The historic Ethiopian town of Lalibela was rocked by the sound of heavy artillery on Wednesday as federal government troops fired towards areas where local militias were believed to be hiding, residents said.
Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site, lies in the region of Amhara, which has for months been the scene of fighting between the national army and a local militia known as Fano.
The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed imposed a six-month state of emergency in early August after the Amhara clashes erupted, raising concerns about Ethiopia’s stability just months after a peace deal ended a two-year war in neighbouring Tigray.
From Wednesday evening, “heavy artillery was used from inside the city to the outskirts of Lalibela where allegedly Fano are there in the forest area,” said Lalibela resident and tourism sector worker Ayalew, who did not want to give his full name.
“I am inside my home for now and they (Ethiopian troops) are going door to door, checking youths for possible Fano supporters,” he told AFP Thursday, adding that he could hear sporadic gunfire.
It is impossible to verify the situation on the ground in Amhara as media access to the region is heavily restricted.
Aneley, a tuk-tuk (three-wheeled taxi) driver, said the sound of artillery was “very heavy” and lasted through the night Wednesday, adding that soldiers were arresting any youths found outside.
A 38-year-old shopkeeper who requested anonymity said Lalibela was now quiet, with banks functioning and some public transport operating although there had been no internet for several weeks.
“But there is high level of tension and fear, with soldiers often beating residents as well as stealing (from them),” he said, recounting numerous arrests.
Lalibela is renowned for its rock-hewn churches but like other cities in Amhara was also caught up in the brutal war between government forces and Tigrayan rebels as well as the latest regional clashes.
Amhara’s regional forces fought alongside federal government troops in the Tigray war. But in April, Abiy’s government announced it was dismantling regional forces across the country, triggering protests by Amhara nationalists who said it would weaken their region.
Ethiopia’s human rights body on Friday accused federal forces of carrying out extra-judicial killings in Amhara and mass arbitrary detentions in the region and elsewhere.
And on Monday, the UN-backed Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia said the situation in Africa’s second most populous country remained “extremely grave.”
“Atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity are still being committed in the country,” the commission said.
Beyond Tigray, the experts warned that “hostilities in Ethiopia are now at a national scale, with significant violations increasing particularly in Amhara region, but also ongoing in Oromia and elsewhere.”
😈 “Saudi Arabia appears to vilify asylum seekers to justify their repatriation. The Saudi media now routinely runs stories blaming ‘Ethiopian violators of border rulers’ for ‘drug dealings’. News of apprehension of Ethiopians for drugs and other crimes is almost a daily fixture in the Saudi press. Stories often run with pictures showing handcuffed men facing the wall with packets of drugs stacked up in front of them.”
❖❖❖[Romans 1:18-32]❖❖❖
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, …
Saudi Arabia has killed hundreds of Ethiopian asylum seekers, many of whom were women and children, as they tried to cross from Yemen into the wealthy country, says a recent report from Human Rights Watch. Saudi authorities dismissed the findings as part of a nefarious campaign to target the kingdom as it seeks to modernise and reform its system.
The report shocked the world with ghastly details of the abuse. ‘In some instances, Saudi border guards first asked survivors in which limb of their body they preferred to be shot, before shooting them at close range’, the report said. ‘Saudi border guards also fired explosive weapons at migrants who had just been released from temporary Saudi detention and were attempting to flee back to Yemen […] A 17-year-old boy said border guards forced him and others to rape two girls after the guards had executed another migrant who refused to rape another survivor.’
According to Human Rights Watch, the killings started in March 2022 and could be continuing as Ethiopian refugees flee conflict and violence by their own government and detention camps run by the Houthi rebel militias in Northern Yemen.
Initially, Saudi authorities ignored the report but the Arabic service of the official Saudi Press Agency later ran a statement quoting an unidentified senior Saudi official attempting to discredit Human Rights Watch for relying on ‘noncredible’ sources. ‘Some organisations used false accusations against the kingdom to the point of publishing politicised and misleading reports and then promoting them within a suspect media campaign that serves dubious goals’, The Saudi Press Agency quoted the Saudi official as saying.
