የህወሓት ስረወመንግስት በኢሕኣዴግ ጡዘት

“የህወሃት የበላይነት በእኩልነት”

MINILIK SALSAWI (ምንሊክ ሳልሳዊ)

ተጠፍጥፈው በወያኔ የተሰሩት የኢሕኣዴግ አባል ድርጅቶት እስከዛሬ እንዳልተዋሃዱ የሚታወቅ ነው:: እንዚህ ድርጅቶች ባለፉት 20 አመታት ውስጥ ያልተዋሃዱበት እና በአንድ

ፓርቲ እና ግለሰብ ስር እየተሽከረከሩ የኖሩበት ሁኔታ በበረሃው የመሃላ ፖለቲካ አለምብሰላቸው ወደ ሕወሓት ስረወመንግስት ውሳኔ ሰጪነት ሳያሸጋግራቸው የፖለቲካ ባሮች እንደሆኑ አሉ::ርእዮት አለሙ እጅግ ወደ ኋላ የቀረ እና የአስተሳሰብ ጥልቀቶች አለመኖር ፓርታዊ ዲሞክራሲን ማእከል አለማድረጋቸው የውህደት ምህዳሩ እንዲደፈን እና ብሔር ተኮር የውህደት አደረጃጀት ወደ ሃገራዊ ፓርቲነት እንዳይለወጡ ለውህደቱ ዚግዛግ እደምታ አስከትሎበታል::ይህ ደሞ ሕወሓት የበላይነቱን እዳያጣ እና ስረወመንግስት እንዳይደረመስ ከመፍራት በመጣ የተቀነባበረ የፖለቲካ ሴራ ነው::

በባህር ዳር ይካሄዳል ተብሎ እየተጠበቀ ያለው የኢሕኣዴግ ጉባኤ እጅግ በተጠንቀቅ እየተጠበቀ ሲሆን ፓርቲዎች ላለፉት አመታት እየተደረገባቸው ያለውን የፖለቲካ ጭቆና በተመለከተ ያፈነዱታል ተብሎ ተሰግቷል:: ለዚህን በአሁን ሰአት አስፈላጊው ቅድመ ዝግጅት እየተደረገ ይገኛል:: የግንባሩ አባል ድርጅቶች በሕወሃት ላይ ያላቸውን ጥላቻ ያንጸባርቁበታል ድርጅታዊ መብታቸን በፋት ይጠይቁበታል የተባለለት ይህ ጉባየ ሌሎች ችግሮችንም እንደሚወልድ እየተነገረለት ነው::እነዚሁ አባል ድርጅቶች “የህወሃት የበላይነት በእኩልነት” የሚል አዲስ አስተሳሰባቸውን ይዘው ስለሚቀላቀሉ ፍራቻውን ለማስወገድ ተሳታፊ አባላት ሲመረጡ ጥንቃቄ እንዲወሰድ ስራዎች ተሰርተዋል::በግንባሩ ላይ የለውጥ ተጸኖ ያሳድራሉ የተባሉ ተሳታፊዎች ወደ ባህር ዳር እንዳይዘልቁ በመደረጉ ችግሮች እንዳመረቀዙ ነው ያሉት::

ራሳቸውን ስልጣን ላይ ለማቆየት የተለያዩ መርሆዎችን የሚከተሉት ወያኔዎች በለውጥ ጎዳና የሄዳሉ ማለት ዘበት ነው::መርሆዎቻቸው የህብረተሰቡን መብቶች እና የሃገሪቱን የምጣኔሃብት እድገቶች ከማኮላሸት ዉጪ ምንም ፋይዳ የላቸውም::በአብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲ የተመረዙ የፖለቲካ እና የምጣኔሃብት አጀንዳዎች ያሉት ኢህኣዴግ የዴሞክራሲ ተፈጥሮ ሰላለለው ስልጣኑ በእጁ ስላለ ባለስልጣኖቹ የህዝብን መብትና ንብረት ለጥቅማቸው አውለውታል:: እጅግ በሚደንቅ ሁኔታ ነጋዴ ያልሆኑ ኢትዮጵያውያን ባለስልጣኖች Bank of Malaysia በከፈቱት አካውንት ከፍተኛ የዶላሮች ክምችት እንዳላቸው መረጃዎች ጠቆሙ:: በሃገር ውስጥ ያሉ የምእራባውያን ዲፕሎማቶች እይታዎች እንደሚያሳዩት የኢትዮጵያውያን ባለስልጣናት ራሳቸው በፈጠሩት በራሳቸው እና በቤተሰባቸው ስም የተለያዩ አካውንቶች ውስጥ በሚልዮኖች የሚቆጠሩ ዶላሮችን እንዳስቀመጡ በምስራቅ አፍሪካ የሚገኝ የረድኤት ድርጅት ዲፕሎማቶቹ ያደረሱት መረጃ አመላክቷል::እንዲሁም በኳታር;በሲንጋፖር;በታይዋን;በቱርክ.. የተለያዩ የባንክ አካውንቶች ያሏቸው ሲሆን በምእራቡ አለም እምብዛም ባንኮችን አይጠቀሙም::

