UN report: Eritrea Delivering Arms to Al-Shabab to Overthrow the Government in Puntland (Somalia)

The Associated Press
Date: Thursday Aug. 19, 2010 10:01 AM ET
NAIROBI, Kenya — The northeastern tip of Somalia has been a peaceful haven in an often violent nation, but a powerful warlord and a series of recent clashes are threatening to open a new zone of lawlessness.
Militants loyal to warlord Mohamed Said Atom have repeatedly clashed with government forces in recent weeks, and Atom told a local radio station that his men have retreated to their mountain hideout in Gal Gala to plan guerrilla attacks.
A UN report in March said officials had credible information that Atom has delivered arms sent by Eritrea to al-Shabab forces in southern Somalia. Al-Shabab is Somalia's dominant insurgent group and its members have ties with al Qaeda.
Al-Shabab has so far distanced itself from activities in Puntland, a semiautonomous region that set up its own administration in 1998. But fears are rising that the militant group could expand into the north if local authorities fail to address grievances that feed Atom's ambitions.
The warlord wants the administration to dismantle the U.S.-backed Puntland Intelligence Service and to apply Islamic law in the region.
"Puntland is a very weak administration and if it loses the military initiative, there is a strong fear that it will have a southern-like scenario," said Rashid Abdi, a Somali expert with the International Crisis Group. "Its forces are better organized than those of the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu. But they can't withstand alone a determined insurgency for a long time."
Clashes between Atom's fighters and government forces began in late July, when the militants attacked Puntland forces near Atom's home base, a rugged and mountainous area about 30 kilometres outside of the region's commercial capital, Bossaso.
Puntland's security minister said his forces had killed more than 30 militants since the fighting started, a claim denied by Atom.
The March report by the UN's Monitoring Group said Atom was importing arms from Yemen and receiving consignments from Eritrea, including mortars, for delivery to southern Somalia.
Atom's "activities pose a growing threat to peace and security in both Puntland and Somaliland," said the report, noting that "Atom appears to be preparing to confront both the Puntland and the Somaliland authorities more directly."
Until recently Puntland was spared by the large-scale violence that has been plaguing much of Somalia's southern and central regions, where Islamist militants are trying to topple the weak, UN-backed government in Mogadishu.
Warsan Cismaan Saalax, a member of the Puntland Diaspora Forum, a group that promotes peace in the region, said the clashes between Atom and Puntland were "inevitable" because "no government will accept to have armed militiamen in its backyard.
"But to defuse the situation, a frank dialogue with Atom is needed," she said. "And to reach that stage, there must be a cease-fire first."
Since he took office in January last year, Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole has been reaching out to Islamists in his region to reduce al-Shabab's influence.
"We have tried through his clan elders to persuade him to give up his terrorist activities but he rejected their overtures," said Puntland Security Minister Yusuf Ahmed Khayr. He said he fears Atom may start using suicide bombers.
Atom was one of nearly a dozen suspected Islamist militants in Somalia whose assets were frozen by the U.S. Treasury Department in April. He considers Puntland officials apostates for failing to apply Islamic law, and is especially critical of the Puntland Intelligence Services, calling its members "Crusaders."
Specifics on the clashes are difficult to find. Local authorities have imposed a news blackout on reports about fighting, and a court sentenced a radio station manager to six years in prison after his station aired an interview with Atom earlier this month.
Abdi says Atom "is hijacking a long running local feeling of marginalization," a situation where some clans feel locked out of the running of the state's affairs.
Atom's Warsengali clan cited that lack of consultation between government and clans when they took arms up against security forces in 2006 to object to a plan to conduct surveys in the mineral-rich area of Gal Gala.
Analysts have long argued that the more the violence in the south is allowed to rage, the more the stability in the northern regions is threatened.
"It is difficult to inoculate the north from the instability and chaos in the south," said Abdi. "What we are seeing in Puntland now is a perfect example of a spillover effect."

Source: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20100819/somalia-puntland-region-100819/

Ethiopia under Zenawi named 2nd poorest country in the world

Jimma Times Report August 12, 2010

According to a new index developed by Oxford University and the UN, Ethiopia under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is ranked the second poorest country on earth.
The new measurement known as the Multidimensional Poverty Index, or MPI, will replace the Human Poverty Index in the United Nations' annual Human Development Report. The new report says Ethiopia has the second highest percentage of people who are MPI poor in the world, with only the west African nation of Niger fairing worse. This comes as more international analysts have also begun to question the accuracy of the Meles government's double-digit economic growth claims and similar disputed government statistics referred by institutions like the IMF.

In 2009, the percentage of Ethiopians who are in chronic need of food aid tripled to nearly 20 percent of the population compared to 1990 when the country was ruled by the pro-Soviet communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Despite the reportedly worsening economic and political situation in a country where the top opposition leader Judge Birtukan Mideksa remains in prison, the Zenawi government continues to receive billions in aid from the US and other western nations.