“If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings would be a crime against humanity.” Human Rights Watch
The official, however, acknowledged there were shootings targeting Ethiopian refugees at the country’s long and mountainous southern borders but blamed unidentified ‘armed groups who, by using force, sought to compel large crowds to cross into the kingdom through the Saudi–Yemeni borders’. The Saudis may have been referring to earlier incidents documented by international organisations, including Human Rights Watch, that Iran-backed Houthi forces – which control most of Yemen and who have been fighting a war against Saudi Arabia since 2015 and until recently, had expelled thousands of Ethiopian migrants from northern Yemen – shot at them and killed dozens in an attempt to scare the rest into Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch says its particular work on the Saudi incidents is well documented. The group’s staff interviewed 42 Ethiopian migrants along with friends and relatives of those who tried to cross the border and used 350 videos and photographs, along with satellite imagery that showed expanding grave sites and activities by the Saudi border patrols that set it apart from attacks by the Houthi militias in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia already hosts 750,000 Ethiopians according to international aid agencies. Half of those are believed to be in the country illegally. It is not clear when Saudi Arabia may have changed its policy to try and stop the flow of Ethiopian refugees but the UN says Yemen in recent years has increasingly become a transit point for migrants making their way toward Saudi Arabia often in groups of 200 people each.
The asylum seekers make the life-threatening journey on unseaworthy vessels and through Djibouti to Yemen, hoping to eventually reach the wealthy kingdom for jobs and for safety from the ferocious military campaign back home by Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Abiy Ahmed, who is trying to centralise control over all of Ethiopia, a country of 116 million people. As violence continues in the African nation, the exodus is likely to continue bringing Saudi treatment of refugees under further international scrutiny.
Ariel Orrego Villacorta of the IBA Immigration and Nationality Law Committee says that, under the non-refoulment rule of international law, countries cannot just send back refugees, particularly those ‘forced to flee their country of nationality or habitual residence due to the massive violation of human rights, foreign aggression, internal conflict, occupation or foreign domination; or due to events that seriously disturb public order’. Many of those conditions do apply to Ethiopian refugees.
Like many countries around the world witnessing growing hostility towards immigrants, Saudi Arabia appears to vilify asylum seekers to justify their repatriation. The Saudi media now routinely runs stories blaming ‘Ethiopian violators of border rulers’ for ‘drug dealings’. News of apprehension of Ethiopians for drugs and other crimes is almost a daily fixture in the Saudi press. Stories often run with pictures showing handcuffed men facing the wall with packets of drugs stacked up in front of them.
In August, the Saudi Interior Ministry said its forces were in the process of deporting thousands of people for illegal entry and drug-related crimes and that the majority were Ethiopians. The authorities appealed for tips from the public relating to similar violators. In March 2022, Saudi Arabia struck a deal with Ethiopia to repatriate more than 100,000 Ethiopians as part of the campaign.
Saudi Arabia has long attracted criticism from international rights groups over a series of issues including treatment of foreign labour, abuse against dissent and massive corruption. More recently the country was widely censured for the ruthless murder of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. And much to the shock of rights advocates, Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, a Saudi retired teacher and father of seven, was sentenced to death in August under the country’s draconian counterterrorism law for reposting social media criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Al-Ghamdi had only ten account followers.
Bin Salman, the country’s 38-year-old de facto ruler, is, however, seeking to project a more modern image on the global stage. The country is hosting flashy and raucous concerts by top world music artists and recruiting football players with lucrative contracts to play in the local league, with a view to rivalling European leagues. In the business world, Riyadh is also working to project an image as a major start-up funder.
But despite the public relations blitz, Human Rights Watch says the killing of such a large number of immigrants is so egregious they constitute a grave international crime. ‘This report shows how the pattern of abuses has changed from an apparent practice of occasional shootings and mass detentions to widespread and systematic killings’, it says. ‘If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings would be a crime against humanity.’
😈 The evil Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman– whose border guards massacred thousands of Ethiopian asylum seekers – confirms Saudi Arabia will seek nuclear arsenal if Iran develops one
The Saudi crown prince has confirmed his country would seek to acquire a nuclear arsenal if Iran developed one, throwing fresh doubt on a possible US-Saudi nuclear cooperation deal currently under negotiation.
Joe Biden’s Democratic allies in the US Senate have warned his administration will face a tough battle for approval of a deal normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia if it includes substantial nuclear cooperation with Riyadh, because of distrust of Saudi intentions.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mohammed bin Salman added weight to suspicions that an ostensibly civilian nuclear programme could be diverted to military purposes if Saudi Arabia felt under threat.
Why did Saudi Arabia’s MBS speak to Fox News?
Fox News, a prominent American conservative outlet with close ties to the Republican party, made a notable decision to interview Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The US network’s interview raised eyebrows, considering the widespread condemnation from rights groups due to numerous documented human rights violations during MBS’s reign.
Some of these violations were detailed in a recent HRW report exposing the systematic shooting of Ethiopian migrants by Saudi border guards. MBS is also widely believed to be personally involved in the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who criticized him in a number of articles.
