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HomeEthiopian NewsEthiopian gov't imposes restrictions on a peaceful demonstration 

Ethiopian gov’t imposes restrictions on a peaceful demonstration 

Ethiopian government is now linking Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church movement to defend rights to worship to a mysterious group with the intent to take gov’t power

Ethiopian PM _ Orthodox Church
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Photo credit : African Report)

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Ethiopia’s “Security and Intelligence Task Force” introduced restrictions on rights to peaceful demonstration in connection with the development after what is believed government-supported Bishops broke away from the Ethiopian church with a move to establish a patriarchate in the Oromo region of Ethiopia. 

The statement is released after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed returned home from a trip to Italy and France – where he claims to have had a productive working visit. 

From the statement, the government bent on linking the demands of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church for an end to the killing of its followers and government non-interference in religious affairs to unspecified forces with a mission to overthrow the government. 

The Ethiopian Church declared three days of fasting and prayers after government forces killed followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Oromia region while providing support to the splinter group which the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church excommunicated the group and the 26 episcopates it ordained as Bishops from a rural church near Woliso sometime in mid-January. 

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sees the Ethiopian assertiveness ( which is rather demonstrated in a passive resistance form) to defend the Orthodox faith as something that has opened ways for “external and internal anti-peace forces who are coordinating to disintegrate Ethiopia.” The statement from the task force noted that followers of the Ethiopian Church should understand their own demand for an end to government repression. 

The task forces draw membership from the office of the Prime Minister, the intelligence, security and defense force – and it is accountable to Abiy Ahmed.   

The statement from the task force rather attempted to frame the pursuit of Ethiopian Orthodox Church followers to defend their rights to worship free from government interference as something that is exploited by external forces (unspecified) who have been trying to block Ethiopia’s right to block grand development projects. The view insinuates Egypt. But it is making claims “the forces’ were were found in activities that broaden the difference. 

It also linked the growing assertiveness of the Ethiopian Church to defend its rights, after enduring relentless and brutal government-supported attacks in some cases, to the work of forces who intend to take power through a “shortcut” and to activists. 

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, last week, announced that it will stage a peaceful demonstration if the government fails to address the demands not to interfere in the affairs of the Church and also fails to enforce laws in terms of protecting Churches from being forcefully taken away with the help of Oromia region security forces and protecting members of the church, who peacefully resist the illegal group, from being harassed and killed. 

The government said there is no authorized demonstration and that the public should refrain from “illegal demonstrations and activities that incite violence.” 

Meanwhile, reports emerging on social media (including video footage and images)  indicated continued egregious rights violations in the Oromo region of Ethiopia. The death toll from an attack on followers of the church reached 37 as of Wednesday. 

Ethiopian Human Rights Council on Tuesday released a statement saying that it has received reports of continued harassment, killing and arrest in the Oromo region of Ethiopia. It also said that government forces in the region are providing cover to the group that is excommunicated by the church. Those who are resisting the imposition of the illegal group as religious fathers are facing a crackdown from the regional government. 

The Ethiopian Church has not announced a date for a peaceful demonstration yet. However, millions of Ethiopians were seen wearing black in the capital Addis Ababa, among other areas, on day three of the declared prayer.  

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16 COMMENTS

  1. This beleaguered government thinks it can stay in power by violating several articles of the defective current Ethiopian constitution it brags about, but does not understand anything regarding law. Article 30 of the constitution guarantees the right of assembly, petition and demonstration. A repressive regime always quickens its downfall by repeating the textbook mistakes of despots well documented in history. Instead of correcting course, it doubles down on its eye popping abuse of power and attempts to restrict more, until it meets the fate of its predecessors.

    በአሁኑ ግዜ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ያለው መንግስት ተብዬ የዱርዬና የወሮበላ ስብስብ ማንኛውም ኢትዮጵያዊ ላይ ከህገ መንግስቱ ከተደነገጉት መብቶች ውጭ እጁን ለማንሳት: ሂዱ ግቡ ውጡ ለማለት ምንም ስልጣን እንደሌለው በትክክል ያውቃል:: መሃይማንና: በክልሉ ያሰለፋቸውን ደናቁርት ጭፍሮቹንና የስግብግብነቱን የስርቆቱን: የሌብነት: አስፊፃሚ ሽፍቶቹን ( በእርሱ አጠራር “ህግ” አስከባሪዎቹን) ምንም አይነት ለህግ ተገዢነትን ማስተዋልን ሃላፊነትን ግብረ ገብነትን እንዳላስለበሰ በግልፅ የሚታይ የአደባባይ ሚስጥር ነው::

    ጠ/ሚሩ በየግዜው እየመነመነ የሄደውን በኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ቅቡልነታቸውን: የሞራላቸውን: የስብዕናቸውን ደረጃ ተጠያቂነት: የወደፊት ታሪካቸውን ዝቅተትና ውድቀት: ሊያርሙት የሚችሉት: ከእነዚህ ዱርዬዎችና ወሮበሎች በፍጥነት ራሳቸውን በማግለል: አዳዲስ አማካሪዎችን በመለወጥ: ጥፋተኞችን ለህግ አስገዝቶ በግሃድ ለህዝብ ግልፅ በሆነ መንገድ ቅጣት ሲሰጣቸው በማሳየት ብቻ ነው::

    ጠ/ሚሩ: አለበሊዝያ እነዚህ ህዝብ በጎጠኝነታቸው: በዘረኝነታቸው: በጠባብነታቸው: በደንቆረነታቸው: በማይድን የበታችነት ስሜታቸው በኢትዮጵያ ላይ ባላቸው ጥላቻ አጥብቆ ከተፀየፋቸው: በዘር: ሃረግ:ቋንቋ: ሃይማኖት ክፍፍል ልክፍት በሽታ: ተመርዘው ከታመሙ ፀረ ህዝብ የአእምሮና የስነምግባር በሽተኞችና ብልሹዎች ጋር አብረው በመሆን የመጨረሻ ታሪካቸውን ሙሉ ለሙሉ ከማበላሸትና ከማጠልሸት በስተቀረ ምንም አማራጭ የላቸውም::

    • I was going to say that’s not very Christian of you, but it would be silly to assume your faith. More importantly, that’s not very human of you.

