☪ Jihadist Ilhan in Asmara, in front of St. Mary Church
☪ ጅሃዳዊት ኢልሀን በአስመራ ቅድስት ማርያም ቤተ ክርስቲያን ፊት ለፊት
Jihadist Ilhan Omar was in Asmara, Eritrea one year before The massacre at Saint Mary of Zion Church in Axum, Ethiopia. Somali + Oromo + Eritrean Ben Amir tribe Muslim Jihadist massacred over 1000 Orthodox Christians on on 28 and 29 November 2020.
💭 We May Never Know The Full Truth About The Axum Massacre/ ስለ አክሱም ጭፍጨፋ ሙሉ እውነቱን ላናውቅ እንችላለን፤
💭 New Revelations፡ Somali Troops Committed Atrocities in Tigray as New Alliance Emerged, Survivors Say: https://wp.me/piMJL-7OJ
New revelations about atrocities by Somali soldiers in Ethiopia’s Tigray war are casting a spotlight on an emerging military alliance that has reshaped the Horn of Africa, weakening Western influence in a strategically important region.
The Globe and Mail has obtained eyewitness accounts of massacres by Somali troops embedded with Eritrean forces in Tigray in the early months of the war. The new evidence raises disturbing questions about a covert military alliance between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia that has inflicted death and destruction on the rebellious Tigrayregion in northern Ethiopia.
Some of the priests and monks were people he recognized. Somali soldiers, working alongside Eritrean forces who had captured the village, had targeted churches and killed the clergymen, he said.
“They slaughtered them like chickens,” he told The Globe.
Officially, the three governments have denied any alliance, and Somalia has denied that its troops were deployed in Tigray. But The Globe’s investigation has provided, for the first time, extensive details of civilian killings committed by Somali soldiers allied with Eritrean forces in the region.
Gebretsadik, a 52-year-old farmer from the village of Zebangedena in northwestern Tigray, said the dusty roads of his village were strewn with the bodies of decapitated clergymen in December, 2020, a few weeks after the beginning of the war.
Some of the priests and monks were people he recognized. Somali soldiers, working alongside Eritrean forces who had captured the village, had targeted churches and killed the clergymen, he said.
“They slaughtered them like chickens,” he told The Globe.
The Somali and Eritrean troops stayed in the village until late February, according to Gebretsadik, who often fled to the bushes and mountains around the village to escape attacks during that time.
The Globe talked to dozens of survivors who had witnessed atrocities in six Tigrayan villages where Somali troops had been stationed between early December, 2020 and late February, 2021. The Globe is not publishing their full names or their current locations because their lives could be in danger.
The survivors said the Somali troops were wearing Eritrean military uniforms, but they were clearly identifiable as Somali because of their language and their physical appearance. Unlike the Eritreans, they could not speak any Tigrinya, the language spoken in Tigray and much of Eritrea. The witnesses said they also heard the Eritrean troops referring to them as Somalis.
💭 The origin of Somali & Oromo hatred of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians goes back at least 500 years.
In 1531, Ottoman Turkey Agent Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi invaded Ethiopia, ending Emperor Lebna Dengel’s ability to resist at the Battle of Amba Sel on October 28.
The Imam, known to Somalis as “Axmed gurey” was seen as avenging Ethiopian repression.
The army of Imam Ahmad then marched northward to loot the island monastery of Lake Hayq and the stone churches of Lalibela.
When the Imam entered the province of Tigray, he defeated an Ethiopian army that confronted him there. On reaching Axum, he destroyed the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, in which the Ethiopian emperors had for centuries been crowned.
The Ethiopians were forced to ask for help from the Portuguese, who landed at the port of Massawa on 10 February 1541.
The Imam too turned to foreign allies, bringing 2000 musketeers from Arabia, as well as artillery and 900 Ottoman troops.
Iman Ahmad was only finally defeated on 21 February 1543 in when 9,000 Portuguese troops managed to vanquish the 15,000 soldiers under Imam Ahmad, who was killed in the battle.
Paul Henze maintains that the damage inflicted by the Imam’s troops have never been forgotten by Ethiopians.
💭 A number of police cars responded to Minneapolis South High School Thursday after an alleged food fight escalated into a melee involving 200 to 300 students.
The school posted a note on its website stating the it went on a precautionary code yellow lockdown due to “a food fight that escalated into a physical fight.”
The school said Thursday night that classes are still scheduled for Friday.
Sgt. William Palmer, of the Minneapolis Police Department, said no weapons were involved in the incident. However, four people were taken to the hospital following the melee.
Those taken to the hospital were a school staff member, who was hit in the head with a bottle, and three students, who suffered injuries unrelated to the fight, the school said. It did not elaborate on what injured the three students.
