Abiy Ahmed Tewahedo supporters are violating their Donatist beliefs

Donatus Magnus, A Berber Bishop, who proclaimed Donatism a central theme in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Painting from the Nuremberg Chronicle 1440)

Ethiopian Orthodox Church clergy and their Evangelical allies supporting Abiy Ahmed’s policy of no negotiation and deprivation of human needs to deal with the Tigray are blasphemous to Donatism a unique theological tenet of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The conduct, preaching, and speeches made to members of the United States Congress as well as the Ethiopian public that the Tigray need to be wiped out and no peace talks should be held is a severe violation of the Donatist principle espoused for hundreds of years.

Since early in its development, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has strongly held valid that the clergy must be a church of “saints not sinners”.  Church leaders had to live their lives everyday following the Biblical teachings of love, charity, sacrifice, forgiveness, loving both neighbor and enemy, and avoiding hate and violence. Donatists opposed the idea of joining church and state as noted in the book of Samuel in the Old Testament because leaders of men tend to become corrupt and sinful. The Church had an imperial relationship to rulers but careful in how it advised. Similarly the Church had a long history of co-existence with differing faiths. Unfortunately as the Church moved somewhat to Amhara in last two centuries it did show some signs of Calvinist pre-selection where Cushitic Southern Ethiopians were not seen as equals allowing their enslavement. There are also some issues of Apostolic succession in the Amharic Synods of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as they cannot clearly trace to Saint Peter through the 5th century Syrian missionaries as do the Tigray. This is especially noted for Synods in the foreign countries which has lead to current divisions within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Abune Mathias, the recognized head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by proper Apostolic succession, has been held in house arrest under Abiy Ahmed. He was prohibited from communication to the world until taped interviews where smuggled out of Ethiopia. He has decried the Tigray Genocide as unjustified and evil. 

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church origins begin in the 4th century CE when the Axumite King in what is now Tigray was converted from Judaism to Christianity by Frumentius a Syrian Christian monk who also followed Jewish Law. Frumentius and his brother Aedesius were shipwrecked and became prominent advisors to the Axum royal family leading to Ezana’s baptism.  Judaism had come to Axum many centuries before following the visit of the Sabian Queen Sheba to Israel who subsequently bore the son of King Solomon. There is also the Biblical story of the Ethiopian enuch (royal official) who on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem met Saint Philip who explained that Jesus had come as prophesized in the Old Testament.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church developed with distinct theological differences from the Byzantine Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Syrian Christian missionaries who preserved many Jewish traditions such as kosher diet spread their message throughout what is now Northern Ethiopia. No contact occurred with the Roman Church for almost 800 years isolating it from that influence.  While Church fathers from Northern Africa and Alexandria such as St. Augustine as well as those from the Byzantium had influence in the Ethiopian Church it still developed its own way.  Sometimes the church is referred to as Tewahedo which refers to the concept that Jesus God and human parts are indivisibly mixed. Some of its most recognized saints are lesser known or not clearly recognized in the West. The story of the Axumite empire in the Negus became a part of their religious tradition.

However one of the most important differences and one that really characterized the Tewahedo Church is Donatism. Donatus Magnus was North African Bishop who believed that for clergy to have the power to lead their flock and celebrate the Eucharist they had to live perfect lives. Otherwise their prayers, sermons, blessings, granting of forgiveness, and preparation and celebration of the Eucharist would be rendered invalid. Whilst prominent church father, St. Augustine disagreed as did the Roman Church, this principle has remained a pillar of Tewahedo through today.

 

 

Tigray administrator exposed Eritreans and wish to preserve borders flees

Although Gebremeskel Kassa ,Chief of Staff for the Interim Tigray Administration appointed by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, supported Ethiopian action to take over the Tigray Regional state from the TPLF he  would soon become critical of Ethiopian, Amharan, and Eritrean actions in the region leading to his seeking refuge outside Ethiopia.

Gebremeskel Kassa  complained during the Ethiopian occupation of Tigray that Eritrean troops should have withdrawn from Tigray and that the violent expulsion of ethnic Tigrayans from Western Tigray was wrong. At the time the Tigray Interim Administration took power he stated emphatically that their goal was to maintain the current borders of Tigray previously ruled by the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front and not to give Western Tigray to Amhara.  He and others also pushed unsuccessfully for the Prime Minister to seek talks to resolve the crisis.

