Not only does last week’s jihadist rampage against Ethiopia’s Christians highlight the travails Christians encounter wherever Islam has a sizable population, but it offers several insights, including some which should concern faraway, secular nations with Muslim minorities. According to Fox News:
“Thousands of Christians have been forced to flee their homes in Western Ethiopia after Muslim extremists set fire to roughly 50 churches and dozens of Christian homes. At least one Christian has been killed, many more have been injured and anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 have been displaced in the attacks that began March 2 after a Christian in the community of Asendabo was accused of desecrating the Koran.”
For starters, this “medieval” attack is a reminder that countless churches have been destroyed or desecrated by jihadist terror since Islam rose to power in the Medieval era, evincing centuries of continuity. While the media may mention the more “spectacular” attacks on churches—in Iraq, in Egypt—most attacks go either unreported or underreported. (Some Muslim nations, such as U.S. “friend-and-ally” Saudi Arabia, nip it in the bud by outlawing churches in the first place.)
Moreover, the dubious excuse used to justify this latest barbarous outburst—”desecration of the Koran”—is a reminder of the double-standards Bibles suffer in the Islamic world, where they are routinely confiscated and burned. Indeed, even as Muslim Ethiopians were rampaging, Muslim nations hailed as being “moderate”—Malaysia and Bangladesh—also made headlines last week with their deplorable treatment of Christians and Bibles. Worse, the West helps standardize such a biased approach: the U.S. government—Obama, Hillary, and any number of other grandstanding politicians—rose up in condemnation when a virtually anonymous, small-town pastor threatened to burn the Koran, while saying nary a word about the countless Bibles daily mutilated in the Muslim world (a 2003 fatwa that ruled the Bible suitable for use by Muslims when cleaning after defecation went largely unnoticed).
Finally, for those Western observers who live beyond the moment and have an interest in the big picture, the long run—the world bequeathed to future generations—the issue of numbers revealed by this Ethiopian anecdote should give cause to pause. The Fox News report continues:
The string of attacks comes on the heels of several reports of growing anti-Christian tension and violence around the country where Muslims make up roughly one-third of the total population but more than 90 percent of the population in certain areas, 2007 Census data shows. One of those areas is Besheno where, on November 9, all the Christians in the city woke up to find notes on their doors warning them to convert to Islam, leave the city or face death.
As Jonathan Racho, an official at International Christian Concern, said, “It’s extremely disconcerting that in Ethiopia, where Christians are the majority, they are also the victims of persecution.” This oddity is explained by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s assertion that Ethiopian Islamists “have changed their tactics and they have been able to camouflage their activities through legal channels”—a strategy regularly implemented by Islamists wherever they are outnumbered, like in the U.S., prompting countermeasures such as Islamist Watch and the Legal Project.
That Muslims are an otherwise peaceable minority group in Ethiopia, but in enclaves where they represent the majority, they attack their outnumbered Christian countrymen—giving them a tweaked version of Islam’s three choices to infidels—suggests that Muslim aggression and passivity are very much rooted in numbers: the more Muslims, the more potential for “assertive” behavior.
Indeed, the story of Islam’s entry into Ethiopia, one of the oldest Christian civilizations, is illustrative. Around 615, when the pagan Quraysh were persecuting Muhammad’s outnumbered Muslim followers in Arabia, some fled to Ethiopia seeking sanctuary. The Christian king, or “Negus” of Ethiopia, welcomed and protected these Muslim fugitives, ignoring Quraysh demands to return them—and thus winning Muhammad’s gratefulness. Today, 14 centuries later, when Islam has carved itself a solid niche in Ethiopia, accounting for 1/3 of the population, Muslim gratefulness has turned to something else—not least a warning to Western states.
The African Union feels completely ignored by World bodies in the quest to restore peace in conflict ridden Libya, the AU commission chairman Jean Ping has said.
Speaking in an interview with a journalist last Friday, the AU Commission Chair said efforts by AU to intervene in the early days of the Libyan crisis were curtailed by the UN Security Council and since then the regional body has been left out of peace talks on Libya.
“All our programmes which I mentioned to you were stopped by the decision of UN Security Council. We were supposed to go to Libya on the 18th in Tripoli and on the 19th to Benghazi. Then the decision of the Security Council came. We asked permission to go too they say don’t go. So we stopped going there,” he said.
He said a meeting was scheduled in Paris with the AU but nothing has been heard ever since, even though ministers of western countries on their own have made attempts to resolve the crisis in Cairo.
“Nobody talk to us; no body consult us” he lamented.