Twelve people complained that they had been sprayed with mace. Police at the scene said they had to use chemical agent to get the crowd under control as they were being pelted with objects as they tried to break things up.
The main incident occurred during the school’s third period lunch, around 12:45 p.m., and lasted about 15 minutes. About 20 staff members responded to the incident and followed security procedures, according to the school.
One student, Abdi Sheikh, said he saw hundreds of students fighting in what appeared to be a racial incident.
“A big riot,” he said. “It was all types of races.”
Sheikh said about 20 police rushed into the school shortly after.
Another student, Symone Glasker, said that an initial fight happened during the school’s first lunch period. By the time the third lunch period started, all the hype from the initial fight caused tensions to boil over.
“My lunch was third lunch,” Glasker said. “There was fight after fight after fight. People couldn’t breathe…It was very scary.”
She said the fights were over pride.
“I know it’s a pride thing between Muslims and black people,” she said. “They want their pride back for something. I don’t know.”
She also said “boys were hitting girls” and that some people were lying on the floor, with their hands over their heads, in surrender.
“They didn’t know if someone was going to bring out a knife, or if someone was going to bring out a gun,” Glasker said.
The fight, students say, was the result of long-simmering tensions between the 8 percent of students who are Somali Americans and the 20 percent who are African Americans.
School officials said dismissal would take place as usual and parents would not need to pick up their kids. Afternoon activities will also go on as scheduled.
Students were told to stay in their classrooms during class. The school remained on lockdown following the fight until the dismissal.
The school posted on its website, “Maintaining a safe environment for our students is a top priority. Fighting is not tolerated at school or on school property. We are committed to following the MPS discipline policy in instances of fighting.”
Stan Alleyne, the Minneapolis Public Schools chief of communications, gave a statement, saying South High is a school that continually makes the district proud.
“South is a very diverse high school,” Alleyne said. “It is a microcosm of the city. Students function together at a high level every day. That is the strength of this school. Our students live diversity every day.”
Police are now reviewing video of the incident from several angles, as it was caught on surveillance cameras. No arrests were made.
A marriage certificate from 2009 appears to show her second marriage was officiated by a Christian minister at a Minnesota registry – despite her previous marriage and divorce being in strict accordance with Islamic tradition and shariah law
Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee on the urgent need to assist the people of Tigray.
This general suggested that the presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray and some parts of Afar was not necessary.
Courtesy: Sudan Post
Afwerki after reportedly suggesting end to the Eritrean army presence in northern parts of the Ethiopian region, a security source told Sudans Post in Addis Ababa.
The unnamed member of the Eritrean army command was reportedly removed late in January by President Isaias when the president could not be convinced for the reasons suggested by the army officer that warrant withdrawal from northern Ethiopia.
“As you know there has been an armed force from Eritrea and this general suggested, according to information we heard, that the presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray and some parts of Afar was not necessary,” the security source who requested not to be named said.
“It is at this point that President Isaias who is not convinced of the many reasons given by the general, that I don’t know what are they, decided to replace him with a junior officer whom he promoted to the rank of major-general,” the security source added.
Eritrea government had dispatched thousands of its forces to fight alongside the Ethiopian federal forces against the rebellious Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) when the conflict initiated in November 2020.
Under United States and international pressure, Eritrea was forced to return its forces to its territories, but thousands more of the Eritrean forces remained in northern Ethiopia despite government claims in Asmara that it does not have forces in Ethiopia.
Last week, TPLF chairman Debretsion Gebremichael said he was in informal talks with the government of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed to possibly reach a ceasefire with him, but sets several preconditions including the withdrawal of Eritrean and other foreign forces.
The actress and comedian was detained after Peachtree City Police got a call about 2:30 a.m. regarding a driver asleep at the wheel on a highway, Assistant Police Chief Matt Myers said in a news release. An officer saw a vehicle matching the caller’s description and stopped Haddish as she pulled into the yard of a residence, Myers said.
Haddish later posted $1,666 bond and was released from the Fayette County Jail, Myers said. He did not release any information about a possible court date.
A spokesman for Haddish did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Haddish was the breakout star of the smash comedy “Girls Trip” and has starred in such movies as “The Kitchen,” “Night School” and “Like A Boss.” She’s also written the New York Times best seller, “The Last Black Unicorn” and hosted the popular television show “Kids Say The Darndest Things.”
Peachtree City is located about 40 miles (63 kilometers) south of Atlanta.
😈 A $1,666 bond? Woow!
💭 Evil Isaias Afewerki’s Useful Idiot Tiffany Haddish Cries after Stuck in Antichrist Turkey | Sign of The Times
💭 Evil Isaias Afewerki’s Useful Idiot Tiffany Haddish Breaks Down Cries After Stuck At Turkey Airport Trying To Make It Home To Dying Aunt
Actress and Comedian Tiffany Haddish has a break down at Turkey Airlines and treated rude as she tried to make it back into the States to see her aunt before she pass. She’s stuck in Turkey until after Christmas.