10 POOREST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

1. Niger
2. Ethiopia
3. Mali
4. Burkina Faso
5. Burundi
6. Somalia
7. Central African Republic
8. Liberia
9. Guinea
10. Sierra Leone

Multidimensional Poverty Index

OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report launch the Multidimensional Poverty Index or MPI – an innovative new measure that gives a vivid “multidimensional” picture of people living in poverty. The MPI will be featured in the 20th Anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report and complements income by reflecting a range of deprivations that afflict a person’s life at the same time. The measure assesses the nature and intensity of poverty at the individual level in education, health outcomes, and standard of living. OPHI has just concluded a first ever estimate and analysis of global multidimensional poverty across 104 developing countries, and is releasing these results in advance of the Report’s October publication.

What is the MPI?

The lives of people living in poverty are affected by more than just their income. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) complements a traditional focus on income to reflect the deprivations that a poor person faces all at once with respect to education, health and living standard. It assesses poverty at the individual level, with poor persons being those who are multiply deprived, and the extent of their poverty being measured by the range of their deprivations.

The MPI can be used to create a vivid picture of people living in poverty, both across countries, regions and the world and within countries by ethnic group, urban/rural location, or other key household characteristics. It is the first international measure of its kind, and offers an essential complement to income poverty measures because it measures deprivations directly. The MPI can be used as an analytical tool to identify the most vulnerable people, show aspects in which they are deprived and help to reveal the interconnections among deprivations. This enables policy makers to target resources and design policies more effectively. Other dimensions of interest, such as work, safety, and empowerment, could be incorporated into the MPI in the future as data become available.

The MPI reports acute poverty for 104 developing countries, which are home to 78% of the world’s people.

What does the MPI measure?

The MPI uses 10 indicators to measure three critical dimensions of poverty at the household level: education, health and living standard in 104 developing countries. These directly measured deprivations in health and educational outcomes as well as key services such as water, sanitation, and electricity reveal not only how many people are poor but also the composition of their poverty. The MPI also reflects the intensity of poverty – the sum of weighted deprivations that each household faces at the same time. A person who is deprived in 70% of the indicators is clearly worse off than someone who is deprived in 40% of the indicators.

Why is the MPI useful?

The MPI is a high resolution lens on poverty – it shows the nature of poverty better than income alone. Knowing not just who is poor but how they are poor is essential for effective human development programs and policies. This straightforward yet rigorous index allows governments and other policymakers to understand the various sources of poverty for a region, population group, or nation and target their human development plans accordingly. The index can also be used to show shifts in the composition of poverty over time so that progress, or the lack of it, can be monitored.

The MPI goes beyond previous international measures of poverty to:
• Show all the deprivations that impact someone’s life at the same time – so it can inform a holistic response.
• Identify the poorest people. Such information is vital to target people living in poverty so they benefit from key interventions.
• Show which deprivations are most common in different regions and among different groups, so that resources can be allocated and policies designed to address their particular needs.
• Reflect the results of effective policy interventions quickly. Because the MPI measures outcomes directly, it will immediately reflect changes such as school enrolment, whereas it can take time for this to affect income.
• Integrate many different aspects of poverty related to the MDGs into a single measure, reflecting interconnections among deprivations and helping to identify poverty traps.
MPI Interactive map
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Source: Jimma Times

Ethiopia's Election Result: One of the World's Most Lopsided Victories

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/Lists/World-s-most-lopsided-presidential-victories/(photo)/10

1. SADDAM HUSSEIN, 2002: Saddam Hussein touted official results that showed him winning 100 percent of votes in a referendum for a new seven-year term in office. Hussein (l.) is seen here during his swearing-in ceremony in Baghdad, Iraq.

2. SADDAM HUSSEIN, 1995: Saddam Hussein was elected – unopposed – with more than 99 percent of the vote. Hussein’s Baath party seized power in 1968, and Hussein took over the presidency in 1979. Hussein, in his first public appearance since his 1995 reelection, waves to supporters in Baghdad, Iraq.

3.BASHAR AL-ASSAD, 2007: Bashar al-Assad won another seven-year term as president in 2007, with the official result of 97.6 percent of the votes. He ran unopposed. A veiled Syrian woman walks past a picture of al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, in July.

4.BASHAR AL-ASSAD, 2000: Bashar al-Assad was elected president unopposed with what the regime claimed to be a massive popular support (97.2 percent of the votes). He succeeded his late father, Hafiz al Assad. A syrian shopkeeper hangs photos of Baath party candidate al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, in June 2000.

5.PAUL KAGAME, 2003, 2010: The official tally may still take a few days, but with one-third of the votes counted in Monday's Rwanda election, President Paul Kagame has won 92.9 percent of the vote. In 2003, he won with more than 95 percent of the vote. A young girl passes by posters Kagame in Kigali, Rwanda, on Aug. 6 during a rally for the upcoming presidential elections.

6.NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV, 2005: Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled the country since 1989, won 91.15 percent of the vote in 2005 for a term that was to end in 2012. But he abolished terms limits for himself. Nazarbayev gestures as he delivers a state of the nation speech in Astana, Kazakhstan, in February 2005.