የመድበለ ፓርቲን በመርህ ደረጃ ብቻ የሚቀበለው ወያኔ ለመተግበር ስለሚከብደው ካድሬዎቹ በራሳቸው ድንጋጠ ውስጥ የከተታቸው ሲሆን ታማኝነቱን አጉድሎታል:;በምላሱ ብቻ የሚናገራቸው የዲሞክራሲ መርሆዎች ከካድሬዎቹ የፖለቲካ ማንነት ጥያቄዎች እንዲነሱ አድርጓል::

ባለፉት 20 አመታቶች ውስጥ ኢትዮጵያውያን እምነት እንዳጡበት ደጋግመው ያሳዩ ወያኔ አሁንም አስተማማኝ የተባለ መንገድን ለመጥረግ ዝግጁ ባለመሆኑ እና ጀሌዎቹም ባንድ ወጥ ውሳኔ አሰጣት ያልሰለጠኑ የፖለቲካ ታማኞች በመሆናቸው በቀታይነት ከወያኔ ምንም እንደማይጠበቅ የወቁ ብዙሃን ህዝቦች ይህን ስረወመንግስት ለመናድ በስፋት እየዘመቱ ይገኛል:;

በፍትህ ስርኣቱ ታማኝነቱ ተጠሪነቱ ለመንግስት መሆኑ አሁንም ዋና እና አነጋጋሪ ይርሆነ ጉዳይ ሲሆን ወያኔ ካለፉት መንግስታት ምንም አይነት የፍርድ ቤቶችን አሰራር በተመለከት ትምህርት አላመቅሰሙ ሊያስጠይቀው የሚገባ ጉዳይ ነው የደርግን መንግስት እንኳን ብንወስድ ቀይ ሽብርን የፈጸመው ከፍርድ ብት ውጪ እንደነበር እና ከዛም በሁዋላ በነበሩ ጊዜያት ታስረው የነበሩ ማናቸውም ሰዎች ከደርግ ጣልቃ ገብነት ውጭ ፍርድ ቤቶች የራሳቸውን ውሳኔ ይሰጡ እንደነበር የሚያውቁ ይመሰክራሉ::በአሁኑ ሰአት ግን እያንዳንዱ ህብረተሰብ በፍትህ ተቋማት ላይ ትልልልልቅ ጥያቄዎች እያነሳ ነው::

የወያኔ መንግስት በበረሃ ታግሎ የመጡት እና የድል አጥቢያ አርበኞት የእርስ በእርስ አለመተማመን ድርጅቱ እየፈረካከሱበት እንደሆነ እና ህዝቡ ዘንድ ያለውም ጥላቻ መስፋቱ ድንጋጠው እንዲበረታ ሲያደርጉት ከመሪው መለስ ሞት በኋላ መራባውያን በጥርጣሬ እያኡት መሆኑ ደሞ ስጋት ፈጥሮበታል:: ከመለስ ሞት በኋላ ነጻነታችንን እናገኛለን ብለው የነበሩት የግንባሩ አባል ድርጅቶች የህ/ማርያም ወደ ስልጣን መምጣት ስልጣናቸውን ለየክልላቸው ካለተጽእኖ እንደሚጠቀሙ እና ተሰሚነታችንም ከሕወሓት እኩ ይሆናል ብለው ቢገምቱን የመንግስቱ ስልጣኖች ሰፍተው እና አድገው በሕወሃት አመራሮች መያዛቸው ተስፋቸውን በማጨለሙ “ከሕወሓት የበላይነት ወደ እኩልነት የሚል እደምታ እንዲፈጠር ሆኗል:;