In January 2021 he told Reuters News Service that 2 million people were displaced in Tigray but Mitiku Kassa of the Ethiopia’s National Disaster Risk Management Commission contradicted his pronouncement with a lie that it was only 110,000. Then in March 2021 in an interview with BBC he complained that Eritrean and Amhara military authorities blocked the Tigray Interim Administration from setting up local civilian services and also blocked action to provide any law enforcement protection, health care restoration, food aid, or investigation of violations of human rights which he admitted had been done by the occupying forces.

Kassa left Tigray when the Tigray Defense Force resurged in June 2021. He joins other former Tigray Interim Administration officials who have grown increasingly critical of the Abiy Ahmed directed policy of lies, abuse, deprivation, and genocide toward the Tigray state and its population. Now he has fled Ethiopia and asking for asylum in an unnamed country after he became the subject of an inquiry blaming him as well as other officials for the military defeat. 

Ethiopian intentional punitive defunding and diversion of Tigray medical supplies

Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital campus of Mekelle University

Intentional starvation and complete blockade of medical supply are primary strategies of the Ethiopian government towards the Tigray state in violation of not only moral propriety but also international law. How this unfolded will be told in this writing.

In discussion with displaced and in place faculty of Mekelle University this week I have learned that Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital has more than 60 infants and children dying of starvation in the hospital averaging 2 or more deaths per day. Today there is no medicine, no nutritional supplements, no baby food or bottle formula, no laboratory, no x-ray, and the staff is all working voluntarily without pay. Every day children and adults are dying of simple treatable acute and chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, childbirth, pneumonia, and accident just to name a few.  This intentional complete abandonment of the Ethiopian government’s responsibility to care for innocent noncombatants is a violation of international treaties and the Genocide Convention of the United Nations to which Ethiopia is a signatory. 

I previously published that we now can accurately estimate that the crude death rate, that is the number of expected deaths per 1000 population per annum will raise from its pre-war level of 6 by %500 to 32 (its level in 1950 when there was almost no health care) meaning over 228,000 people will die in Tigray each year due to complete lack of health care.

For the previous year while the Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Amhara regional governments were planning their invasion of Tigray there was also a plan to defund Mekelle University with reduction and stoppage of many routine payments such as for a routine repair of the MRI scanner and CT scanner.

Then following the Ethiopian Eritrean occupation of Mekelle in late November 2020 the medical supply, maintenance support, and even communication with Ethiopian Ministries of Science and Higher Education and Health were gradually completely cut off to the federally funded Ethiopian Mekelle University and it’s referral and teaching hospital Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital.  

The acting President of Mekelle University, Dr. Fetien Abay, and Chief Academic Head of the College of Health Sciences, Dr. Hayelom Kebede,  went to see the military commander of the Ethiopian occupying forces in early December when the hospital’s supplies were already near exhaustion at Planet Hotel. He told them that the Ethiopian military and government had no responsibility to care for the civilian population. Subsequent discussions with Mulu Nega, the first appointed governor of the Tigray Interim Administration appointed by Prime Minister Ahmed to preside over the occupation, and then the Eritrean Abraham Belay, long time supporter of Isaias Afwerki, dictator of Eritrea and now the defense minister for Ethiopia who replaced  Nega he was too “lenient”. Communications with Belay were that Ethiopia had no responsibility to offer any civilian support or assistance because civilians were not supporting the Ethiopian government.

Since the occupation and extending even up to the recent few months intermittent conversations with Dr. Lia Tadesse by Dr. Hayelom  Kebede and others have proven failures. She has expressed regret in telephone conversations that she is not allowed to take any action to supply Ayder Hospital or the Tigray Regional Health Bureau because the Prime Minister has forbid it.

Almost two years ago I was consulting with a group working with multiple international nongovernmental organizations to propose a plan to help improve the function of Ethiopian government purchasing. This included discussions about joint ventures on producing medical consumables in Ethiopia. The plan was rejected after our presentation to the Ethiopian Investment Commission because the funder of a factory wanted to build it in Tigray. Out of this work came a discussion with high officials of the Korea Hospital that they had tried a similar goal  before and discovered that Ethiopia was selling some of the supplies it purchased at discounted price or partially subsidized price to other African countries at higher prices to get “hard currency”. It now appears that some supplies that were collected and meant to be shipped to Tigray since the onset of war may have been just given to Eritrea or instead sold as means to collect hard currency.