Asked if the AU has been ignored in the UN, his answer was blunt: “Totally, totally,” he said.
He vehemently disagreed with the assertion that the AU has lost its respect and power to arbitrate because individual countries have been compromised in their support for Libya and its leader Muammar Gaddhafi.
Where is The Voice of The African Union?
By Wangari Maathai
Many Africans, in both north and south, have for years moved in darkness, fear, and desperation.
As the world discusses the protests and battles sweeping North Africa — most recently in Libya — where is the African Union (AU)? Numerous multilateral bodies have called for respect for human rights and an end to state-sponsored violence, including the European Union, the Arab League, and the United Nations.
In discussing the situation in Libya, US president Barack Obama did include the AU in a list of partners for finding a solution. But, by and large, the voice of the AU has been faint and largely ignored by the international media.
Surely the AU should have been among the first international organisations consulted as internal conflict engulfed AU member states in North Africa. Why wasn’t it? If such conflicts were taking place in Europe, surely the EU would be central to a resolution.
One problem the AU faces, along with many African nations, is that it is not financially independent. It must seek funds from the EU, the US and others, including some of the wealthier member states despite their records on undemocratic governance and human rights violations. Libya, for example, is said to provide at least 15 per cent of the AU’s overall budget. In 2009, Libya’s now-embattled leader, Muammar Gadhafi, was elected to a one-year term as chairperson of the AU.
Dependency
This dependency hampers the organization’s effectiveness in many ways. It constrains its ability to have an independent voice and could account for the AU’s relative silence on the situation in Libya, despite the threat of another protracted civil war in Africa.
Even when the AU has offered support to member states — as during the violence that followed the 2007 elections in Kenya — it couldn’t provide the financial resources that might help bring about peace; that had to be left to other countries.
Another problem is that the AU has neither an army nor a peacekeeping force, so it cannot intervene militarily to protect citizens. It also has relatively little influence on national armies.
The US could apply pressure on former president Hosni Mubarak and Egypt’s army by threatening to cut off the $2 billion in aid it provided. The AU has no such leverage over recalcitrant leaders. It can only use persuasion, which can easily be disregarded, as demonstrated by the stalemate and increasing violence in Ivory Coast following disputed presidential elections in 2010.
On February 23, Jean Ping of Gabon, the chairperson of the AU commission, did express ‘great concern’ about Libya, condemning the “disproportionate use of force against civilians” and the number of lives lost. He reinforced the AU peace and security council’s call for an immediate end to repression and violence.
In the eyes of many observers, however, the AU statements came too late and were largely overlooked. No doubt the AU is still working behind the scenes, and the chairman, president, and relevant committees are in communication with leaders in North Africa, as well as the international community. But, unfortunately, the AU’s voice is largely ignored in the world at large and within affected countries.
At the same time, many Africans, both in the north and south, hope that the AU will serve as a beacon against which every African state measures itself. But such hopes have foundered: many AU members remain below the standards that most of their citizens expect, and the AU cannot demand greater democracy than a critical mass of its members are willing to practice.
The AU has set benchmarks that would require the expulsion of members that don’t meet them, such as expanding democratic space and respecting human rights; pursuing equitable and sustainable human development; and combating poverty. Members of the AU are also required to practice good, transparent governance and root out corruption. But many of these principles have been ignored by member states.
It is clear that the changes the peoples of North Africa are demanding won’t be realised overnight, and they will have to accept that real change is slow. It will take time to build the institutions that provide checks and balances on executive power, including independent parliaments, judiciaries, armies, and police. these are often the first casualties of poor governance.
Many Africans, in both north and south, have for years moved in darkness, fear, and desperation. The AU could be the lighthouse that vanquishes this darkness — and a leading, credible international voice and presence, too. But enough of its members have to want to be this beacon, in action and not only words.
There is going to be change throughout Africa. Whether the AU and its member states can lead it, or will simply follow their citizenry, is the challenge.
This Image is taken from the original film poster “Death on the Nile” in the form of Ethiopia – a classic film based on the ‘Agatha Christie’ mystery novel of the same title, starring Sir Peter Ustinov whose grandmother was of Ethiopian Descent
Today is World Water Day. Water is a basic requirement for all life, yet water resources are facing increasing demands from, and competition among, users. In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water.
In these days, the current unrest in North Africa and Arab Middle East seems to have drawn everybody’s attention. All the talk is about democracy, elections and governance, as if the destiny of these nations depends on ideology, constitutions or power.
What occurred in Tunisia and Egypt and what is now taking place in Libya has been constructed into a story of Arab and Middle Eastern rebellion, even when it says more about the African continent than anywhere else.