የኢሕኣዴግ አባላት እየተናቆሩ ያሉበት ያንድም ፓርቲ የማስወገድ ጥያቄ አሁንም ለማስቆም የወያኔ ጀሌዎች በካድረው ውስጥ ከፍተኛ ስራ እየሰሩ ቢሆንም ሊሳካላቸው አልቻለም:: የአንዱ ከፍታ እና የአንዱ ዝቅታ አሁንም ጥያቄው እንዳልተፈታ ነው::

The Green Green Gold of Ethiopia

By GRAHAM PEEBLES

Ancestral land that for generations has served as home and livelihood for hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in

 Ethiopia is being leased out, on 99-year renewable contracts at nominal sums to foreign corporations. The land giveaway or agrarian reforms as the government would prefer to present them began in 2008 when the Ethiopian government, under the brutal suppressive Premiership of Meles Zenawi invited foreign countries/corporation to take up highly attractive deals and turn large areas of land over to industrial farming for the export of crops. India, China and Saudi Arabia were all courted and along with wealthy Ethiopians have eagerly grabbed large pieces of land at basement prices; rates vary from $1.10 to $6.05 per hectare (HA), comparable land in India would set you back $600 per ha.

A total of 3,619,509 ha, the Oakland Institute (OI), a US based think tank, estimate has been leased out. Land made available by the forced re-location of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people under the government’s universally condemned Villagization progamme, which aims to forcibly re-locate over 1.5 million people from their homes.

India corporations have taken the lion’s share, acquiring around 600,000 ha concentrated in Gambella and Afar, split between 10 investing companies. The term ‘investing’ implies benefits for Ethiopia, which is misleading; ‘profiteering’, or ‘exploiting’ sits closer to the truth of these land deals, as the OI make clear, “taking over land and natural resources from rural Ethiopians, is resulting in a massive destruction of livelihoods and making millions of locals [farmers and pastoralist communities] dependent on food handouts”. With small scale farmers being evicted from their land, prices of staples such as Teff, used by millions throughout Ethiopia to make Injera (bread), has rocketed in price, according to Ethiotribune 22/5/2012, increasing fourfold since 2008.

Corporate expansionism: small change big profits

In line with its ambitions of diversity and world food dominance – Karuturi Global, the world’s largest grower of roses, leads the Indian charge, leasing 311,700 ha in Gambella. Not satisfied with this, GRAIN (an international NGO, working to support small farmers) report Mr.Karuturi “wants to set up farming operations [throughout Eastern and Southern Africa] on more than 1 million [ha]” – too much never enough in corporate expansionism.

Almost a quarter of Gambella’s 25 million ha has been earmarked by the federal government for agricultural ‘development’. Karuturi, whose profits “rose 55.13% to Rs 1.21 crore [10 million] in the quarter ended June 2012”, took their chunk without even seeing it, paying only $1.10 per ha. For the Indian giant it is, John Vidal in ‘Land Grab Ethiopia (LGE)’ says, “the sale of the century”. ‘Green Gold’ is how Mr. Karuturi in GRAIN (‘Who’s Behind the Land Deals’), describes his 300,000 ha of Ethiopian soil, “for which he pays $46 per ha per year including water and labour and expects at least $660 [per ha] in profit per year”. (Ibid)

Sandnessjøen kvinner dag på mars 08,2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVkpjRp84qE&feature=youtu.be

Ethiopia: When Foreign Investors and Donors become complacent on crimes of corruption of the ruling regime

The struggle for democracy and freedom is a war on the crimes of tyranny. We have to make sure crime doesn’t, shouldn’t and would never pay. We have to declare criminals mustn’t getaway anywhere in the world to protect the people and save the country.

by Teshome Debalke

No one yet scratched the surface to examine the extent of the Ethiopian ruling regime led by Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) intricate economic crimes against the people of Ethiopia and Donor countries.

The gullible foreign community either knowingly became complacent on the crimes of the regime or taken for a ride as victims of the elaborate corruption of the savvy regime.

The accomplices of the regime in Diaspora that carry Western passport and talking the language of business have lots to do to cover up for the regime and can no longer be ignored in  their conspiracy to commit crime against the people of Ethiopia.

TPLF understanding of the international community’ gullibility and low expectation, its grasp of the kinds of foreign investors’ have the appetite to make quick bucks in extractive industries, its ability to target corruption prone Diaspora investors and its awareness of the changing world power politics and where the resources are channeled are some of the its assets to shield its criminality with relative ease.  To its credit, TPLF ability to organize it operatives to sing its tune as well as the opposition division on irrelevant issues helped it getaway with almost everything it does in the last two decades of its rule.