💭 Tiffany Haddish Praised Eritrea’s Dictator. Then She Doubled Down In DMs With Young Eritrean Americans.
Standing side by side in front of rows of cultivated plants, a man and a woman beam at the camera, in a photo that could come straight from a family holiday album. The woman on the left is instantly recognizable to millions of people: the actor, comedian, and author Tiffany Haddish. The man on the right is less familiar, but behind the warm smile and the friendly arm across Haddish’s shoulder is one of the world’s longest-ruling dictators, Eritrea’s Isaias Afwerki. Since coming to power 27 years ago he has been accused of ruling in a ruthless and brutal manner, as Eritrea earned the nickname the North Korea of Africa in the process.
The picture was taken in January 2018 when Haddish visited Eritrea, the country of her father’s birth, for the first time.
In May 2019, she returned to become a naturalized citizen, and left behind a copy of her acclaimed autobiography, The Last Black Unicorn, for Isaias. It was signed with the message, “my brother, my president, thank you for doing what you do.” Her visit coincided with Eritrean Independence Day.
For many Eritreans in the ever-growing diaspora, the handwritten message confirmed their worst fears — that Haddish was inadvertently laundering the Eritrean regime’s reputation in the West by appearing to endorse its hardline leader.
In tweets and Instagram comments, Eritreans living outside of the country wrote to Haddish about the thousands of people, including children, imprisoned without trial, the underground prisons, the indefinite national service program likened to slavery by the UN where people are raped and tortured, the 5,000 people who flee the country every month. They begged her to speak out against the regime, not appear to endorse it.
Days after she gained Eritrean citizenship, Haddish responded: She agreed to talk about the situation in Eritrea with a group of young Eritreans mainly from the US in a Twitter DM conversation.
This is where I come into the story: I’m a Swedish Eritrean activist and freelance journalist based mainly in London. At the time the group chat was being set up, I was an undergrad student also working as a journalist alongside my studies. The young Eritreans setting up the group chat knew me from my Eritrean activism, so they asked me to join because they thought I could help convince Haddish to stop appearing to endorse Isaias and the regime.
Prior to the conversation, the young Eritreans shared Haddish on a Google Doc with all the main points they wanted to tell her about the nightmare inside Eritrea for normal people, including news articles and reports by the UN and Human Rights Watch. The young Eritreans looked forward to hearing how Haddish would respond. But what she said left them utterly crestfallen.
“Good morning y’all,” Haddish wrote. “I tried my best to keep my eyes open to chat with y’all but there was so much to read, I fell asleep on y’all sorry about that.”
Haddish doubled down on thanking Isaias: He was, in her view, a veteran soldier, and people should be grateful for veterans. He was building dams to bring electricity to Eritrea. And he had given her honey from his farm, which had made her grandma feel better. The young Eritreans were stunned.
“I hated her response,” said Lidiya, a young Eritrean Canadian in the DM chat who asked that her surname not be used because, like many in the Eritrean diaspora, she fears reprisals against family in Eritrea by the regime as a price for speaking out.
After all, Haddish embracing Eritrean culture was something to be celebrated by the Eritrean community: They cheered when she wore a traditional Eritrean dress on the red carpet at the 2018 Oscars, when Haddish said she was “honoring her fellow Eritreans.”
Many Eritreans living outside of Eritrea were also understanding of how important discovering your roots could be for an individual’s identity, and aware of how this could potentially hinder someone from looking at a situation critically. When Haddish made her first trip to the country in 2018, she did so to bury her father and connect with her extended family, whom she had never met before.
But it was Haddish thanking Isaias on her visit in 2019 that made Eritreans decide to take more proactive action to speak to her about the realities of the regime. Many of the tweets criticizing Haddish used the #IsSheReady4Eritrea hashtag, referencing her signature #SheReady hashtag and She Ready! From the Hood to Hollywood comedy special and tour.
“I remember thinking, Thank you for what?Thank you for running all our youths out of the country? Thank you for locking up our brightest minds? Thank you for destroying our country?” said Lidiya, the young Eritrean Canadian.
“We don’t need celebrity visits that will only be good PR for the dictator, we have solutions and have told her about them for months,” said Yodit Araya, an Eritrean American organizer in the Yiakl movement, which means “‘Enough”’ in Tigrinya, one of the national languages of Eritrea.
The group chat was set up on the premise that Haddish was willing to learn about the situation in Eritrea, and during the exchanges she repeatedly asked what could be done to help. “what can we really do as a Group to make things better?” she wrote. “Come on y’all what can we do? I am only one person.”