7.ISLAM KARIMOV, 1991: Uzbekistan's president Islam Karimov was elected with 86 percent of the vote in 1991, months after declaring independence from Russia, and extended his presidency through a highly controversial referendums in 1995 and 2002 that gave him 90 percent or more of the vote. He was accepted for a third term in the 2007 presidential election with 80 percent of the vote. A boy walks past a campaign poster of Karimov in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in December 2007.

8.GURBANGULY BERDIMUHAMEDOW, 2007: Turkmenistan's president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow won 89.2 percent of the vote in 2007, but none of the country’s elections since 1991 have been considered free or fair. Berdimuhamedow is seen here in June with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan.

9.ROBERT MUGABE, 2008: Robert Mugabe won a run-off presidential election with 85 percent of the vote after top opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the election, citing electoral manipulation in Zimbabwe's 2008 presidential election. After months of deadlock, the rivals struck a power-sharing deal. Mugabe is seen here with South African President Jacob Zuma at Harare International Airport in August 2009.

10.ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, 1994, 2006: In 1994, voters made Alexander Lukashenko Belarus’s first post-Soviet president, and in 2006, he was reelected with 82.6 percent of the vote. Lukashenko is seen here in a televised news conference in March 2006.

11. 1995, 2000, 2005 Election all laughing jokes. The 99.63% landslide result of election of 2010 is embarrassing for the ruling party of Ethiopia. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has lost the little credibility that he has … Western and other allies of the Prime Minister will have a very difficult time explaining their continuous support for this kind of behavior. This is not an election; this is a joke.

Abuna Basilios [Gebre Giyorgis Wolde Tsadik], the first Ethiopian born Archbishop

His Holiness Abuna Basilios (April 23, 1891 – October 13, 1970) was the first Ethiopian born Archbishop or Abuna, and later the first Patriarch, of the Ethiopian Church.

He was born Gebre Giyorgis Wolde Tsadik in Mada Mikael, a village in the district of Marra Biete in Shewa. Memhir Wolde Tsadik Solomon, his father, was a respected ecclesiastical official. In his home town he received an elementary education at the local church then entered the Monastery of Debre Libanos where he received advanced religious education. He took the Holy Orders and became a monk at the age of 21. For the next 12 years he served in the same Monastery. He went on to be appointed administrator of various churches in Ethiopia, most notably the Church of St. Mary at Menagesha. In early 1923 he was nominated Head of the Ethiopian Churches and Monasteries in Jerusalem.
Memhir Abba Gebre Giyorgis remained in Jerusalem for two years, where he gained the theological knowledge to become Ichege of the Ethiopian Church in 1933. At the time, this was the highest rank open to an Ethiopian within the church, for the office of Abuna, or archbishop, was always a cleric of the Coptic Church). During the Italian invasion, Ichege Gebre Giyorgis accompanied Emperor Haile Selassie and the Ethiopian troops to the Battle of Maychew; following the defeat at Maychew, the Ichege accompanied the Emperor back to Addis Ababa and participated in the decision of the Emperor to go into exile and present Ethiopia's case to the League of Nations.
During the Italian occupation, Ichege Gebre Giyorgis lived in exile in Jerusalem, where he remained in touch with the Arbegnoch, or resistance fighters inside Ethiopia. He was grieved to hear about the massacre of the monks of Debre Libanos. He returned with the Emperor to Ethiopia in 1941 and took up his post once more.
Ichege Gebre Giyorgis was consecrated by the Coptic Pope Yussab II as Archbishop of Ethiopia with the name and style of Abuna Basilios July 1948 during a ceremony held at the Patriarchate of Saint Mark in Egypt. In 1950, on the death in Cairo of Abuna Qerellos, 110th and last Coptic Archbishop of Ethiopia, he became the head of the Church of Ethiopia, with the authority to nominate bishops and archbishops. During a solemn ceremony in 1959 at which His Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie was present, he was consecrated the first Patriarch Catholicos of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church by the Coptic Pope Kirillos VI at St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo.
Reign as Patriarch
Abune Basilios was regarded as a conservative and traditionalist figure within the church, in contrast to his eventual successor Abuna Tewofilos who was then Archbishop of Harar and regarded as a modernist and a reformer. He regarded all innovation with deep suspicion. Abune Basilios was a deeply pious man, greatly focused on prayer and fasting, and as such left more and more of his duties to Abuna Tewophilos who acted as his deputy, and later as acting Patriarch when Abune Basilios' health began to deteriorate after 1963.
Abune Basilios was one of the few people who although very respectful of the Emperor, was not so in awe of him as to keep his true views or feelings from the Emperor. Known to always be forthright and open with the monarch, he never hesitated from telling the Emperor the truth or his views even if he knew they might not please the Emperor. When the Patriarch believed that actions of the government or the Emperor himself were contrary to what he thought to be right, he would threaten to seclude himself at the monastery of Debre Libanos, a threat that the Emperor took seriously and which often changed the Emperor's mind. The Patriarch served on the Crown Council, and was considered among the most influential of the Emperor's advisors.
In 1960, the Imperial Bodyguard launched a coup attempt against the Emperor while he was on a state visit to Brazil. The Imperial Bodyguard announced that the Emperor and his government were deposed, that Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen would serve as a constitutional monarch, and that reforms would be implemented. Abuna Basilios refused to recognize this act and proclaimed that the unit had no authority to depose the Emperor, who had been anointed by the Church, and pronounced an anathema against those who took part or supported the coup. His statement was printed and scattered over Addis Ababa by Army helicopters, who had remained loyal. The Army and Air Force used this proclamation to rally support for the Emperor and the coup was crushed.
In order to make sure that no Army units deserted to the other side, the Patriarch had toured the barracks of the 4th Division in Addis Ababa and promised that the soldiers, who had long complained of poor pay, would receive a significant raise when the Emperor returned. Upon his return, Emperor Haile Selassie was told of the Patriarch's promise, but stated such a raise could not be honored at the time because there simply wasn't enough money in government coffers to do so. Angry at this, Abuna Basilios made good on previous threats and secluded himself at Debre Libanos Monastery in protest. The Emperor went personally to Debre Libanos and persuaded the Patriarch to return to Addis Ababa, and granted a smaller raise to the soldiers.
Final Years
Abuna Basilios began to spend an increasing amount of time at the Debre Libanos monastery after his health began to fail in the early 1960s. He left more and more of his duties to Abune Tewofilos, and spent more time resting and praying at the monastery, rarely making an appearance at the Patriarchate in Addis Ababa or at the Imperial Court. He was too frail to participate in the Council of the Oriental Orthodox Churches held in Addis Ababa in 1968, and deputized Abuna Tewofilos to represent him in most of its sessions.
Following a state funeral at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, attended by the Emperor and the entire Imperial family, Abuna Basilios was buried at Debre Libanos. He was succeeded by Abuna Tewofilos as Patriarch of Ethiopia.

