” (ገነት፡ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን, Gännät Betä-Krəstiyan), “Light of Life Church” (ሕይወት፡ብርሃን፡ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን, Ḥəywät Bərhan Betä-Krəstiyan), “Deliverance Church” (አርነት፡ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን, Arənnät Betä-Krəstiyan), among many others.

There are widely held—though largely unsubstantiated—claims that some Protestant sects passively collaborate with the ruling regime because the government has granted them greater space to practice their religion. Another equally contested claim suggests that, since the regime (whether under the EPRDF, the Prosperity Party, to match Oral Robert’s Prosperity Gospel) or the broader political elite) has adopted an anti-Orthodox posture and undermined Orthodox traditions, these newer religious groups have felt emboldened or even satisfied by the weakening of what they perceive as a rival religious establishment.

The expansion of Protestant denominations is undeniable. However, their relationships with long-established religious communities—particularly the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Muslim community—have been fraught with tension. One major point of contention is aggressive proselytization, including practices that critics argue involve materially incentivizing conversions among impoverished Orthodox believers. It is long overdue for Protestant churches, Muslim organizations, and the Orthodox Church—whose leadership has itself been manipulated by the regime—to take coordinated and principled action in condemning atrocities committed in Ethiopia, especially assaults on Orthodox believers, their ancient traditions, artifacts, and sacred relics.

Internal disputes and doctrinal rivalries over relatively minor theological differences only serve to prolong the grip of authoritarian or ethnofascist forces on power, thereby exacerbating the suffering of the faithful. While religious institutions should remain independent of political control in a just, inclusive, and democratic society, Ethiopia’s reality has been markedly different. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church was heavily controlled under the EPRDF and continues to be influenced by sympathizers of extremist and ethnicist forces, particularly those emerging from anti-Ethiopian movements in regions such as Oromia. Reports from Dire Dawa, Harar, and eastern Ethiopia are deeply alarming and warrant a separate, focused analysis.

A closer examination of the power structure within the Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate reveals that an estimated 90 percent of departmental leadership positions have been held by former TPLF members or current Prosperity Party affiliates (though precise figures are unavailable). This political capture explains, in part, why the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is facing both financial hardship and severe restrictions on its religious autonomy. The regime has repeatedly violated religious freedom by intervening directly in Orthodox ecclesiastical affairs.

Ironically, historic churches such as Lalibela and Axum Zion generate substantial revenue through tourism, yet the Church itself has seen little benefit from this income. Since the TPLF came to power, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has borne the brunt of discriminatory policies and systematic marginalization. A commonly cited explanation for the government’s hostility toward the Orthodox foundation lies in the Church’s deep-rooted tradition of Ethiopianism. The Church is famously associated with the Ethiopian flag and has long served as a custodian of national identity. Under the new regime, the situation has worsened. Abiy’s ministers, allies, and a shadow government appear influenced by the Prosperity Gospel movement—an extremely aggressive, profit-driven, and mafia-like organization—which has had a damaging impact not only in Ethiopia but across numerous African countries, often depriving the poor and vulnerable.

Several factors have historically complicated relations between successive regimes—including both the Tigrean-led and Abiy administrations—and the Church. First, for centuries, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church stood at the center of village social life. Weddings, baptisms, funerals, conflict mediation, and spiritual counseling were all conducted through the Church. Each household was spiritually connected to a priest who served as a religious “father” and presided over key life-cycle events. In this way, the Church was embedded in every community.

Second, the Church functioned as a vital link between the people and the state. It consistently aligned itself with Ethiopian emperors who, in turn, promoted the Church’s unity, expansion, and authority. Hierarchically organized from village parishes to a national center, the Church embodied both spiritual and socio-cultural life. It played a critical role in mediating conflicts—between rival groups and even between the state and rebel forces—while fostering allegiance to the Ethiopian state. Through the use of national symbols, especially the Ethiopian flag during religious and social ceremonies, the Church effectively served as a school of national consciousness, a practice mirrored by the Ethiopian military.

Third, the Church historically served as the principal legitimizing institution for Ethiopian rulers. Long-standing grievances regarding the TPLF’s hijacking of the Orthodox Church were later substantiated in Aregawi Berhe’s A Political History of the TPLF, as referenced by Getachew Redda (see: Ethiopian Semay, accessed 2018-02-08). Notably, I have never observed the Ethiopian flag being prominently displayed during ceremonies or festivities of other religious institutions in Ethiopia—though I remain open to correction on this point.

Above all, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has historically maintained, affirmed, and defended the just liberties of the Ethiopian people and the nation’s territorial integrity. During periods of foreign invasion, it provided moral support and spiritual inspiration to Ethiopian patriots, reinforcing its enduring role as both a religious and national institution.