Financial researchers discover Ethiopian debt perilously higher than previously estimated

Map shows Chinese loan projects in Africa of which many are in Ethiopia and in trouble

Researchers at William & Mary Global Research Institute in the USA have discovered that Ethiopia’s previous thought debt to foreign lenders of $30 billion does not take into account “hidden debt” which involves private institutions from both borrower and lender but still carrying government guarantees of repayment. How much higher is difficult to measure but it may be an additional 5% of the Gross Domestic Product  higher then previously thought. 

This is apparently involved in China’s “high risk high reward” loans to developing countries which have natural resources. Typically the loans involve credit payments much higher than those available from Western democracy sources.  Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in February 2020, had wanted to try getting Europe to replace China as a creditor because of the high interests and obligations of Chinese lending.  China cancelled all previous interest free loans to Ethiopia in 2019 when the Ethiopian economy under Abiy Ahmed after his first year began to deteriorate. Europe has become cold to dealing with Ethiopia and given its dim view of the developing despotic government and falling economy is not going to be willing to jump in soon. Western financial analysts warn China is creating situations where they can control infrastructure and natural resources in the developing countries to whom they lend development capital.

Ethiopia has to make payments on its debt of over $2 billion per year while its usual baseline whole country budget is only $2 billion per year. Ethiopia’s Gross Domestic Product of 2020 at $ 107 billion is expected to fall precipitously due to war costs exceeding $2.5 billion, abnormal rain patterns, locus swarms, inflation due to currency devaluation, and loss of confidence of foreign investors due to the ongoing Ethiopia Tigray conflict. Economists warn that debt burdens greater than 10% of GDP are very risky. Ethiopia having debt burden approaching 40% will have to suffer agreeing to severe fiscal austerity from the International Monetary Fund contributors to its debt, mainly China.

Abiy Ahmed plans Ethiopian economic realignment to Cuba, Eritrea, and Iran scheme

Abiy Ahmed freed Andargachew Tsige in 2018 who now appears to have growing influence in Amhara based media.

It is no secret that Abiy Ahmed is moving away from alignment with the Western democracy capitalist based economic model and moving towards the state dominated economic model of Eritrea, Cuba, and Iran as well as Turkey problem child of NATO. This action is being somewhat camouflaged by pro-Africa anti-colonization rhetoric given to falsely buoy his supporters in the wake of catastrophic economic failure now on the horizon.

This week, Andargachew Tsige, former ally of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front who was imprisoned by the previous government then released by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, is making the rounds on the Amharic media calling for a new economic model like that of Cuba and Eritrea. 

Coincidently it was revealed this week that Canadian mining companies had tried to make a secret deal for rights to $ 2 billion in gold reserves in Tigray without any knowledge of the Tigray state many months before the Ethiopian Tigray conflict. Canadian courts had found that Canadian mining interests had violated the law by cooperating with the Eritrean government to pay slave wages to workers resulting in high profits for Esaias Afwerki, despot of Eritrea and the mining concerns. The embarrassment caused the Canadians to sell all but 10% to Chinese less scrupled interests. Canada has been remarkably quiet about the Ethiopian situation.

No doubt Abiy Ahmed can see the writing on the wall that his economic future with the West is poor given the inevitable sanctions coming soon unless he radically changes course and sues for peace with the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front. Now eleven months into a war that has seen the Tigray Defense Force initially on its knees to now controlling much of the Amhara region many such as United Nations Secretary General Gutierrez believe Ethiopia cannot obtain a military victory.  Even so Abiy Ahmed has promised to never negotiate with those he has deemed terrorists. The failing economy may become more of an enemy then the TPLF for Abiy Ahmed.

Ethiopian military drones face major obstacles in mountains of Tigray

Satellite photograph of Semara, Afar, Airport in August 2021 showing Mohajer-6 drones

The network is busy now, try again later! spoken by that all too familiar female voice to Ethiopian cell phone users may also be heard by Ethiopian armed forces military drone operators trying to use imported military drones in the mountainous terrain of Tigray. Multiple reviews of drone images taken by satellite and analysis by world renowned weapons experts seems to consistently point to few possible drone models being used. The most common is Iran’s Mohajer-6.

Although these drones can carry weapons they do not have the sophisticated live satellite link guidance of super power countries drones. Instead they are limited to line of sight flying no more than about 100 miles from the ground control station. This may also account why the Tigray Defense Force is keeping a margin of safety in Amhara and Afar distant from the border of Tigray. Mountains, bad weather, etc. can block the signal. Those with experience operating them say it is not uncommon to frequently lose signals. They can be set to attack on a set GPS course but it will not be very accurate without live visual confirmation which requires line of sight constant communication.