References
Yolande Mara, The Church of Ethiopia – The National Church in the Making (Asmara: IL POLIGRAFICO, 1972), pages 113-115.

Tekle Haimanot (Melaku Welde Michael) [Patriarch]

1917 to 1988
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Ethiopia
Source: Source: Disctionary of African Christian Biography

Mekuria Welde Michael was born on September 18, 1917 in a small village called Wotebet located in Amauel District of Debre Markos Town in Gojjam Province. His father's name was Welde Michael Wondimu and his mother's Zewditu Kassa. When Mekuria came of age, he joined the Orthodox Church school in the area run by Merigeta (which means "mentor") Begenaw Wassie. There he learned the Amharic alphabets, to read the Psalms, and to write. He also studied the church music called Wazema. When he had finished studying under this mentor, he went to Bichena District Gojjam Province to a church village called Yerez Saint Michael and joined the school led by Memhir ("teacher") Lisane Work and studied Qene (poetry).

When he was sixteen years old he left for Sidamo Province and settled in Wolayta District at Sodo (Southern Ethiopia). There he met a virtuous hermit monk called Desta at the Wolayta Sodo Debre Menkirat Tekle Haimanot monastery. Before Mekuria's arrival, this monk had prophesied to the monks that a great hermit would soon come to the monastery.

At this time Mekuria changed his name to Melaku because he did not want to be discovered by his relatives, who might try to bring him back to his village. At the monastery, he started to help Hermit Desta by bringing him water and dry food to keep him alive.

When his mentor died he replaced him in the monastery and continued his mentor's work. He was responsible for teaching the people and building schools in the area. The Wolayta people loved and respected him as a father and they obeyed him. He led a life of purity and never begged for a living or received a salary for his work. However, he raised money to build many churches and schools in the area. The people's contributions were the main source of income for these churches and schools.

When the Dergue Regime took over the government of Ethiopia, Abba Melaku was denied the necessary income to run the institutions because the laws had changed. So he went to Addis Ababa to get money and tabots (duplicates of the Ark of the Covenant) from Patriarch Tewoflos at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church headquarters to supply the most recent churches he had built. He was given two out of five tabots he requested and was told to return later for the other three.

Abba Melaku arrived in Addis Ababa on the day of his appointment to see Patriarch Tewoflos but, little did he know, the patriarch had been forced to leave his position and was under arrest. The main office had established a committee to find a replacement. Abba Melaku went in to the office of the president of this nomination committee and gave him the traditional greeting of respect. As director and president of the board of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church office, Dr. Kinfe Regib, who was earnestly seeking a hermit monk as a nominee for the election of the next patriarch, was very happy to see Abba Melaku walk into his office as if driven by God. Dr. Kinfe Regib asked him the cause of his visit. When Abba Melaku told him that he had an appointment with Abba Tewoflos, he was told that Abba Tewoflos was away for a while and would meet with him at a later date. In the meantime, Dr. Kinfe Regib asked if he was willing to answer a few questions about himself, his job, and his responsibilities. Abba Melaku agreed and gave him the details he wanted.

Abba Melaku told the president that he had built sixty-four churches and twenty-four schools--all this without any salary from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church central administration office. When asked where he was born, he answered: "For a monk, is there any particular place? Any spot of Ethiopia where I live is my country." He refused to identify his birthplace out of principle. Dr. Kinfe Regib, amazed by the divine providence that had brought him there, took notes on him and put them in an envelope. He then asked Abba Melaku to take the envelope to the main nomination committee secretariat office outside the office where they were meeting. So Abba Melaku obediently took the envelope and delivered it to the secretariat office but he had no clue what was going on at the time. The person in charge took the letter and opened it. Seeing the contents of the mysterious letter, he looked the monk over very carefully and then allowed him to leave.