Then in an interview with the Hollywood Unlocked show last December, Haddish criticized Eritreans for attacking her without taking any action themselves.
“Y’all can keep telling me all this stuff, but what’s the action? How do you fix it? Don’t come at me with all the shenanigans, rararara, but no damn action,” Haddish said. “Get out of here.”
She went on to defend Isaias and the Eritrean authorities once more.
“I get what that president, I get…look…everybody that’s in office over there, that’s into politics, when you do your research, all of them fought in a war, OK, all of them have fought, they are all freedom fighters, they all fought for their freedom. They have watched their friends die in front of them. So I don’t know about you, but if I’m in a war and I feel like, Oh, if I let this happen or let that happen we’ll be back at war, you’re going to do whatever it takes to defend and protect your land,” Haddish said.
“They were trying to rape that land,” she continued, referring to Ethiopia’s actions in the war. “And they messed it up, they raped the people, they killed a lot of people. So of course he’s going to be a little, maybe overly doing things… I don’t agree with everything that they do, I don’t agree with everything that’s done here in America.”
But Araya, the Eritrean American activist, said that to Isaias and his regime, the war with Ethiopia was “just an excuse, and besides, a peace deal was made more than a year ago, so why has he not changed anything?”
She described Haddish’s comments in the Hollywood Unlocked interview as “extremely disrespectful to the backbreaking work of our activists who have been fighting this regime for decades, most of whom still are imprisoned because of their work.”
“As an immigrant, I really looked up to her and admired how she, despite all the hardship she had gone through, managed to succeed. But I was hoping she would use her success to go back and help the underdog. I wouldn’t think she would turn her back on the underdog.”
Araya said Haddish had failed to grasp the impact someone with such a big profile could have, especially at a time when Eritrea is trying to present a new face to the world and avoid internal reforms.
“She is really famous in the US, she has huge influence. Eritrea is the most censored country in the world — the regime owns the narrative and has made the crisis unknown. Her support is not just symbolic. It’s more than just a picture or innocent visits. She is legitimizing him, whitewashing him,” Araya said.
“We are against her, as a superstar with the platform she has, normalizing our dictator.”
This year marks 99 years since the Catastrophe of Smyrna, the modern-day city of Izmir on the Turkish coast of the Aegean Sea, when Greeks were forced to flee the city due to a fire set by Turkish forces.
It was a cataclysmic event of such enormous importance for modern Greek history that it shaped generation upon generation after 1922, adding yet another unforgettable —and unutterably tragic — milestone to Greece’s long history.
Great Fire cause the Catastrophe of Smyrna
A terrifying blaze, called the Great Fire, destroyed much of the city, causing the majority of Greeks in Asia Minor to flee their homes and seek shelter primarily in Greece, but also in other countries.
Historians of the time period, taking countless eye witness and written accounts of the event, have agreed that Turkish mobs set the Greek section of the city on fire.
Together, they constituted the Christian community of the city, which lived peacefully side by side with the Muslim and the Jewish communities for centuries.
However, politics, and the competing interests of the main global powers, alongside the rising tide of nationalism and the outbreak of the First World War, were the factors that determined the fate of Smyrna and its citizens for the rest of the twentieth century and beyond.
As part of the Greco-Turkish War, which raged from 1919 to 1922, Greece’s armed forces went to Smyrna on May 15, 1919.
After major military and political errors made by the Greek government, the Turkish army regained control of the city on September 9, 1922.
Christian populations in Asia Minor in dangerous position
The future for the Christian population of Greeks and Armenians was perilous.
After a series of catastrophic events, the majority of them would end up dead as part of the Greek Genocide, which actually began with a series of confrontations in 1914 and would last until 1923.
Eyewitness reports state that the great fire of Smyrna began on September 13, 1922, and lasted for approximately nine full days, until September 22.
The fire’s results were catastrophic — the entire Greek and Armenian quarters of the city were completely wiped off the map.
Churches, ornate villas, and mansions of great architectural importance, as well as schools and entire market areas, were gone forever, without a trace.
Catastrophe of Smyrna has lasting impact
Official data about the number of the victims of the Smyrna Catastrophe and Greek genocide does not exist.
Experts believe that the number of victims lands somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000, while the number of refugees who were forced to leave Asia Minor numbered in the millions.
The city suffered such enormous damage to its infrastructure that much of it literally had to be rebuilt from the ashes.
But the Greek neighborhoods, which had the most beautiful homes, churches and other buildings — the entire 40 hectares of what was once the most elegant part of the city, and then became a hellish inferno — has no buildings whatsoever on it.
Today the area is an enormous park, known as Kültürpark in Turkish, which serves as Turkey’s largest open-air exhibition center.
There are no reminders there of the glory which once was Smyrna.
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