Exact location of targets is difficult other than by visual recognition. How sophisticated that is would depend on how much “extras” were added to the purchase. On board Global Positioning Systems can give location of the drone but not the target. Many countries are now employing GPS blocking systems which can easily block those of line of sight drones.

Severe Ethiopian crackdown on Oromo Irrecha Bishoftu celebration

Security forces have blockaded the highway from Addis Ababa to Bishoftu in fear of protest gatherings forming at Irrecha celebrations

Although an official police statement from Bishoftu says that visitors are welcome to today’s celebration of Irrecha, the Oromo national unity holiday, the truth is far different. Since yesterday the 39 kilometer expressway from Addis Ababa (known as Finfinne to Oromos before the Amhara conquest) to Bishoftu has been mostly blocked off. Many witnesses report that numerous Oromo youth from Addis Ababa and other areas have been arrested by police trying to enter Bishoftu.  Despite the roadblock the editor of Addis Standard in her twitter reports says that many are still choosing to walk the 39 kilometer distance by foot to attend the celebrations at lake Hora Arsedi. Many have been quoted as saying that Abiy Ahmed will not succeed in stopping Oromo protestation to wrongful imprisonment of Oromo leaders and other grievances including extrajudicial killings.

Oromo celebrants of Irrecha at Hora Arsedi in Bishoftu are not deterred by threats from Ethiopian security forces under orders from Abiy Ahmed to stop embarassing protests before instillation of the new government

The Ethiopian Federal government is so fearful that large formations of federal police and soldiers are now deployed in Bishoftu. A complete blackout of telephone, cell, electricity, and internet services has been done. Hospitals and clinics are under strict orders not to report any injuries in Bishoftu just as yesterday doctors and nurses in Addis were rebuked for reporting injuries at Irrecha celebrations in Addis Ababa. Additionally there are now reports that prominent human rights leaders from Addis Ababa including Tesfalem Waldyes, founder of Ethiopia Insight, have been arrested.

Abiy Ahmed orders machine guns fired on Oromo protesting at Irrecha holiday

Ethiopia welcomes celebrants of Irrecha holiday with machine guns in Addis Ababa today

Instead of coming to the major Oromo cultural event of the year,  Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia and of Oromo ancestry,  decided instead to send armed soldiers and pickup trucks mounted with high caliber machine guns. Witnesses from the scene report that unarmed Oromos began to protest the jailing of Jawar Mohammed and others while shouting “down with Abiy!”. In response the large crowd was sprayed with bullets killing many. Doctor contacts at Paulos Hospital in Addis Ababa report many causalities, at least more then 10,  some in serious condition have so far been received.

Seven died from gunshot wounds and at least 10 sent to hospital at the Addis Ababa Irrecha celebration

This week the Oromo people of Ethiopia who make up the largest ethnic group of over 30% celebrate a special holiday called Irrecha. It signifies the end of the rainy cold season. The event usually occurs near a large body of water to honor the nature deity, Waaqa, and give thanks for the blessings of the past year.  It is more than a religious holiday as Oromia of all faiths Christian and Muslim also celebrate the holiday as a day of unity and cultural recognition.

Abiy Ahmed’s father was Oromo and in his Parliamentary position, Abiy Ahmed was a representative of the Oromo area just north of Addis. His rise to power was fueled by Oromo leader, Jawar Mohammed, and his Qeero (bachelor) movement. However since taking power, the PM switched allegiance to Amhara expansionists who have a long history of enslaving and denying rights to the Oromo. He has jailed on charges of terrorism many of his previous Oromo supporters and mentors including Mohammed. An armed resistance, the Oromo Liberation Army, is growing by the day in hopes to depose the Prime Minister who they see as a traitor to the Oromo cause.

Tomorrow a major celebration is planned at a sacred lake in Bishoftu a short distance from Addis Ababa. However, now security forces are blocking the highway connecting from Addis Ababa trying to stop the gathering. Apparently Abiy Ahmed fears that more protests against the government will occur embarrassing the PM that his own people are against him while this week he is in the midst of the upcoming presentation of his new Prosperity Party government this week.  Many Oromia and others feel these elections in their regional state were unfair to opposition parties.

The public beating of Tigray mother shows the moral fall of Ethiopia

 

The public beating of a mother and child by police shows Addis Ababa once the shining city of  divergence and enlightenment now has a very dark soul of malevolence and nihilism. 