The next morning Abba Melaku returned to the main office hoping to meet with the patriarch only to discover that he was no longer in charge and had been detained by the government. Shocked, he immediately returned to Wolayta. Soon after that, short profiles of two bishops and three monks, Abba Melaku included, were published and distributed in Addis Ababa. Everybody who read the short biography of Abba Melaku was touched by his personality. Soon everyone knew his name and was talking about him.

On the day of the election, Abba Melaku was elected patriarch by a very high number of voters. Up until that day, he had followed his routine lifestyle of praying, fasting, serving the church, and teaching his followers. Suddenly, he was ordered by the governer of Wolayta to go to Addis Ababa and report to the main church headquarters office. He left immediately not knowing what the rush was.

Upon his arrival, without even having a change of clothes and or any shoes on his feet, he was taken to the Menbere Tsebaot Kidist Sillassie (Chair of the Almighty Holy Trinity) Cathedral, where all the bishops and many thousands of Ethiopians were waiting for him. He wore a brown hand-sewn khaki robe over a wide pair of trousers and over that he had a folded bed-sheet as a shemma (shawl) and on top he had a hand-treated goat skin. This was his habit since he had become a hermit. When he arrived, everyone honored him with respectful applause and great shouts of joy known as Elelta ("Elelelelelel" is a shout of joy that Ethiopian women make when they are overjoyed), and Hotta ("Hohohohohohoho" is a shout of joy for Ethiopian men). After a short introductory speech by Dr. Kinfe Regib, it was announced that Abba Melaku Welde Michael had been elected patriarch of the Ethiopian Tewahdo Orthodox Church. Shocked, Abba Melaku's eyes filled with tears and he cried. He made a short speech on the election and said: "How can this be? What strength do I have to fulfill the responsibility? However, if it is the will of the God of Daniel, who took him out of the pit of lions, what else can I do?"

This took place in July and August of 1976, and until the final day of celebration, Abba Melaku spent his time in prayer with others praying for him as well in Holy Mary Church. They tried to persuade him to change his clothes and wear shoes but he absolutely refused.

On August 31, 1976, Abba Melaku was appointed the third Ethiopian Partiarch of the Ethiopian Tewahdo Orthodox Church, taking the name Tekle Haimanot. The occasion was celebrated with prayer and special sermons and great joy in the presence of many thousands of people, at the Chair of the Almighty Holy Trinity Church in Addis Ababa. Abba Melaku took his place of authority, and for some time continued to receive guests sitting on the Patriarch's Chair (Throne) in his common clothes. Later on, his hermit monk friends, persuaded him to change his habit out of respect for the Orthodox Church. He finally agreed to wear a cotton cloth dyed yellow with a proper shemma over it and a pair of sandals-better clothes than the hermit monks at Waldiba monastery usually wore.

Patriarch Tekle Haimanot was very well accepted by the Dergue regime and was allowed to visit Europe in sandals. He visited Greece, Poland, Austria, Germany, Rome, and Jerusalem. He ate only bread and drank only tea the whole time of his visit. The church people of Europe were amazed at his personality and considered his piety unique. As a result, it is said that the archbishop of Poland, out of respect for Patriarch Tekle Haimanot, personally drove him around in a car during his visit to that country instead of using a driver, in order to witness his peity and partake in his blessings.

The Ethiopian head of state, Mengistu Haile Mariam, used these visits by the Patriarch as a political strategy to show the West that he was not against religion and had appointed to this important position a person who represented the workers. He also wanted to change international opinion who viewed him as a ruthless tyrant for removing and killing Patriarch Tewoflos as soon as he came to power.

As Patriarch Tekle Haimanot was assumed to be have little knowledge and administrative ability, one of his assistant officers tried to misappropriate church money which was supposed to go to the government. When the Patriarch opposed him, he began to defame him by saying that he was too old, did not know anything about administration, and should be replaced soon. The Patriarch informed Mengistu Haile Mariam of this individual's unscrupulous behavior and gave him an ultimatum, saying that if this man was not removed from office in three days, no one would prevent him from returning to his monastery. Mengistu immediately removed the culprit from office and replaced him with another person.

High government officials, being antichurch communists, asked the Patriarch's permission to convert several old churches located around the government offices in Addis Ababa into museums. He answered, "These churches are not my personal property fo me to give permission, but they belong to all Ethiopian Christians. So I will have to discuss the matter with church members and will let you know." This was a very smart answer that the officials did not expect from him. Mengistu was aware that this monk was not an easy person to deal with and knew that if he pushed him harder, he would would initiate a clash between government leaders and the Christian nation so he dropped the idea. Therefore, as it turned out, the Patriarch was not a person to be used and abused. Rather, he proved an able leader of the church for twelve years before he died in 1988.