Absence of organized and independent investigation, the regime and its accomplices got away with crimes of the century. The regime’s sophisticated control of the flow of information, the means and ways of economic production, and key economic sectors with its clandestine business enterprises are part of the elaborate institutionalization of corruption to hide its crimes.

The recent conference held in India regarding the massive land grab by foreign investors’ in Africa opened another window of opportunity to look deeper in the regimes operation. The fact land is the regimes main political tool to engineer its ethnic cleansing, extortion and wealth transfer to its cronies as well as a means to earn foreign exchange by parading investors tells us its preference for partner in crime are from unexpected places. It also explains why the regime held onto land; to take the population hostage to sustain its rule.

Little has been done formally to scrutinize the regime and its accomplices that are running amok; destabilizing the population.

The conference that was organized by Centre for Social Development (CSD) of India in association with Kalpavriksh, PEACE, and The Oakland Institute of the USA. The gathering was one of a kind that exposed the Ethiopian regime’s elaborate corruption and impunity, thanks to Obang Metho of the Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia.  It also reviled investors’ impunity when they partner with authoritarian regimes in Africa.

ESAT Daily News Amsterdam 07 March 2013 Ethiopia

እኛም እንድገመዋ… ርዕዮትን እያሰሩ … ቐሽ ገብሩን ቢዘክሩ… “ሼም” የለም በአገሩ…!?

አቤ ቶኪቻው

ተዓምረኛው ኢቲቪ ለማርች ስምንት የሴቶች ቀን መታሰቢያ አንድ ዶክመንተሪ ፊልም አሳይቶናል። ፊልሙ የዛሬ አመት ተላልፎ እኛም የአቅማችንን አስተያየት ሰጥተንበት ነበር። ታድያ ዛሬም ኢቲቪዬ ፊልሙን ደግሞ አሳይቶናል። ታድያ መድገም ብርቅ ነው እንዴ… እኛም አስተያየታችንን እንድገመዋ!

በመጀመሪያ አበሻ እንደመሆኔ መጠን ጭቆናን “እምቢ” ብለው ፋኖን ለዘመሩ ታጋዮች ትልቅ አክብሮት እንዳለኝ ያለ ሽሙጥ እገልፃለሁ።

ተስፋዬ ገብረ አብ ከተረካቸው ትረካዎች በሙሉ “የቁንድዶ ፈረስ” ትረካ በጣም የመሰጠችኝ ናት። እስቲ ለማስታወስ ልሞክር…

ሐረር አካባቢ፤ የጋሪ ፈረሶች የሚደርስባቸው የስራ ጫና እጅግ በጣም ከባድ ነበር። ከስራ ጫናው እኩል ደግሞ ዱላም አለው። ልክ አሁን አሁን ደሞዛችን አነሰ ብለን “ኡኡ” ስንል “ለአባይ እና ለሌሎች ልማቶች ደግሞ መዋጮ አዋጡ” ተብለን መከራችንን እንደምናየው ማለት ነው። በዚህ ላይ እነዚህ የጋሪ ፈረሶች ስራውና ዱላ የሚደራረብባቸው አንሶ ጌታቸው (አባ ፈርዳው) ቀለባቸውንም በአግባቡ አይሰፍርላቸውም ነበርና ከሰውነት ጎዳና ወጥተው ክስት ጉስቁል አሉ።

ይሄን ግዜ “እምቢኝ” አሉና “ቁንድዶ” ወደተባለ ጫካ ገቡ። ከዛም ባህሪያቸው ተለውጦ እንደፈረስ ሳይሆን እንደ እንደ አውሬ ሆኑ። ማን ወንድ መጥቶ ዳግም ወደዛ የጋሪ ባርነት ይመልሳቸው? ማንም።

The Paradox We Need to Deal with Seriously and Honestly

1) As an introduction

Let me start by saying that as numerous researches conducted by   many psychologists, sociologists, and other  social

 scientist have shown , there is no any human or social interaction that is absolutely free from paradoxical  attitudes and behaviors . Hearing and watching people making contradiction between what they say and what they actually do is not uncommon.  And I do not have any illusion to make the case of the people of Ethiopia an exception to this very general fact of human attitude and behavior.