It’s tiresome and boring to watch the ignorant television commentators of CNN, BBC and their Arab franchise, Al-Jazeera, repeatedly describing the events in North Africa as a “pro-democracy Arab movement”with the idyllic Nile in the background, while remaining mute on the facts that we are on the gates of a major water catastrophe. They seem to be addicted to talking about Egypt and the Arab World, Muslim brotherhood and the Middle East, while declining to acknowledge the challenges facing Egypt regarding waters sources
Some Egyptians may not feel they are Africans, and the black Egyptians who called Abbay’s the name of Ethiopia’s blue Nile waterfall are marginalized and have lost their land and are treated like second class citizens by the majority Arabs Egyptian.Egypt has always denied they are African but do not mind using African resources. In times of trouble they would rather side with their Arabian relatives than side with their African slaves neighbors. This exploitation and inconsiderate use of resources must stop, Africa had been suffering from the after effects of slavery and colonization for too long. The Nile treaty established with the help of the British in 1929 is a relic of the past era and its up to African countries collectively to rip it up and demand change now.
What In The World Are They Spraying? The Chemtrail/Geoengineering Cover-up by Truthmedia Productions promises to have people looking up in the sky.
Chemtrails have long been debated and producer Michael Murphy and director Paul Wittenberger teamed up with world renowned author and documentary film producer G. Edward Griffin to combine their expertise and research to put an end to the debate about chemtrails. The world premiere of What In The World Are They Spraying? is being held in Atlanta, Georgia on October 23, 2010. This is the first-ever full length documentary about chemtrails.
The image on the video shows a typical Ethiopian hillside “Church-Forest” – one of the symbolic reconstructions of the Garden of Eden that surround most Christian churches in the Northern part of the country.
The year 2011 was declared the International Year of Forests by the United Nations to raise awareness and strengthen the sustainable forest management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests for the benefit of current and future generations.
In most parts of Northern Ethiopia, forests have been completely destroyed and converted into farms and grazing lands over centuries. Hence, when a traveler sees a patch of indigenous old-aged trees in the northern highlands of Ethiopia, he/she can be sure that there is an Orthodox Church in the middle. They are visible from a great distance, with a majestic appearance, usually built on small hills overlooking the surrounding villages. The local people call these churches with the surrounding trees as “Debr” or “Geddam” is seen by the followers as the most holy place religiously as well as a respected and powerful institution socially.
The following reading is taken from a fascinating post on the PLoS blog network:
In America, some fundamental Christians believe that man has a God-given right to use the earth and all its resources to meet their needs. After all, Genesis says so. But across the Atlantic, a different attitude prevails among followers in Ethiopia, which has the longest continuous tradition of Christianity of any African country. Followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Churches believe they should maintain a home for all of God’s creatures around their places of worship. The result? Forests ringing churches.
There are some 35,000 church forests in Ethiopia, ranging in size from a few acres to 300 hectares. Some churches and their forests may date back to the fourth century, and all are remnants of Ethiopia’s historic Afromontane forests. To their followers, they are a sacred symbol of the garden of Eden — to be loved and cared for, but not worshipped.
Most church forests are concentrated in the northern reaches of the country, especially in the Lake Tana area. Here, most of the Afromontane forests have been cut down to make clearings for agriculture, pastures for livestock and settlements. It is said that if a traveler to the area spies a forest, it surely has a church in the middle. Many also have freshwater springs.
These spiritually-protected woods, also known as coptic forests, comprise a decent chunk of the 5 percent of Ethiopia’s historical forests that are still standing. Massive deforestation has rendered these church forests as true islands — green oases peppering a land laid bare.
With the world no longer able to avert its eyes from the mass bloodshed in Libya, and as Moammar Gadhafi’s deadly degradation of his people reaches a new peak, there is more than enough blame to go around.
Primary responsibility certainly goes to Gadhafi and his regime, but the international community that for four decades legitimized and propped up one of the worst abusers of human rights cannot evade responsibility. At the apotheosis of international hypocrisy in supporting Gadhafi stands the United Nations Human Rights Council (with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as its official secretariat).
With the UN Human Rights Council and other UN bodies now scrambling to position themselves on the winning side of history, with belated condemnations of violence and abuses in Libya, it would be unfortunate for the world to forget the sordid history of the central UN human rights body and its responsibility as an enabler and apologist for so many deadly dictatorships.
Astonishingly, in May 2010, in a secret ballot, Libya received a shocking 155 votes (out of 192 countries), and was elected to the UN Human Rights Council.