    • Not necessarily. They just need to share power, money, etc. with the new guys. It’s all about negotiating rather than raising hell and whining.

  2. “but does not understand anything regarding law”.

    Should read instead:

    “but pretends it does not understanding anything regarding this constitutionally protected fundamental human right and corrupts the judiciary branch from enforcing and protecting it before the law”.

  3. Hiding an intent for so long without being exposed shows how the strategy of “confuse and convince” has worked elegantly for the PP and its top men (in particular the Oromo faction)

  4. We really shouldn’t be squabbling over religion and ethnicity in the 21st century. These things should be irrelevant — or almost irrelevant — and we should be focusing on more important matters like rebuilding the country and educating our people. (I was shocked when I found out recently that Ethiopia’s literacy rate is only 49%.) China doesn’t worry about religion and they have the second largest economy in the world. As I’ve said many times before, Ethiopia needs a strongman leader like Xi Jinping who can put everyone in their place (a leader who can say, “Shut the hell up, behave yourself, or else.” Democracy doesn’t work in Ethiopia, so we need leaders like Xi Jinping and Erdogan.

    • On a more personal note: I hate the Orthodox Church for the simple reason that they wake me up at 4:00am every morning with their megaphones spewing gibberish at the highest volume possible. I swear there are like four churches within a kilometer of my house. I’m a light sleeper and the slightest sound wakes me up. I still haven’t found a way to solve this problem. The Muslims yell too, but theirs lasts maybe a minute or two. The churches sometimes yell inanities all night and all day. So much noise pollution I’m going absolutely out of my mind. So, yeah, it would be wonderful if they shut down all the churches in Ethiopia. At the very least, the use of megaphones should be made illegal.

  5. We know the government has corruption issues but the church is just no better. They have no spiritual future. Look at their inability to create peace. Their time is coming! We see who you really are. Abat min endehone ayawkum,

  6. Abiy is one man whose survival hangs on creating conflict and human tragedy. Now he must accept this massive protest and demand for Abiy to leave his power seat.
    Abiy must start to think straight and accept that he neither has the capably nor the ability to rule and must decide to hand over power peacefully.
    Just because he is hungry for power and tyranny Ethiopians must no be killed senselessly by Oromia zone armed forces. One hungry for power man is not worth to keep. Let Ethiopians breath peace after 4 years of contiuous confilcts and violence.

  7. Religion and government are separate and Abiy should know his limits. Religions are not exploitive tools for his sadistic dirty politics.

    Abiy does not have right to dictate the Century Old Holy Synod Orthodox Churches that he does not know the religious sacred law it holds. He is not an Orthodox but holds hate for the church and wants to exploits religions for his political gain to extend his power.

    The power of Orthodox Church is its great reputation to be Only Holy and Inclusive of all Ethiopians and the faithful’s that do not want the Oromo power hungry ethnocentric government to interfere.

  8. Those who worship idol Abiy Ahmed with his dirty evil politics stay out of religions because religion issue does not apply to you.
    Leave religion to the 70% Christians and 30% of Muslim of faithful Ethiopians and you are not qualified to give any comments.

  9. Did anyone of watch the latest press conference in Nairobi that featured Presidents Ruto and Isaias Afwerki?
    This is where the publicity seeking and fake news reporters have met their matches. I enjoy his interviews like this one. In the past I had heard his Arabic and was pleasant to ears. Him being in my age group makes it even more enjoyable.
    I have been challenging everyone out there since reports of Eritrean soldiers waging war in Tigray since 2020 to show me ocular proofs about it. I don’t accept satellite image this and photoshopped pictures of soldiers that. Ocular proof! Get it!!! I also don’t accept so-called photos of alleged ‘POW’s’. With easy to duplicate military uniforms the world is the limit for fabricators of all sorts. Proof, I say, the ocular proof!!!

    • Unfortunately, Obbo Ittu, what passes as “proof” is whatever the West says it is. The truth doesn’t really matter as long as it has the West’s support. Fake news media (CNN, Al Jazeera, etc.) run with whatever the West tells them to report. I often wonder why Israel gets away with murder (quite literally, I might add), but the answer is because it’s a big ally of the West, especially the USA. The TPLF did not have any redeeming qualities whatsoever, but it almost succeeded in dismantling Ethiopia only because it had the tacit — sometimes even explicit — support of the West. The West is simply a collection of a bunch of hypocrites.

  10. Right at this moment there is no one so hated as the devil Abiy Ahmed! No human being want to be around him! His sin stinks from far away!!

    Did anyone heard the witch, Abiy Ahmed got caught naked promising his usual talk (lying, deceiving and betraying) Infront of the the Holy Synod while the whole world is watching? What kind of person let along holding PM position lies so easy and so fast unless he is the devil himself!!

    • Take it easy! He’s a politician and that’s what politicians do. Also Iet me add that, in the grand scheme of things, religion is irrelevant. What’s at stake is power, money, etc. that the “Holy” Synod is reluctant to share with the new guys. I say “out with the old and in with the new.” Holy Synod my a**.

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