There is no doubt that with all unfortunately ugly sides of history, the people of Ethiopia have a very great place in the history of mankind.  The kings/emperors, empresses, princes, great patriotic forefathers and mothers again with all challenges they had and mistakes they made, they had made a great history in the passing over of the country as we know it from generation to generation. They had to pay ultimate sacrifices which emanated from a deeply powerful conviction of selflessness. They had paid priceless sacrifices because they truly believed that preserving a homeland that is independent and sovereign could be unthinkable let alone possible without making aspirations and actions the two inseparable and indispensable   factors of living with freedom and dignity as well as being the beneficiaries of all natural resources.  Needless to say that our forefathers and mothers had selflessly paid   huge sacrifices with a great belief that preserving the homeland was their glorious mission not only for few generations but for all generations to come.

When it comes to the role of religious institutions and their leaders, with all the problems they had, they not only preached/and taught about the values of national pride and human dignity but they also had paid their sacred and ultimate sacrifices. Although the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church by virtue of being the exercised earlier and being favored by most of the rulers, Muslim Ethiopians and all Ethiopians who belong to other domains of Christianity had a great role as far as preserving our homeland we call it Ethiopia is concerned.  I am not here disregarding some terrible events that took place in the course of our political history. One way or another or gravely serious or less serious, it has to be admitted that mistakes had been made and those mistakes have to be put in the right perspective of history and taken as teachable lessons.

Deception and Disinformation Strategy

Tigrai People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is “celebrating” thirty eight years birth of their mob rule style at Mekele town.

 The on going discussions of the issues are not known to general public, at least to my knowledge. But it is expected that they will be confined to dogmatic ethnic politics and then viciously slandered one another to win the power struggle among themselves. TPLF survived all these years through deception or coercion and frequently by brutal force.  They had political and ideological differences within their guerrilla warfare years. Through violent internal purges or dissention, execution and finally the current ethno-centric TPLF’s leaders came out as winner. The present leaders continued the ethnic based authoritarian rule and eroded Ethiopian nationalist identity. A long Ethiopian history of cultural awareness is weakening through deception and disinformation strategy. They are attempting to rewrite history based on lies and political propaganda ploy.

As we witnessed and observed when the Derg dictatorship nears its terminal stage, TPLF realized a symbolic strategy is needed to seize power. They formed a ridicule united front with Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), EPDM the defector group from Ethiopian People Revolutionary Party (EPRP) called Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement, OPDO a group of Derg’s troop prisoners of TPLF and EPLF known as Oromo People’s Democratic Organization, and with others smaller ethnic

“Tegadalay” Aba Matias declares all out war on the Holy Synod in exile

*Is that the Christian version of “Jihadawe Harekat”?

by Getahune Bekele, South Africa

He has reportedly been told by some Bishops and respected scholars that his election is not canonical and not inspired

 by the Holy Spirit but by demonic spirit of lust for power in the murky world of Tigre politics. Hence _the country’s biggest churches and monasteries have so far failed to endorse his election while some shrines already told him to stay out for his own safety. Aba Matias is a frustrated man.

However, In typical Tigre warlord style, the man who acquired the throne of Saint Markos as the 6^th patriarch of EOTC  by hereditary Tigre descent just few days ago, has declared all out war on the Holy Synod in exile out of sheer desperation to legitimize his fake election and to please the genocidal TPLF hierarchy.

Spurred on by those who propelled him to power, such as the feared king maker and king killer, the Sadist Nibureed  Elias Abreha and Bishop-cum-warlord Abbay Tsehaye, Aba Matias is trying to flex his old and emaciated muscles against the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido church, in exile since May 1991.

In collaboration with fascist TPLF warlords, Aba Matias has already put together a committee comprised of Federal affairs minister Shiferaw Teklemariam and a well known Ohio based TPLF agent Dr Muse.    The committee would soon launch court action to prevent the Holy Synod in exile from calling itself “the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church.”

According to breaking news appeared exclusively on an Ethiopian news website known as zehabesha.com, Aba Matias has briefed   minister Shiferaw and  Abbay Tsehaye on Friday 1^st March 2013 on how he intend to go about persecuting the Church in exile.