Fox News, known for pursuing high viewership ratings, found the interview with MBS to be an opportunity to achieve just that.
Babylon Saudi Barbaria has killed thousands of Ethiopian asylum seekers, many of whom were women and children, as they tried to cross from Yemen into the wealthy country, says a recent report from Human Rights Watch. Saudi authorities dismissed the findings as part of a nefarious campaign to target the kingdom as it seeks to modernize and reform its system.
The report shocked the world with ghastly details of the abuse. ‘In some instances, Saudi border guards first asked survivors in which limb of their body they preferred to be shot, before shooting them at close range’, the report said. ‘Saudi border guards also fired explosive weapons at migrants who had just been released from temporary Saudi detention and were attempting to flee back to Yemen […] A 17-year-old boy said border guards forced him and others to rape two girls after the guards had executed another migrant who refused to rape another survivor.’
“If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings would be a crime against humanity” Human Rights Watch
🏴 Babylon Saudi Barbaria Border Guards Accused of Mass Killings of Christian Ethiopian Refugees
Now we turn to the Bible and examine some End-Times prophecy in relation to Babylon.
Both Revelation chapters 17 & 18 mention Babylon and we see “Fallen, fallen is Babylon” [Rev 18:2]
We know from history that Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, extended his empire into Arabia and lived for ten years in Tema, which is now in Saudi Arabia.
The first clue comes from the Psalms.
“Remember O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall, How they said ‘tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its foundations! O daughter of Babylon, you devastator!” [Psalms 137:7-8]
So Edom is referred to as Babylon and Edom was the region including southern Jordan and Arabia which is dominated by Saudi Arabia.
And from another Psalm Edom (Saudi Arabia) is also mentioned for destruction.
Psalm 83 talks about the nations that have conspired to destroy Israel and that God will destroy them, and the first nation mentioned is Edom (Saudi Arabia). [Psalm 83:6]
“I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it humans and animals, and I will make it desolate; from Teman to Dedan they shall fall by the sword”. [Ezekiel 25:13]
“Thus says the Lord of Hosts, is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Flee, turn back, get down low, inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him at the time when I punish him”. [Jeremiah 49:8-9]
“Therefore hear the plan the Lord has made against Edom…and the inhabitants of Teman; at the sound of their fall, the Earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea”. [Jeremiah 49:20-21]
“The glory of Kedar will fall” [Isaiah 21:16]
Note that the places mentioned, Teman, Dedan and Kedar are all in what is today Saudi Arabia and these are mentioned for destruction. Jeremiah gives another clue that Babylon must be near the Red Sea.
Well, Saudi Arabia certainly is. But there is more.
“And the streams of Edom shall be turned to pitch and her soil to sulphur; Her land shall become burning pitch; Night and day it shall not be quenched and its smoke shall go up forever; From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it, forever and ever”. [Isaiah 34:9-10]
Note the reference to pitch, which is a by-product of oil, and Saudi Arabia has the world’s largest reserves of oil. It will be totally destroyed.
And one final clue as to Babylon’s identity.
“the day of the Lord comes, cruel with anger, to make the Earth a desolation; And Babylon… will be like Sodom and Gomorrah; It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations, Arabs will not pitch their tents there”. [Isaiah 13:9-20]
Note that Arabs will not pitch their tents there. This must refer to Arabia.
The fact that the destruction will be like Sodom and Gomorrah indicates a swift destruction, probably by a nuclear explosion.
By examining scripture we find that the mystery Babylon in the End-Times can only be Arabia.
Who is the Scarlet Whore who sits on the Beast
First we should consider what it means that the Whore sits on the beast. Walid Shoebat reasons by interpreting mountains as nations / empires and not as hills, the seventh beast empire was Islamic ending with the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922AD. Revelation 13 claims that the “head” will be revived. That is, the Islamic empire will be rejuvenated coming from the same persecuting empires that preceded it, but NOT including Rome. This is a clear indication that the eighth beast empire will be Islamic, NOT Roman. We have shown that the Babylon in the End-Times is Arabia and that the last beast empire is Islamic. Also, Mecca is the spiritual home of all Muslims and that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia which controls Mecca is corrupting nations with its oil wealth. We should consider how Mecca / the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fits the whore of Babylon. As the spiritual home of Islam, Mecca rules (influences) over 1.5 billion people on this planet, in every country. The colour scarlet denotes royalty and of course the Royal House of Saud controls Mecca, the spiritual home of Islam. Mecca causes people to fly planes into buildings, to blow up infrastructure, to strap bombs on themselves to blow up the Kuffaar, and to behead infidels shouting ‘Allahu Akbar”.