Shortly before he died, the Patriarch went back to Wolayta to start construction on a church building that an outside donor agency wanted to erect in his honor in his area of origin. When he arrived, he gave his blessing and set a foundation stone in place. After the ceremony was over, he was ushered to a beautiful residence that had been prepared where he could rest, but he refused to go in. He wanted to go back to his old hut. He went into the hut and rested. A short while later, he felt a sharp pain, cried out in alarm, and collapsed into unconsciousness. He was brought back to Addis Ababa by helicopter and hospitalized. Shortly thereafter he died, at the age of seventy-one. He was buried at the Chair of the Almighty Holy Trinity Church in Addis Ababa with great ceremony.

Dirshaye Menberu


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Sources:

Memhir (Teacher) Kidanemariam Getahun, False Testimony [translated from the Amharic] (Refuting the book of) "Firm Testimony" of Abba Melke Tsedeq, published by Computer Typing and Design-Ethiopia Book Center (September 2001). Pp. 147-170.
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This article, received in 2006, was researched and written by Dr. Dirshaye Menberu, retired professor from Addis Ababa University and 2005-2006 Project Luke Fellow. She is a graduate of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST), a DACB Participating Institution.

Patriarch Tewoflos (Meliktu Welde Mariam)

1910 to 1979
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Ethiopia
Source: Disctionary of African Christian Biography

Patriarch Tewoflos was the second Ethiopian patriarch but the first patriarch ordained in Ethiopia. He served his country as a spiritual leader for a total of twenty-eight years, and was considered a martyr of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church after he was killed in 1979 by the Dergue regime.

Meliktu was born in 1910 in Debre Elias located in Gojjam province. His father's name was Welde Mariam (Jemberie) Wubie and his mother's, Zertihun Adelahu. Meliktu attended school in his birthplace and learned to read the Psalms from Merigegata ("Guide Master") Aredahegn and studied songs (Zema) from Grageta ("Left Master") Sahilu Negussie. Then he continued his studies in Qene (poetry) and what is now known as biblical hermeneutics as well as in other spiritual books under a memhir ("teacher"), a famous authority in these fields. Meliktu eventually graduated and became a memhir himself.

In 1927 Meliktu left his home to go to Addis Ababa where he continued his studies in the interpretation of the New Testament and Fitha Negest ("Chronicles of the Kings") from the other Ethiopian authority in these fields by the name of Memhir Haddis Telke who was later ordained as Bishop Yohannes. Having finished these studies, Meliktu was now able to teach and produce many graduates useful for the church. At the same time, he studied English, Italian, and Arabic.

In 1937, Meliktu went to Debre Libanos where the Abuna Tekle Haimanot Monastery is located and dedicated himself to the service of God by becoming a monk. Four years later Abba Meliktu was one of twenty church candidates selected by the Emperor Haile Sellassie I to study English. The emperor did this to modernize the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and enable its clergy to communicate with the people and clergy of other churches in the rest of the world. Abba Meliktu was one of the very few who finished this language program as most of the other candidates quit gradually. This language school was later brought under the Ministry of Education and became the Trinity Theology School in the Trinity monastery--the first theological college in the country.

In 1942 Abba Meliktu was appointed director of this theological school where he was also a teacher. Three years later, the emperor renamed the Trinity Monastery Menbere Tsebaot Qidist Sellassie Trinity ("Residence or Chair of Almighty Holy Trinity") and Abba Meliktu, as director, was given the rank of Liqe Siltanat ("Highest of Authorities"--possibly equivalent to the rank of professor), a title which always preceded his name thereafter. On his appointment day, the emperor gave Abba Meliktu a golden crown and gown when he awarded him this rank.

In April 1943, the churches of Ethiopia and Alexandria agreed to ordain bishops from among the senior monks of Ethiopia. On April 27, 1946, by the permission of the emperor, Liqe Siltanat Meliktu was one of five nominees elected unanimously to the position of bishop and sent to Egypt to be ordained with the other four bishop elects. But, for various reasons, the appointment was postponed for two years and all five candidates came back home.

Nevertheless, on July 23, 1948 the five candidates returned to Alexandria to be anointed bishop by Patriarch Yosab of Alexandria. Liqe Siltanat Meliktu took the name Tewoflos and was appointed bishop of Harar province while the Alexandrian Church made Abuna Baslewos patriarch of the Ethiopian Church. In 1950, by permission of the synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the goodwill of Patriarch Baslewos, Abuna Tewoflos was made vice patriarch and was given delegation to Patriarch Yosab of Alexandria according to the agreement made by the authorities of these two churches.

During his stay in Harar, Abuna Tewoflos managed to secure a huge meeting hall from Emperor Haile Sellassie I where students of all seven schools and of the Teacher Training Institute in Harar could come to learn about the doctrine of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. There many qualified Bible teachers taught those who came. Many years later, while he was head of Trinity College, Abuna Tewoflos showed how far-sighted he was in his vision of service for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by producing many educated individuals who became teachers, researchers, church leaders, and ordained ministers in the church. Many graduates of this college were sent abroad for further education and many of them are presently (2004) serving the country and the church in various positions.

