Today marks a year since the grisly massacre took place in Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church holiest places, #Axum, over a span of 3 days.

*Remember it & mourn the innocent victims killed by #HGDF mercenaries from neighbouring #Eritrea, while Ethiopian soldiers looked from the sides.
Remember it b/c it’s a chapter in the Church’s history that will potentially split መንበረ ተ/ሃይማኖት & መንበረ አክሱም while priests, deacons, theologians & self-anointed gate keepers of the Church in the center kept passionately supporting the war.
Most import’ly, remember it as a dark chapter when the center collectively kept a policy of silence & of denial about a mass murder committed against civilians at the heart of a sacred place, an identity of Ethiopia’s historicised narratives of civilisation & of Christianity.

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More from @TsedaleLemma

28 May
As the day draws to an end, it’s safe to say that the Ethiopian state under the admin of PM Abiy has quietly erased #Ginbot20 (May 28/1991), the date that ushered in the last political settlement, which, in 1995, reconstituted the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE).
Few things to say. This year’s May 28 comes in the backdrop of a brutal war against the major protagonist, TPLF, which coalesced a host of other rebel groups on a 4 yr political settlement between 1991-95 before the founding constitution of today’s 🇪🇹was adopted.

The process...
was imperfect & sidelined key players; & the Ethiopian state that was reconstituted thereof was haunted by the absence of these players.

But May 28 paved the way that led to the multiple nations & nationalities in Ethiopia to reimagine a new hope & a place they can call home.
Read 8 tweets
28 Mar
❗️"እናቴ የደም ዕምባ እያለቀሰች፣ ወንድሜ ተረሽኖ ከገደል አፋፍ ላይ እየተገፈተረ፣ ክብሯን የጠበቀች እህቴ በባለጌዎች እየተደፈረች በዚ ሽልማት ልደሰት አልችልም። የእናቴ እንባ ሲታበስ፣ ሃገሬ ወደ ቀደመ ክብሯ ስትመለስ እደርስበታለሁ::" ኢሳያስ
Loose translation: “I won’t celebrate when my mother is shedding tears of blood; my brother brutally slaughtered & his body thrown off a cliff; & my genteel sister raped by hooligans. I shall celebrate when my mothers’ tears are wiped & the dignity of my homeland is restored.”
This is the acceptance speech by artist Isayas Tadesse, winner of the “Short Film” category at the annual Gumma Awards.

There is so much to unpack about his speech on a stage where many expect it the least; but I would only say a few things.
Read 7 tweets
28 Mar
Re:NEBE’s latest decision on OLF’s breakaway faction: Regardless of his legitimate concern with NEBE, Jaal Dawud Ibssa should take today’s decision by the Board to delegitimise the so-called General Assembly led by Jaal Ararso Biqila as a window of opportunity to unite the party.
In return Jaal Ararso should take a lesson or two from post 2005 systematic & engineered fracturing & weakening of opposition parties (a tactic being played by PP), dismember whatever he put together & agree to convene OLF’s General Assembly under the leadership of Jaal Dawud.
The two men should realise that the upcoming election the NEBE is organising, if it happened, will be the beginning of a long & bitter struggle for the Oromo nation & their relationship with the state to be reconstituted thereafter.

A weakened OLF can’t lead such a struggle.
Read 4 tweets
21 Mar
Sunday thoughts!

One of the cascade of shocks the #Oromo nation continue to endure in the wake of the yet unsolved assassination of Haacaaluu Hundeessaa is the following crackdown on multiple individuals who represent a significant political agency of the Oromo in the 🇪🇹to come.
Among the consequential arrests is the likes of Bekele, Jawar & Hamza, seen here after 40 days of hunger strike for what they believed in. But it’s a mistake to think the crackdown was limited to them. Speak with any Oromo, you will learn that there is a pre & post Hacaaluu 🇪🇹.
That’s so not only b/s Hacee was assassinated, but also everything that the Oromo lost after that either to death, jail or disappearance (be it individuals of political parties), share one thing in common: they’re known among the Oromo as icons of a struggle for a pan Oromo cause
Read 6 tweets
18 Mar
This week Be’aman Netsere, a seasoned Orthodox Church scholar, & Yared Shumete, a humanitarian, published their travel experiences about the war in #Tigray.

Both raised facts Ethiopia needs to reckon with.

Most important, Be’aman confirmed the #Axum & #Dengolat massacres. Image
He also captured pics of Eritrean forces freely roaming near the Axum obelisk.

But it’s what he said about the deafening silence of the EOTC both on the massacres & the wanton destruction of its own holy sites that needs to be paid the at most attention, imo! Image
Yared too raised important factors that need a collective reckoning: the psychological trauma the people of #Tigray are enduring as a result of this senseless war & his fear on whether they will make the annual walk to Adewa in connection with the March 02 Adwa Victory Day. ImageImage
Read 5 tweets
29 Dec 20
The powerful pro-war camp has deployed 2 potent means to silence anyone against the armed conflict in Tigray or for a negotiated settlement (dialogue): to defame all as paid by the "Junta" & to chastise all as an "ethnonationist" wanting to save the TPLF."

Four things to say 👇🏿
1- No armed conflict in the world, much less politically complex as the one in Tigray, has ever been resolved without a roundtable negotiated settlement. So please stop intimidating/threatening anyone who is an advocate of a negotiated settlement. It may happen that way anyway.
2- TPLF's life doesn't depend on your "ethnonationist" nightmare's advocacy anymore than the other parties to this armed conflict, including foreign actors, are on your unquestioning support to it. 

Such arguments are simply the limit of a hawks' depravity of imagination, sadly
Read 5 tweets

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