Since its inception, the ruling party has clandestinely organized and operated activities that are hostile toward the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Muslim community. It has infiltrated and “contaminated” these foundational institutions, which are central to Ethiopian identity and the ethos of Ethiopianism. These religious establishments are perceived as threats to a ruling agenda centered on un-Ethiopian policies. The commitment and zeal of Orthodox followers—to both their faith and the integrity of Ethiopia—has been documented by international observers and researchers.

According to Jeff Diamant (2017)[vi], a senior writer/editor at Pew Research Center focusing on religion, Ethiopia has the largest Orthodox Christian population outside Europe. By many measures, Orthodox Ethiopians display far higher levels of religious commitment than Orthodox Christians in the faith’s historical heartlands of Central and Eastern Europe. Ethiopia, located in the Horn of Africa, has over 45 [?]million Orthodox Christians, making it the world’s second-largest Orthodox population after Russia. Nearly all Orthodox Ethiopians (98%) consider religion very important, compared with a median of 34% among Orthodox Christians across 13 surveyed countries in Central and Eastern Europe. About three-quarters of Orthodox Ethiopians attend church weekly (78%), compared with a median of 10% in Central and Eastern Europe and just 6% in Russia.

Orthodox Christians make up approximately 53%[vii] of Ethiopia’s population, with Protestants accounting for 19% and Muslims 35%. In 2010, Ethiopia’s 36 million Orthodox Christians comprised about 14% of the global Orthodox population, up from 3% in 1910. This growth is largely attributable to Ethiopia’s overall population increase, from 9 million in 1910 to 83 million in 2010. Ethiopian Orthodoxy belongs to the Oriental branch of Orthodoxy, which represents roughly 20% of the global Orthodox population and is not in communion with the larger Eastern Orthodox Church due to theological and doctrinal differences.

For these reasons, the current ruling party view the Orthodox Church as a threat to their “divide and rule” strategies. Some reports suggest that evangelical Protestantism (particularly Pentecostalism) is aggressively attempting to convert members, while fundamentalist Islam is becoming increasingly assertive in the country and the region. However, substantial empirical data is required before these claims can be definitively stated. Premature discussion risks creating divisions that only prolong the regime’s merciless attacks on Ethiopia and Ethiopian identity.

It is high time for Ethiopian youth to stop being used as cannon fodder and for religious institutions to cease acting merely as passive observers—or worse, as facilitators of burial services for unarmed citizens murdered under the regime. Religious schisms, particularly among the diaspora, must end to preserve unity in the face of persecution.

Ethiopians must have access to international platforms to present their case, including the United Nations and its judicial bodies, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), global media outlets, religious institutions, prominent cultural figures, and independent think tanks that provide early warnings of crises. The persecution of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church—including forced conversions, derision, and systematic erasure—is part of a broader genocidal agenda. Early warning signs of catastrophic risk in Ethiopia are already evident. The international community must respond urgently to prevent the destruction of the country and the destabilization of the wider region. Failure to act will have devastating consequences for Ethiopia and beyond.

Summary and The Road Forward

At this critical moment in Ethiopian history, what do we expect from our religious leaders—regardless of denomination, sect, or doctrine? We expect courage, honesty, and moral clarity.

Political elites are manipulating divisions among religious leaders and ethnic groups. Silence from our spiritual authorities in the face of atrocities is unacceptable. Religious leaders have a moral duty to speak out, call for justice, and hold the powerful accountable. The faith community looks to you not just for guidance, but for action. Religious authority carries power. Used wisely, it can galvanize communities toward justice. Used poorly—or not at all—it allows oppression to flourish. Ethiopia’s political, social, and economic systems are infiltrated by ethnonationalist forces that marginalize the majority. It is time for religious leaders—at every level—to mobilize followers for an inclusive, just, and humane society.

Internal colonization, inequality, and domination are real. Ethiopian religious leaders have historically resisted foreign colonizers and homegrown oppressors alike. Today, despite doctrinal differences, unity is essential. Moral courage is not optional: failure to speak out against killings, repression, and persecution will be judged by the people, by history, and by God.

In some regions, extremist attacks have burned churches, killed clergy and laypeople, and forced conversions. For Orthodox Tewahedo Christians, religion is inseparable from ethnic identity, language (Geʽez), and history. Forced conversion erases heritage, tradition, and belonging. Yet, for over 1,700 years, the faith has survived and remains central to Ethiopian civilization.

The battle today is clear: good versus evil, life versus death. There is no room for doctrinal disputes when human lives, justice, and Ethiopia’s future are at stake. Religious leaders must rise together, unite communities, and act decisively. The time for moral courage is now.

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand-fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”

― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

Academic & Scholarly Sources

Ademe, S. M. (2021). Ideological violence towards the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in the post-1960s. Politics and Religion Journal. https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1502377a

Crummey, D. (2006). Church and nation: The Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo Church (from the thirteenth to the twentieth century). In M. Angold (Ed.), The Cambridge history of Christianity (pp. 457–487). Cambridge University Press.