In addition to his work in education, Abuna Tewoflos traveled on foot and on horseback to neighboring provinces to evangelize many people while he was bishop of Harar. The number of believers gradually increased in Harar and twelve modern churches were built in that province with the financial support of the emperor and the Harar people. In addition, Abuna Tewoflos built a new modernized training institute for monks, priests, and deacons in Harar and renovated the old church buildings in the city. He also established a spiritual association called Kesate Berhan ("Light Emission"). Using the money from the membership fees of this association he opened a library in Harar where people could come, free of charge, to read and learn. In his evangelization efforts in Bale province, he baptized twenty-four thousand people who converted to the Orthodox faith from the Awama faith and other religions in 1956 and 1957 alone.

As vice patriarch, he traveled to different countries to build many Ethiopian Orthodox Churches and completed his apostolic mission by spreading the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in many parts of the world. Some places he traveled for this purpose were the U.S.A., Trinidad, Togo, British Guinea, and Sudan.

He was given financial support from the government to establish a printing press in the city of Harar and he used the money to build an elementary school for orphans for grades one to six. He also opened two other new schools--one in Harar and the other in Qulbi Monastery--to provide modern education for monks and young people. Many educated people have come out of these schools. For example, the present Patriarch Paulos and four other bishops are living products of the Harar Teacher Training Theological School.

In his position as Liqe Siltanat, Abuna Tewoflos worked diligently as an Ethiopian delegate to Egypt and made frequent trips to Alexandria with a group of Ethiopian delegates to attend meetings in which they had long discussions to seek permission for the Ethiopian church to ordain her own bishops and patriarchs in Ethiopia. Traditionally these spiritual leaders had always been appointed in Alexandria (Egypt) since the 4th century when Frumentius was the first bishop of Ethiopia ordained by Athanasius of Alexandria. The negotiations were finally successful and Abuna Tewoflos was appropriately rewarded by being ordained patriarch, the highest church position in Ethiopia. He was also the first to ordain bishops in own country.

On April 6, 1971, at age 61, Abuna Tewoflos was elected patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church-the second patriarch of the church but the first to be ordained in Ethiopia. Abuna Tewoflos' historical and highly celebrated appointment was held on April 8, 1971, in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the presence of His Imperial Majesty Haile Sellassie I, princes and princesses, the ecclesial body of the Orthodox Church, high ranking officials, people of the country, many delegates from all over the world, and his own family members. (As a family member, the writer of this article was present at this celebration with her father and fiancé.) The original Amharic biographer claims that on that day of celebration from 11:00 a.m. to the end of the celebration, a sign of a spectrum miraculously appeared, encircling the sun directly on top of the apex of the cathedral.

Patriarch Tewoflos traveled extensively throughout the world to attend ecumenical meetings as a delegate of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In particular, he attended meetings of the World Council of Churches and of its executive committee in 1948 (Amsterdam), 1955 (England), 1971 (Ethiopia), and 1975 (Kenya). At the 1975 meeting Patriarch Tewoflos was elected president of the next general assembly but this did not materialize as he was arrested by the Dergue regime the following year. He went to the first general assembly of World Church Leaders held in the U.S.A. in 1956, the second one held in New Delhi, India in 1962, and the third held in Uppsala, Sweden in 1968. He was elected one of the three regional presidents of the general assemblies of the African Churches Association for two terms and served in that position until he was arrested by the Dergue regime. In 1959, he chaired the general assembly of African Churches Association held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He was present at the Eastern Orthodox Church Leaders Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963 as head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church delegation. On that occasion His Majesty Emperor Haile Sellassie made an opening speech that made everyone happy and was given the honorary name Constantine II by the assembly.

Patriarch Tewoflos boldly opposed the Dergue regime in a number of ways and the government developed grudges against him because of them. For example, he said that the responsibility of a spiritual leader is to advise and to teach against the killing of innocent people. He refused to collaborate or support murders in cold blood when the government asked him to publicly voice his support after the Dergue regime assassinated sixty-two officials of the imperial government on November 21, 1974. He also wrote an article which appeared in the May 8, 1975 issue of a church magazine called Addis Heywet (New Life), [p.20] expressing his concern regarding the establishment of a stable rule of law for the country. He said that all sectors of the nation should be included in this rule of law, not only the armed forces. The reason for this statement was that the controlling body of the Dergue regime consisted of 120 officers of the armed forces. In the same magazine (p. 16), he stated that God's wrath was aroused by the fact that the Dergue regime had unjustly confiscated property (for example, much of the church's property had been confiscated). As a result he wrote a letter describing the seven steps the government had taken and was planning to take--steps which violated the rights of the church--and demanded that these actions be stopped or corrected (p. 32).

When the death of the emperor was announced, he went to the Dergue government office accompanied by two other bishops to ask for the body of the emperor in order to carry out the appropriate burial rituals but his request was denied.