Consider attributes of the whore in Revelation 17 & 18.
The great whore is seated on many waters (peoples, nations and languages)
The kings of the Earth have committed fornication and are drunk with the wine (oil)
John was carried away into a wilderness where he saw the woman sitting on the scarlet beast
The woman was adorned with gold and jewels holding a golden cup full of abominations
The woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses to Jesus
The beast shall hate the whore and will burn her up with fire
Her judgement will come in one hour.
Consider how Mecca fits the criteria.
Mecca influences over 1.5 billion people from all nations and countries
Western nations are desperate for oil from the world’s largest supplier
The Arabian peninsula is a desert wilderness, and Mecca is the spiritual home for all Muslims
Saudi Arabia does a huge trade in gold and jewellery and is subverting the west with oil money and funding terror
Islam has killed over 270 million people since the seventh century, and Islam demands the killing of all Jews and the destruction of Christianity
Islamic nations hate Saudi Arabia because they believe it has corrupted Islam and in Islamic eschatology, both Mecca and Medina will be destroyed, probably by a Turkey, Syria, Iran axis
The judgment could well be a nuclear device if it is to come in one hour.
Mecca fits to perfection the profile of the Scarlet Whore sitting on (controlling) the Islamic beast.
By not taking a western perspective and properly analysing scripture, it is obvious that the mystery Babylon is Arabia and the Great Harlot who sits on the beast is none other than Mecca, the spiritual home of Islam.
Both Islamic and Biblical eschatology then agree that Mecca and Medina will be destroyed and the Bible goes further to have the whole of Arabia destroyed. Not many people in the West will shed a tear.
Consider then, if the Church took an eastern perspective:
a) Islam would be identified as the religion of Satan;
b) The church would preach to over 2 billion Christians that Allah was Satan;
c) Interfaith meetings would take on a whole new perspective, and;
d) Church leaders would hassle Politicians about NOT allowing Islam to flourish.
A federal contractor who worked for State and Justice departments has been charged with sending classified US information to Ethiopia, according to newly unsealed court documents.
Abraham Teklu Lemma, 50, from Maryland, faces three charges, including gathering or delivering defense information to aid a foreign government and unauthorized possession of national defense information and willfully retaining it. His arrest last month was kept under seal until Thursday.
Lemma is a naturalized US citizen from Ethiopia, according to court documents. He has worked at various US government agencies since 2019 – including as a help desk technician at the State Department and as an analyst for the Justice Department.
The Justice Department’s inspector general, and the State Department’s security service are investigating the matter.
A lawyer for Lemma is not yet publicly listed.
His government work, prosecutors say, gave him a security clearance access to highly classified information, which he illegally copied and shared with a foreign agent.
Since last summer, Lemma repeatedly used that access to search for classified intelligence reports related to an unnamed African country where Lemma previously had citizenship. Though court documents only refer to the country as the “Relevant Country,” CNN has confirmed the country is Ethiopia.
Between December 2022 and August 2023, Lemma “copied and pasted information from at least 85 Intelligence Reports regarding many topics—the majority of which relate to the Relevant Country,” court documents allege. He also allegedly accessed at least 48 additional intelligence reports and printed and downloaded highly classified information from those reports.
On at least three occasions, court documents say, Lemma copied intelligence reports onto CDs and DVDs, downloaded multiple items classified as top secret or secret and deleted the classified markings on those documents.
He also sent classified information to an agent from the intelligence service in Ethiopia, including satellite imagery and documents over an encrypted messaging app, court documents say.
The agent allegedly told Lemma what information to look for, and the two discussed “military activities of a rebel group involved in an armed struggle against” the Ethiopian government.
Messages cited by investigators in court documents suggest that, during a visit to Ethiopia earlier this year, Lemma and the agent agreed to meet at a hotel in the country’s capital. Several times during his trip to the country, Lemma allegedly accessed and made physical copies of classified US material through the State Department.
Bank records obtained by investigators show that Lemma, after downloading classified information and after his visits to the country, deposited money in several batches to different banks.
State Dept. initiates internal security review
The State Department made the discovery that a contractor was sending classified information to Ethiopia as part of a “self-initiated 60-day Internal Security Review of the Department of State’s Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) network, systems, and applications,” State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Thursday.
The Bureau of Intelligence and Research review was initiated following the arrest of Jack Teixeira, Miller said.
“During this review, information was uncovered indicating that a Department of State information technology contractor may have removed, retained and transmitted classified national defense information without authorization,” Miller said.
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 