Liyew, D. M. (2024). Politics of secularism in Ethiopia: Repression or co-option towards the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church? European Scientific Journal, 20(11).

Persecution of Orthodox Tewahedo Christianity. (n.d.). Grokipedia.

Systematic persecution in Oromia: The role of militias and political actors in targeting Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. (2025). Borkena.

The shattered cross: A chronicle of state-sanctioned persecution against Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christians. (2025). Borkena.

Woybela Mariam Church incident. (2022). Wikipedia.

[i] https://youtu.be/XQZso_nY_cI?si=7ygVs7jcgfWwhPfO

[ii] https://www.americaoutloud.news/ethiopia-the-land-of-the-bible-brutally-targeting-and-killing-christians/

[iii] Insight, Addis (2023-02-15). “The Persecution of Ethiopian Orthodox Church Followers: A Comparison to Jewish Persecution Throughout History”. Addis Insight. Retrieved 2023-09-03.

[iv] Jörg Haustein (2014) argues that despite its fairly ubiquitous presence, there are hardly any academic publications about this new religious factor. The standard Amharic dictionaries do not yet include the term ጴንጤ (pänṭe) and its correct spelling is not solidified. Obviously, the word is derived from the Amharic term for Pentecost (ጰንጠቆስጤ, pänṭäqosṭe), or the English “Pentecostal,” and as such it points to the Pentecostal movement. But how did Pentecostalism come to Ethiopia in the first place? Why has it become such a notable phenomenon only now, whereas in other African countries, such as neighboring Kenya, it has been around for much longer

[v] Jörg Haustein (2014) Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in Ethiopia: A Historical Introduction to a Largely Unexplored Movement.Hatem Elliesie (ed.): Multidisciplinary Views on the Horn of Africa. Studien zum Horn von Afrika, 1, Köln 2014, pp. 109–127.

[vi] Ethiopia is an outlier in the Orthodox Christian world http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/28/ethiopia-is-an-outlier-in-the-orthodox-christian-world/

[vii] The statistical data are difficult to interpret, and precise figures remain contested. Nevertheless, the estimate cited may be plausible. Over the past five decades, large numbers of Amharas are reported to have been killed in episodes of mass violence. During a parliamentary discussion approximately twelve years ago, an expert from the national census office stated that approximately 2.5 million Amharas were unaccounted for in the census data. The fate of this population remains unexplained. It has also been openly acknowledged by some political figures that the Amhara population is underrepresented in official statistics, yet public discussion of the apparent disappearance of large numbers of Amharas remains limited. It is reasonable to infer that, among those unaccounted for, an overwhelming majority were adherents of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

[1] https://www.americaoutloud.news/ethiopia-the-land-of-the-bible-brutally-targeting-and-killing-christians/

[1] Insight, Addis (2023-02-15). “The Persecution of Ethiopian Orthodox Church Followers: A Comparison to Jewish Persecution Throughout History”. Addis Insight. Retrieved 2023-09-03.

[1] Jörg Haustein (2014) argues that despite its fairly ubiquitous presence, there are hardly any academic publications about this new religious factor. The standard Amharic dictionaries do not yet include the term ጴንጤ (pänṭe) and its correct spelling is not solidified. Obviously, the word is derived from the Amharic term for Pentecost (ጰንጠቆስጤ, pänṭäqosṭe), or the English “Pentecostal,” and as such it points to the Pentecostal movement. But how did Pentecostalism come to Ethiopia in the first place? Why has it become such a notable phenomenon only now, whereas in other African countries, such as neighboring Kenya, it has been around for much longer

[1] Jörg Haustein (2014) Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in Ethiopia: A Historical Introduction to a Largely Unexplored Movement.Hatem Elliesie (ed.): Multidisciplinary Views on the Horn of Africa. Studien zum Horn von Afrika, 1, Köln 2014, pp. 109–127.

[1] Ethiopia is an outlier in the Orthodox Christian world http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/28/ethiopia-is-an-outlier-in-the-orthodox-christian-world/

[1] The statistical data are difficult to interpret, and precise figures remain contested. Nevertheless, the estimate cited may be plausible. Over the past five decades, large numbers of Amharas are reported to have been killed in episodes of mass violence. During a parliamentary discussion approximately twelve years ago, an expert from the national census office stated that approximately 2.5 million Amharas were unaccounted for in the census data. The fate of this population remains unexplained. It has also been openly acknowledged by some political figures that the Amhara population is underrepresented in official statistics, yet public discussion of the apparent disappearance of large numbers of Amharas remains limited. It is reasonable to infer that, among those unaccounted for, an overwhelming majority were adherents of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

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