As the internal and external ministry of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church expanded, the patriarch saw the need to ordain three more bishops. He presented this need to the synod and, with their approval, the three bishops were ordained in 1976. But the Dergue dictatorial regime interfered in church affairs and imprisoned the three bishops. A few days later, it also arrested the patriarch on the basis of false charges issued by a fault-finding ad hoc committee consisting of people personally opposed to him due to differences in ethnic origin and or to issues of jealousy and power struggle. This committee, called the "Transitional Revival Commission," pressed charges against him, saying that Tewoflos did not qualify to be a patriarch but had attained to that position because he was a close friend of the emperor. He was also accused of having a capitalist mentality because he built houses and received large sums of money. The third strike against him was the fact that he owned twenty different bank accounts in his name and many more accounts in the name of his friends and servants. The total managed in these accounts--either directly or indirectly--was approximately 4,029,350 Birr (Ethiopian currency).

Tewoflos justified some of this in his written will where he showed that these were false accusations made to defame and remove him from his position of authority and hurt him as much as possible. In his will, he explained that he had taken out a bank loan to build a big apartment building in Addis Ababa which he had then rented to pay the mortgage until the loan was paid off. He planned to use the future income of the building to provide funds for the Debre Elias Church in Gojjam--where he was born, grew up, and began his spiritual education--and for the Gofa Gebriel Church in Addis Ababa which he had built with his own income. In this way there would be sufficient funds for the clergy in the Debre Elias Church, and the Gofa Gebriel Church, and for the renovation of these churches. His will stated that the income would be divided in two and each portion would be deposited in a bank account for each of these two churches when the building was loan-free.

There were only five bank accounts in his possession the day after he was arrested. One bank account was for an Ethiopian Orthodox Church being built in Kenya, the second had been opened for the Gofa Gebriel Church, the third was the account for the theological college, and the fourth was the patriarch's income administration account and the fifth, an account for the Harar local churches. The account books were distributed to the people concerned because none of the accounts had been opened in his name. Tewoflos was keeping an eye on the bookkeeping of these accounts as it was a time of revolution and he felt responsible to make sure that the money was carefully managed. All the allegations were unfounded.

Another charge brought against him was the fact that he had appointed three bishops without the government's authorization. Finally, he was accused of neglecting evangelical work, showing no concern for the legacy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, destroying the youth ministry, and abolishing church laws for unholy reasons.

On the evening of February 17, 1976, Tewoflos was taken to the Jubilee palace and was imprisoned alone in the house of Commander Eskindir Desta. One afternoon he heard a loud voice that said to him, "What are you doing here? Go out of here to the east." As he heard this voice repeatedly, he walked out of the prison. The guard asked him where he was going but Tewoflos kept walking and the guard did not stop him. He decided to go to Asebot monastery after first stopping at his house to prepare for his journey. As his house was far away and he was on foot, he only got home at around 9:00 p.m. The guard who had lived with him for a long time phoned the government office and the next morning at around 11:00 a.m. Tewoflos was again arrested and taken back to Menilik Palace prison after being beaten and abused by the police. He was chained hand and foot for four days. Then he was taken to Prison One where other government officers were detained and his chains were removed. From the day he was taken from his home to this prison, he did not eat food for forty days. He just moistened his lips with water and refused to eat. Many Dergue officers came to persuade him to eat but he did not submit. Those who were with him testified that he was strong and in good health and talked with people without any sign of fatigue during those days. One day after Easter Sunday, the elderly prisoners pleaded with him to eat and he ate. He refused to accept the 120 Birr per month that was given to the family of prisoners for food, saying that he did not want anything from that government. He also said that he had grown up begging bread and that is what he wanted to eat thereafter. If anyone wanted to beg bread and send it to him, he would accept it. Until the day he died he did not take any money from the Dergue officers. They asked him what he wanted and when he said he wanted to be imprisoned in Asebot monastery they refused.

While he was in prison, an officer of the guards mistreated him and took away the golden cross that he used to carry in his hands. He also tried to force him to sign his name Meliktu and not Tewoflos. But Tewoflos was not afraid of any action he could take against him and did not obey his demand because he refused to use his secular name again.

Tewoflos spent most of his time in prison fasting and praying, sometimes for whole nights at a time. In the morning and evening, he led corporate prayer with other prisoners. Much of the time he read books and talked with people. He also studied to improve his Arabic and French. At times he assembled the prisoners and preached to them, asking them to forgive one another for their bitterness, hatred or guilt towards each other. He also told his friends that he would soon be killed by the Dergue regime.

On Saturday, July 14, 1979, at around 11:00 a.m. he was taken away by guards with two other prisoners. For thirteen years, no one knew what had happened to them. But after the Dergue regime collapsed, it was discovered that he had been killed with thirty-three others by strangulation and his body buried inside Ras Asrate Kassa's compound in Addis Ababa. Thirteen years after his execution, his body was exhumed on April 29, 1992 and buried the next day in a designated burial place he had built for himself in Gofa Gebriel Church.

Dirshaye Menberu


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Sources:

Memhir (Teacher) Kidanemariam Getahun, False Testimony (Refuting the book of) "Testimony of the Living" of Abba Melke Tsedeq, published by Computer Typing and Design-Ethiopia Book Center (September 2001), pp. 19-49.
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This article, received in 2006, was researched and written by Dr. Dirshaye Menberu, retired professor from Addis Ababa University and 2005-2006 Project Luke Fellow. She is a graduate of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST), a DACB Participating Institution.