I cannot get a video posted today from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia out of my head. Two big Addis Ababa policemen find a small Tigray woman with her child of about 1 and 1/2 years on side walk street vending. Upon hearing her speak Tigrinya they viciously kick her feet out from under her and begin pummeling her head.

One has to understand that no Tigray would be out in the street of Addis Ababa where they are subject to such abuse or even disappearing without a trace in a detainment center where extrajudicial killings have happened according to prosecutors from Addis Ababa.

No doubt she was poor and needed money to feed her child. We don’t know the exact story of why she was there but losing her family to marauding death squads of Ethiopian or Eritrean soldiers, or starvation, or just being isolated because of the communication block could be one or all  contributing to her desperate current plight.

There were many bystanders but not a single one defended her. Instead when they saw someone was filming the senseless brutality of police officers whose job is to protect the vulnerable they blocked the filming. What happened after that we do not know. Unfortunately though it is well known that for some time there has been no safe place for Tegaru in Addis Ababa.

If she goes to the Medhanialem Church near the wealthy social center of Addis in a neighborhood called Bole she would not find refuge now.  Always in the past this Ethiopian Orthodox Church was a sanctuary for all Ethiopians where they could sleep, find water, clothes or other hand outs from fellow Christians. Today the Tegaru rightful head of this ancient denomination is under house arrest while Amhara replacements preach a false Gospel of death rather then life in those sacred abodes which once proclaimed the charity and brotherhood of Jesus Christ  but now are replaced by hate even of a widowed mother and her small child. 

Maybe it is time to return Addis Ababa to its original name Finfinne and to it’s original peaceful owners, the Oromo, who are known for creating Africa’s first democracy, Gadaa,  before they were conquered and enslaved by Amhara expansion.

There is no doubt Abiy Ahmed is an evil man. The fallacy of Ethiopia for Ethiopians

Ethiopian PM started with a promise of democracy and inclusion but now has fallen into the essence of evil!

At this moment Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed has decided that he is justified to starve millions of innocents of whom children are the first to die. Not only Tigray but even before the war started 1 in 4 Ethiopians was getting international food aid from the UN and others. Many Amhara, Orom0, Somali, Afar, SNNP as well as others are also facing food shortages with displacement, new locust swarms, poor rains, and inflation which limited the planting material this year.

The English pastor, John Dunne,  wrote that “No Man Is an Island” in his Meditations centuries ago. Apparently this was never a reading of the Prime Minister. The United Nations was created so that nations can help each other in times of crisis. The vulnerable including women, children, and elderly have traditionally been protected by international agreements to which Ethiopia is a signatory. Abiy Ahmed believes he is above treaties. In the name of sovereignty no atrocity is forbidden. 

Yet today we see a man who just a short time ago received the Nobel Peace Prize and the hope of a nation but now has become one of the most evil in history. Overseeing and approving widespread rape, male child killing, destruction and theft of health care facilities, cutting of supplies of electricity. communication, fuel, and lastly intentionally starving the Tigray population with an intent to kill as many or more as the Nazis killed the Jews or the Turks killed the Armenians.

Meanwhile his maniacal supporters cry Ethiopia for Ethiopians. Forgetting the Eritreans and Somalis were called in to assist with the killing and destruction while the Tigray who at least when this war started were Ethiopians.

Ethiopia has zero capability to survive by itself economically. Ethiopia is $30 billion USD in debt such that it has to pay $2 billion USD annually just to cover the interest which is equal to a normal whole budget. The birr is worth almost nothing while rampant inflation for everything from diapers to food is rising daily. Without any outside support the Ethiopian economy will surely collapse. Now with sanctions surely coming it will crash viciously for the perpetrators.

Once aligned with the western democracies to help its development now Ethiopia has become pimped to Eritrea, North Korea, Iran, and Turkey. Eritrea has stolen many of the personal vehicles of the FANO Amhara militia and other valuable in Gondar and Western Tigray. The rebellion against the Abiy Ahmed grows in every region every day.

Additionally they are killing Amhara occupiers of Western Tigray while they ravage it. All this to “payback” a deposed Tigray group that had returned to just rule Tigray. Never mind that the Bible, a book the PM claims to follow, bands starvation as a weapon in both the New and Old Testament.  Perhaps he should read it again to learn about justice, peace, mercy, and love.  Many have talked about Abiy Ahmed ultimately ending up in the International Criminal Court for his complete loss of respect for human life. Now this may be necessary to find peace.