Visiting Scholar Describes Ethiopian Political Climate

he Student Voice of Austin Community College
Story by Shireen Fatehi-Sedeh, Reporter

ACC visiting scholar and a conflict studies specialist Alemayehu Weldemariam described Ethiopia’s political climate with the following analogy:

Photo by Michael Malburg, Photographer On Feb. 28 ACC visiting scholar and a conflict studies specialist Alemayehu WeldemariamWeldemariam described Ethiopia’s political climate with the following analogy:

A man thinks he is a grain of corn, so he’s treated for his delusion at the hospital. He’s cured and leaves the hospital only to come running back yelling, “There’s a chicken out there”! The doctor reassures him that he is a man, not a grain of corn. “Yes, but does the chicken know that?” the man asks.

Weldemariam likened the Ethiopian prime minister to the delusional man during his  first lecture of the International Visiting Scholar Speaker Series. An audience of about 100 people attended the event at the Riverside Campus auditorium.

During his lecture on “The Transnational Solidarity of Scholars-at-Risk and Human Rights Campaigns in Ethiopia,” Weldemariam said the Ethiopian government has engaged in the surveillance, detention, and torture of political opponents, academics, journalists and Muslims. As a  result,  the country has the highest rate of brain drain in Africa, he said.

ACC student Barka Tekie shares a similar heritage as Weldemariam, but sees things differently.

“I was born and raised in Ethiopia,” she said. “He knows a lot of stuff, but there’s a lot of things that aren’t clear. What he said about the Muslims, I don’t get it, because I’ve been in Ethiopia many years, until the end of 2009. I never saw anything like that. We all got along.”

ACC psychology student Heather Pendergrass took note of her fellow attendees during the event and said, “Most of the people here were actually interested in what was being talked about … in what was going on in other nations with other peoples.”

Ethiopian Muslims protest: a rise of sociopolitical consciousness

The relationship between the Ethiopian Muslim community and the government has always been on a delicate balance reached by a compromise made by the Muslim community. For the most part, given the authoritarian rule the country is under, the Muslim community tolerated the government’s unconstitutional involvement in their religious affair and institutions. In particular, the Muslim community has, for long time, been unsettled by the government’s heavy-handed involvement in the supposedly independent Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council commonly known as Majlis. Consequently, the Majlis have been as ineffective in executing the tasks entrusted by the community. However, it was not this specific circumstance that gave way for the growing protest in the country that has been going on for more than a year.

Tension between the two start to grow when the government decided to import followers of Islamic sect from Lebanon,

 known as Ahbash, on a bold and ambitious move – that disrupted  the long wrestled  balance between the two – to implement a Nationwide plan to introduce and impose Al Ahbash ideologies, which is completely alien to Ethiopian Muslims. Al Ahbash, is an organization based in Lebanon, formally known as Association of Islamic charitable project, which describes itself as a charitable organization promoting Islamic culture. Despite the group’s claim, some have hard time understanding the true objective of the group, one of the reasons for this being the fact that the group was in the center of the UN probe into the murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, following the UN inquiry naming two of its active members as key suspects.

In July 2011, the Ethiopian government has aggressively mobilized to change the country’s Muslim belief for that of ‘Ahbashism’. To this effect, it launched a nationwide training of imams and Islamic scholars in Ahbash ideologies side by side with ‘revolutionary democracy’, which is essentially an indoctrination of EPRDF’s political ideology as the only and perfect fit to govern the country. Those imams and Islamic scholars who have either refused to take part in the program or teach it in their respective mosques have been removed from their mosques otherwise arrested; mosques and Islamic institutions that turned down the government’s demand have been closed.

The Muslim community came to find out about the government’s plan before it hardly take full effect; they understood this to be a grave aggression against their constitutionally bestowed right to freedom of religion and action that farther endangered a secular form of governance, which the government have been  insisting on having. So, started the protest which spread from Awolia and Anwar mosques in Addis Ababa to different part of the country, and have been growing throughout it’s more than one year period. The disorganized Muslim community started to readjust; and the first important advance they made were to form an arbitration committee of 17 Islamic leaders to negotiate with the government regarding four issues: “1) respecting the Ethiopian constitution’s guarantees of religious freedom; 2) ending government imposition of al-Ahbash on Ethiopian Muslims, while allowing al-Ahbash to operate equally with other religious communities; 3) re-opening and returning schools and mosques to their original imams and administrators; and 4) holding new elections for the EIASC, and having these elections take place  in mosques, rather than in neighborhood government community centers, to ensure that the community’s selections would be honored.” as noted on the November 8, 2012 statement released by the United States commission on international religious freedom ( USCIRF).