The world was certainly aware of the vast litany of domestic and international crimes committed by the Gadhafi regime. Even in the corridors of the UN there was occasional talk and concern about Libya’s human rights practices, such as extrajudicial and summary executions, systematic use of torture, and the imposition of the death penalty for political and economic offences.
The international community was also aware that Libyan agents in 1988 blew up a passenger airplane over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, exploded a French airliner over the Sahara desert, killing 170, and in 1986 blew up the La Belle disco in Berlin, killing two Americans and wounding dozens. Gadhafi also financed and helped train dozens of terrorist organizations, supported Charles Taylor in the Liberian civil war that was responsible for more than 200,000 deaths, and backed Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who brought hunger and devastation to that once relatively prosperous country.
after 2003 (when Gadhafi thought it prudent, in the wake of the ouster of Saddam Hussein, to give up his weapons of mass destruction program) embarked on a dangerously misguided policy of “constructive engagement,” where they thought they could combine profit and peace.
It was, however, the Human Rights Council that really burnished Libya’s international image in an Orwellian theatre of the absurd. For instance, at a council meeting in November 2010 for a universal periodic review of rights protection, country after country paid tribute to the Gadhafi regime’s performance on human rights.
Qatar expressed its appreciation for Libya’s human rights performance. The Syrian representative, without irony, spoke of the unique experience of democracy in Libya and the growth and development of human rights there. Saudi Arabia strongly praised Libya’s interest in “promoting and protecting human rights.” North Korea and Cuba glowingly endorsed Libya’s efforts and “significant achievements” in human rights.
Little wonder that with such fulsome praise and endorsements from the world’s leading human rights body, the Gadhafi regime rejected even moderate “suggestions” at improving its human rights record.
As in the case of other murderous dictatorships, the Gadhafi regime will come to an end, hopefully the political order will be fundamentally changed, and the long-suffering people of Libya will have their rights and dignity protected. What, however, will happen to the UN Human Rights Council (and its secretariat) that also bears such heavy responsibility for the horrors the people of Libya have had to endure?
Source: Toronto Star
LIBYAAND ITALY
Flush with petrodollars, Libya has been buying stakes in Italian companies, while Italian companies have clinched contracts for energy and infrastructure projects in the North African state. Libya supplies a quarter of Italy’s crude oil needs, and is also a key provider of gas.
Following is a list of Libya’s main Italian investments and Italian companies with investments in Libya.
ENI
Italy’s biggest oil and gas company has extensive operations in Libya, including long-term take-or-pay contracts. The company, which has operated in Libya since 1959, has said it plans to invest as much as $25 billion there. Libya accounts for about 13 percent of its entire production.
IMPREGILO
Italy’s biggest builder Impregilo was expected to be a big gainer from Berlusconi’s push to develop ties with Libya and is vying for a piece of a Libyan motorway project financed by Rome that is worth as much as 5 billion euros.Impregilo has also been cited in the past as a possible target for Libyan investment.
SAIPEM
A consortium led by oil services company Saipem, which is controlled by Eni, won a 835-million-euro contract for the first part of the Libyan motorway project. The consortium also includes engineering and construction firm Maire Tecnimont.
FINMECCANICA
Italian aerospace and defense company Finmeccanica SpA and Libya in 2009 agreed to cooperate on aerospace and other projects in the Middle East and Africa. Under the deal, a 50-50 joint venture between Finmeccanica and the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio will be created and act as the main vehicle for investments.
UNICREDIT
Libya’s stake in banking group UniCredit stands at a total 7.6 percent after the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) acquired a 2.59 percent stake in Italy’s biggest lender. LIA also owns 3 percent of British publisher Pearson, which owns the Financial Times
FIAT
Libya came to the rescue of Fiat in 1977 at the invitation of the head of its founding family, Giovanni Agnelli, with the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (Lafico) buying a stake of about 15 percent in what was then a struggling carmaker.
SOCCER
Lafico has 7.5 percent of the soccer club Juventus, which is controlled by the Agnellis. Gaddafi’s son, Al-Saadi Gaddafi, used to sit on the Juventus board and was even a player for Perugia and Udine. Libya at one stage considered bidding for the Roman club Lazio and also poured money into Triestina.
TEXTILES
Lafico holds 21.7 percent of Olcese, according to the textile company’s website.
Source: Thomson Reuters data, company websites, Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, IFSWF
Not only does last week’s jihadist rampage against Ethiopia’s Christians highlight the travails Christians encounter wherever Islam has a sizable population, but it offers several insights, including some which should concern faraway, secular nations with Muslim minorities. According to Fox News:
