Sunday, August 15, 2010

Dictator Zenawi's Ethiopia Ranked the 2nd Poorest Country in the World

A new measure to evaluate poverty around the world
BEIRUT - The U.N. has decided to switch from the Human Poverty Index they have been using for 13 years in their yearly Human Development Report to a new index developed by Oxford University. It is called the Multidimensional Poverty Index - or MPI.

The former index, the Human Poverty Index is based on three factors: life expectancy, literacy, and standard of living.

The new index, the MPI takes this data into account, but also uses new measures « reflecting a range of deprivations that affect a person's life," including whether a household has decent toilets, clean drinking water reachable within less than 30 minutes on foot, electricity, proportions of school-aged children enrolled in schooling, and whether any member of a household is malnourished, say researchers from the Oxford University.

According to these standards, a household is considered « multidimensionally poor » if it's deprived of more than 30% of the ten indicators used by the MPI.

According to the MPI of the 25 poorest countries researchers surveyed, 24 are located in Africa. The ten poorest countries in the world are the
following:
1. Nigeria
2. Ethiopia
3. Mali
4. Burkina Faso
5. Burundi
6. Somalia
7. The Central African Republic
8. Liberia
9. Guinea
10. Sierra Leone.

Friday, August 6, 2010

The Suggested All-Inclusive-Alliance: Can it be Different and make a Difference? Fayyis Oromia

The Suggested All-Inclusive-Alliance: Can it be Different and make a Difference?




In the liberation struggle against the oppressive Abyssinian empire system, we passed through different phases and we did form till now different alliances against the tyrant rulers. The struggle was almost always done by two ideologically opposite political camps, i.e by the unionist liberators, who want to liberate oppressed nations in the empire and build where possible a union of autonomous nations and by the unitarist patriots, who do disregard the autonomy of nations but want to liberate individual citizens from any sort of oppression. In other words it was the struggle by those emphasizing group (national) liberty and by those stressing individual (citizens') freedom. Despite their similarity in socialist ideology, one of the major differences between Me'ison and Ihapa was their tendency towards being a unionist and a unitarist respectively. Me'ison being dominated and led by Oromo intellectuals was for self-determination of nations in a sense of having their own national autonomy within Ethiopian union, whereas Ihapa being dominated and led by Tigrean intellectuals was for self-determination of nations in a sense of excercising their culture within a unitary Ethiopia without national autonomy.
In a further political process, both Me'ison and Ihapa being brutally beaten by Derg opted to join their kins in OLF and TPLF respectively. Now Ihapa with its unitarist view took power in a form of TPLF and the unionist Me'ison in a form of OLF is still the challenging main opposition/rebel group against this Ihapa dominated regime. Simply put, the struggle between the unionist Me'ison and the unitarist Ihapa is still going on indirectly. After coming to power, the unitarist TPLF was compelled to accept and respect certain elements of the unionist OLF, so that it signed the 1991 charter, which formally accepted the right of all nations and nationalities in the empire to have their own self-rule (autonomy) within Ethiopia. But in practice Weyane chose to implement more unitarist elements of its own, neglecting that of the unionists. That is why Ethiopia is today de jure a union, but de facto a unitary state. Leaving the pre-1974-revolution history for the academicians/historians and just looking at the alliances forged by the polity in the empire since the revolution, we can notice the rise and fall of the following ten alliances:
- IMALEDIH: after the inability of Me'ison and Ihapa to forge an alliance against the military dictator, the first attempt of building the alliance was between the legally operating unionists at that time (Me'ison and Ici'at) with the contemporary unitarist forces (Seded, Wez-lig and Malerid). Later the two unionists were pushed out of the alliance and persecuted by the unitarists who had power, so that the two unionists left the alliance. Soon after they left the alliance, the two unionists were considered illegal, which was followed by the persecution of their activists who lastly joined OLF in a battle field against Derg.
- IHADEG: was the assymetrical alliance between the powerful TPLF and its subordinates (EPDM, later called ANDM and OPDO, being followed by the formation of SEPDM). Simply put this alliance of the four unequal parties is a mask for TPLF in order to get a legitimacy to rule over Ethiopia, instead of only "liberating" Tigrai. As long as Weyanes are in power, the other three PDOs will serve them as slaves. By the way, TPLF has never been a liberation front, but an economic front which tried to overcome the economical crisis in Tigrai and now it achieved to control almost all sectors in the empire and to help Tigrai be free from destitute life.
- COEDF: was an alliance formed in April 1991, at a meeting held in Washington, by the unitarist Ihapa, the unionist Me'ison and other two parties including some civic groups, human rights and community organizations and associations. This alliance couldn't take part in fostering the charter of the transitional Ethiopian government in 1991. It then lost its importance and was then disband and dismantled.
- CAFPDE: was an alliance set up in the aftermath of the opposition conference held in Finfinne in December 1993. The conference was headed by the unionist president of the unionist Hadiya National Democratic Organization and the alliance included the unitarist parties like the EDU. This alliance failed mainly for it didn't include major unionists from the Oromo nation.
- ULFO: was an exclusive alliance of only the Oromo unionist liberators in order to forge a strong Oromo liberation force against the fascist and hegemonist de facto unitarist Weyane regime, which still denys the true autonomy/self-rule of nations and nationalities in the empire. This alliance didn't dare to approach the unitarists and the current merger form of the alliance still abhor any sort of alliance with unitarists. That is why Weyane cadres nowadays poise as if they support ULFO (as if they prefer Oromian independence) and curse Amhara unitarists just to hinder a possible alliance of Oromo unionists with Amhara unitarist against their hegemonist regime.
- UEDF: an alliance composed of both unionists and unitarists, but excluded the main unionist liberation forces like OLF and ONLF, so that it was ineffective and couldn't live long. It was also weakened for the two major unitarist parties (AEUP and EDP) left the alliance within few months after its formation.
- CUD: an alliance of only the die-hard unitarist forces, who tried their best to reverse the move of nations and nationalities towards a genuine autonomy in a form of a true killil-federation. One of the reasons for the demise of UEDF was that the two main unitarist parties left the alliance with the contemporary unionists and formed their own alliance of pure unitarists in the form of CUD. But this move at last lead to the demise of CUD itself, because of the opposition it faced from almost all unionists in the empire.
- AFD: the first alliance, which included the seemingly diametrically opposite major unionist forces like OLF and main unitarist forces like CUD. It was the hitherto best alliance which made Weyane to tremble for the first time. That is why it was not surprising when we did observe that Weyane cadres made a campaign against AFD being camouflaged as the unitarist Amhara cursing the unionist Oromo, and vice versa, so that AFD couldn't survive this polarizing action.
- MEDREK: the still existing, but not yet effective alliance, which seems to be a continuation of the AFD in a legal form, also included the unionists like OFC and the unitarists like UDJ. Here also Weyane is trying to polarize the Oromo unionists against the Amhara unitarists. We will see how far this alliance can survive this divide and rule machination of the fascist regime. The current move of this alliance towards forming a front, instead of continuing as only a coaltion needs a meticulous scrutiny. Is it a front towards being a pure unionist or a pure unitarist? Time will tell. At least the rhetoric we heard during the conference this alliance had with its supporters in Washington DC before the 2010 election suggests that it is moving towards being pure unitarist. I hope OFC and other unionists have registered that rhetoric from some of the leaders. Otherwise the recent call made by this alliance for the preparation of the upcoming future "election" under Weyane is like "ye moony zefen/leqsoo melliso melaalso". This fixation on only election as a method of struggle is a program for the quick death of this alliance.
- TIBIBIR: the suggested future all-inclusive AFD-like alliance of both the unionists like OLF and the unitarists like G-7, who are now moving underground in the empire and who are active as rebels in battle field as well as in exile. In the last few weeks, we surprisingly did read different articles and heard in different media certain opinions which are trying to polarize the Oromo unionists and the Amhara unitarists. Weyane cadres are again busy acting like Amhara unitarist patriots and cry for unitary Ethiopia in order to curse Oromo unionists. On the vice versa they are hyperactive to camouflage as Oromo unionist liberators and sing about Oromian independence without a possibility for Ethiopian union to insult Amhara unitarists. Their main mission is to hinder any sort of a strong AFD-like alliance against their own fascist regime.
The question yet to be answered is: can both the camp of the unionist liberators and the camp of the unitarist patriots overcome this dividing move of Weyane and forge an all-inclusive-alliance? I think, it would be better if both camps first consolidate their respective bloc by building a coalition of unitarists as CUD was and by forging a unity of unionists like ULFO was, but including the unionists of other oppressed nations like ONLF. Then secondarily the two blocs can have an effective alliance against the fascists. What is necessary here is that the democratic unitarists need to distance themselves from the colonial position of both the Amhara dictators (who want to bring back the French style of colonization, i.e assimilation of the subjugated nations into being Amharinya speakers) and the Tigrai hegemonists (who want to keep their British type of colonization, allowing subjugated nations to dance their culture and use their language at lower level, but compell them live further under the domination of Tigrean elites).
At the time the democratic unitarist patriots like G-7 distance themselves from the past oriented nostalgic colonialist Amhara dictators and join the future oriented unionist liberators and start to fight against the myopic (only present oriented) fascist Tigrai regime, both camps of the opposition are not far from forging a common ground for the necessary stable alliance. With such stable alliance it is possible to resist the attempt of Weyane in using controversial personalities like obbo Leencoo and Professor Megalomatis, controversial issues like the right of nations up to secession and controversial topics like the right on the usage of Nile water in order to polarize the oposition camps of the democratic unionists and the democratic unitarists. The hitehrto and the current cry of Weyane cadres in paltalks and websites accusiong unionists as goosenya and cursing unitarists as nefxenya will then be a futile excercise. The common ground can only be to agree on the two-phase struggle against the Weyane: the liberation phase and the democratization phase.
Liberation from fascisim and tyranny is with no doubt a common ground for both unionists and unitarists, then establishing democratic institutions, promoting democratization process and living according to the public verdict are what the democrats in both the unionist liberators' camp and the unitarist patriots' camp should accept and respect. The future common political community in the region/empire will be at least a union of autonomous nations and at best a union of independent nations in the Ethiopian/Kas/the Horn/Kush/the Oromian Union. This suggests that they all should try to struggle for both the national autonomy of each nationality and the regional union to keep the territorial integrity of the Horn, despite the move of the unitarists against any sort of national autonomy. Coming to such agreement by the two opposition/rebel camps means taking away the worst instrument of Weyane, i.e taking away its notorious divide and rule method.
After agreeing on the common purpose or common ground, then taking appropriate route to the goal is what the new all-inclusive-allinace needs to have. I think "election" under Weyane is a road with dead end. Preaching about only non-violent methods and moralizing/cursing any sort of cooperation with Eritrea for example are not expected from the genuine opposition/rebel groups, but they are part and parcel of the "good" rhetorics from the Weyane cadres camouflaged as unitarist or unionist opposition. I personlly believe that a coordinated civil disobedinece, armed struggle and public uprising is the best route. It is only if the two oppositio/rebel camps have such a common purpose and a common route that the suggested all-inclusive-alliance can be different and can make a difference.
For all partakers of the alliance to accept the future public verdict during the democratization phase, they must be now bold enough to take risk of losing to their opponent in a true democratic way during the public decision. Only this boldness towards such risk can help the seemingly diametrically opposite democratic unionist liberators and democratic unitarist patriots to forge an alliance against the fascists. Particularly the democratic unitarists who tend to disregard the right of nations to self-determination should come to their sense and face the fact that without liberation or self-determination of the Oromo people from the hitherto domination, the realization of peace and prosperity they are longing for will never happen. Also they should by now have registered that any alliance of only the unitarists, excluding the major unionist forces like OLF, will never lead them to victory over the fascist regime.
On the other hand, unionist forces in general and Oromo unionist liberators in particular should be able to broaden their view and struggle for the liberation of all nations and nationalities in the region/empire from any sort of domination. Such view includes liberation of the two Habesha nations, despite the domination/colonization of other nations by their elites. Such move from the unionists will help the democratic unitarists (let's forget the dictatorial die-hard unitarists) to move towards forging the very necessary all-inclusive alliance. This is the only mechanism to help the apparently impossible alliance between the seemingly diametrically opposite unionists and unitarists be possible.
That is why I dare to say that the suggested all-inclusive-alliance based on such matured understanding from both the democratic unionists and the democratic unitarists will be different and will make a difference. So specially the Amhara democratic unitarist patriots and the Oromo democratic unionist liberators should try to help the impossible be possible and forge the all-inclusive-alliance to get rid of the Tigrean fascists, otherwise we should be ready to be ruled for the coming at least one century and see our Amharaland and Oromoland being sold by Tigrean hegemonists to foreign capitalists, so that we the two BIG nations will live under slavery and leave this slavery further to our coming generation. I hope we do have a reasonable mind to choose the first option of alliance against the fascists, which can lead us to liberation, not the second option of our subjugation for a century. To move in the direction of liberation together, let Waaqayyoo/Igzi'abiher give us knowledge, understanding and wisdom to help the suggested all-inclusive-alliance be different and make a difference!
Galatooma.

Monday, August 2, 2010

OLOLA DIIGGAAF MALEE KAN QABSOO BILISUMMAAF YEROO HIN QABNEEF UMMATNI OROMOO GURRA ERGISU HIN QABU

Gaafa: 29‐07‐2010
Date:

ADDA BILISUMMAA OROMOO
OROMO LIBERATION FRONT
Lakk.: No.: Ibsa/abo/2010
جبهة تحرير أ ورومو
رقم تاريخ

P. O. Box 6973 Asmara, Eritrea | Telefax 291 1 110236 | E-mail abamilki@gemel.com.er

Jaalala QBO ABOn hogganamu ummata Oromoo biratti qabu gara fedhaa fi dantaa matayyaatti jijjiirratuuf yaaliin wal irraa hin citne waggaa kudhanii oliif adeemsifame ummata biratti fudhatama dhabuu irraa yakka dharaa ABO irratti tarrisuu itti fufuun kufaatii qaanfachiisaa irra gahe keessaa hin baasu.

Murni QC – ABO jedhamu dhiheenya kana waraana qabaatuu fi waraanni qaba jedhus WBO ABOn durfamuun duulli irratti banamee ajjeefamaa akka jiru ibsa oduu gandaa irraa adda hin taane facaasee jira. Murni QC‐ABO of moggaase kun dhaaba keessa ture ABO irraa eerga adda bahee waggaa kudhanii ol lakkoofsisee jira. Waggoota dabran kana keessattis hojii qabsoo irratti bobba’ee faaydaan argamsiisee ummata biratti beekamu homaatuu akka hin jirre ummatni keenya tolchee beeka. Murni QC‐ABO jedhee of waamu kun guyyaa maqaa kanaan gadi bahee eegalee kan irratti bobba’ee turee fi jiru hirmatnaa qabsoo ABOn ummata Oromoo hirirsuu irraa hinaaffaa fi jibbinsi itti buleen ABO gufachiisuu fi dadhabsiisuu irratti qofa akka bobba’ee jiru ummata Oromoo jalaa dhokataa miti.

Dhihoo kana ammoo humna gantootni akka Lichoo Bukuraa faa ABO irratti akka gufuu tahuuf bobbaasaa jiraniif golgaa fi abukaatoo tahee as bahuun kan nama gaddisiisuu tahuu qofa osoo hin taane qaamfachiisaa dha. Kan callisnuuf waan jennu dhabnee osoo hin taane qabsoof jecha callisuu waan filanneef tahuu garuu kanuma waliin ibsina.

Murni diina irratti bobba’uu irra ABO diina jalqabaa godhatee ololaa fi shira adda addaa QBO irratti raawwataa jiru, hamii fi dalagaa diiggaa lagatee QBO cimsuu irratti akka bobba’u ABOn gama isaatiin kan isaaf danda’amu hunda kan raawwatu tahuu amma illee irra deebiin yaadachiisaa; olola kijibaan maqaa ABO kaasuu irraa akka of qusatu hiree kanaan hubachiisna.


Gadaan Gadaa Bilisummaa ti!
Injifannoo Ummata Oromoof!
Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo
Adoolessa 29, 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

Russia, the Oromos, Egypt, Sudan, Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia), Somalia, Islam & Orthodox Christianity



Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
In an earlier article entitled "The Oromo Genocide Solemnly Confessed by Official Russian Explorer in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia)" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/169749), I selected and highlighted excerpts from a book – report published by a Russian explorer, military officer and monk, who spent three years in Abyssinia, during the last decade of the 19th century. These excerpts undeniably testify to the Oromo genocide perpetrated by the invading Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian armies, and have therefore to be brought to the surface of political debate by the Oromo political and intellectual leaders at the local, regional and international levels.
One point is the Oromo struggle for the liberation of Oromia, and the secession of the great country from the Abyssinian colonial and genocidal state that constituted for more than 150 years Africa´s most abominable scourge.
Another point is Russia, the country represented by the aforementioned explorer, Alexander Bulatovich, who traveled to Abyssinia in order to promote the interests of the tsarist court. Russia had expanded tremendously in Asia, invading Siberia first and then conquering northern provinces of both the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire of Iran.
As far as the area that we are nowadays calling ´Middle East´ is concerned, Russia viewed its expansion in simple terms of geographical advance. If the Russian army invaded Van, this would be an advance toward Mosul. If the Russian army invaded Mosul, this would be an advance toward Damascus. If the Russian army invaded Damascus, this would be an advance toward Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was the ultimate target of all Russian Christian Orthodox imperial and eschatological visions. Too simple to possibly oppose the Freemasonic plans of England and France!
However, in Africa, Russia was left behind. St Petersburg failed to benefit from the systematically organized (by the regimes of London and Paris) decomposition of the Ottoman empire which, 100 years before Bulatovich´s trip to Abyssinia, controlled in Africa vast territories stretching from the borders of Morocco to the Horn of Africa. The Ottoman province of Abyssinia controlled the territory of today´s Eritrea and sizeable parts of the province Tigray of today´s Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia). The tiny Abyssinian kingdom controlled an arid territory smaller than one third of the homonymous Ottoman province. But with the disintegration of the Ottoman Africans lands, England, France, Italy and Germany entered in harsh competition to control African territories and coastlands. The late arrival of the Russian ´reconnaissance´ (as we can name Bulatovich´s trip) did not end in any substantive results.
Many analysts may interpret this fact as due to Russia´s permanent difficulty to find a permanent harbor in the southern seas; in the late 19th century, a Russian fleet sailing from Odessa should first cross the Bosporus straits and then the Suez canal, and the attempt would alarm English and French diplomats who would do their best to avert this mission.
This type of approach is superficial and offers minimal understanding. Worse, it can be extremely misleading for today´s Russian diplomats who may easily realize that, today in Africa, Moscow is left far behind France, England, America, Italy, Germany, China, Japan and eventually India. Yet, during the Soviet era, Moscow marked some significant successes from Angola to Somalia, from Egypt to Mozambique, and from Algeria to Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia). But all these momentary successes proved to be inconsequential. Why?
In an earlier article published in January 2008 under title "Why Russia always failed in the Middle East" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/49566), I examined this point and concluded that the main reasons for Russia´s failure in the region in question are an inherent quantitative approach to colonial expansion (which means significant lack of vision and imaginative approach) and an overall misperception of the past and the present of Asia and Africa, which is due to the Russian academic, intellectual and ideological acceptance of the Anglo-French Orientalism, a bunch of disciplines elaborated by the French and the English academia in order to mainly promote and diffuse an interpretation of data that would suit the interests of the Anglo-French Freemasonry, namely the driving force of the Paris and London regimes.
Anglo-French Orientalism is not only totally false and viciously fallacious but it also rejects the very principles on which the Christian Orthodox Russian world is based. The said article was officially translated to Russian and widely diffused in Russia (indicatively: http://www.inosmi.ru/world/20080203/239339.html).
Amongst others, I stated the following:
"The historically real nations still exist in the Middle East, and are the only with whom an alliance can be made for common benefit. These nations are terribly oppressed and live under threat of linguistic, religious, cultural and therefore national extinction. The real nations (ethno-linguistic and religious groups) of the Middle East are the following:
XXXVI. The Oromos (tyrannically included in Abyssinia).
For too long, Russians projected in the Middle East concepts elaborated for the vast Russian / Soviet territory; this cannot work further, as it only damages Russian interests from Mauritania to Oman, and from Syria to Somalia.
Promoting Freedom, Human Rights, Democracy, Cultural Identity, and Nation-Building, Russia should identify its Middle Eastern policy around the following axes:
4. Alliance with Kushitic Oromo political groups, cooperation with Oromo elites, and contribution to the formation of an Oromo state of Kushitic Ethiopia with capital at Finfinne (fallaciously called Addis Ababa by the Abyssinian invaders)".
With respect to the Horn of Africa region, and Abyssinia more particularly, the Russians have fallen victims of the misconception that the Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Abyssinians are Christian, and can therefore be possible partners in an effort to eliminate Islam from a region acknowledged as genuinely Islamic over the past 10 to 14 centuries. The assumption is totally wrong; the Monophysitic Abyssinians are not Christians. If we live aside the Monophysitic dispute itself, which is rather a matter limited among the Eastern churches, namely the Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian and Russian churches, the Abyssinian Monophysitic church presents an appearance of Christianity that hinges on a deeply anti-Christian nature.
Interpreting the use of the Abyssinian church and regimes, made by Western religious and political authorities in their efforts to eliminate Islam from East Africa, as a straightforward recognition of the Christian identity of the Abyssinian church and society is really a farfetched innuendo. One should drop it.
One should not get confused when polarizing between general Biblical narratives and specific anti-Christian practices, rituals, and social life. In two earlier articles of mine, titled "The Heretic Abyssinian Monophysitic Church"
(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/61471) and "The Heresy of the Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Abyssinian Church" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/61573), I expanded on the subject, referring to Catholic presentations of the Abyssinian church and doctrine that make clear that the Abyssinian beliefs and practices are in striking opposition to what became historically known as Christianity from Palestine, Syria and Egypt to Rome, Constantinople, Moscow and Western Europe.
In another article ("The Real Face of Neo-Nazi Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian Terrorists" - http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/60703), I specified that with the fallacious pseudo-epic Kebra Negast, "alteration of earlier sources and falsification of the Antiquity" are "used as basis of the "modern" Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian society". I specified that "Kebra Negast is mostly false, an unprecedented fallacy", and went on focusing on manuscript illumination to analyze the totally erroneous perception of the Bible by the Abyssinians, which leads them far from Christianity: "This is the false Solomon of Kebra Negast: looking like a saint of Christianity, wearing clothes of Abyssinian monks, and riding ….. a lion! In his hands, Abyssinian ritual objects that Solomon would have never touched". I characterized the Anti-Christian epic, which is the basis of all Abyssinian political theories, claims and paroxysms, as "the epitome of racial discrimination in today´s Neo-Nazi Abyssinia".
Today´s Russian academia do not need to focus on Kenra Negast to understand the Anti-Christian nature of the Abyssinian society which made them valuable allies of the Freemasons of colonial England and France; they could just check Bulatovich´s contributions and identify numerous cases of misperceptions originally produced by the Western academia in order to fool the rest of the world about the origins, the identity and the historical past of the various African nations that have been subjugated by the Abyssinians as per Anglo-French order.
I will republish herewith another excerpt from Bulatovich´s ´From Entotto to the River Baro´; it shows characteristically to how many mistakes and misperceptions the Russian explorer was driven because he had been theoretically based on Western European Orientalism, a definitely anti-Russian academic – theoretical – intellectual fabrication.
In this excerpt, which is not quite lengthy, Bulatovich attempts to classify Oromos (called Galla), Afars called Adali) and Somalis together, underscoring their difference from the Sidama. This is wrong. He uses the term Sidama as a collective name for the Sidamas and others, notably the Kaffa. This is another mistake. Worse, he ascribes himself to the old theory of Lepsius, according to which there had been a "reverse movement of Kushites from Africa to the Arabian peninsula" – something totally hypothetical for which no proof can ever be found.
Within this mistaken reconstitution of the History of the 3rd and 2nd millennia, the Phoenicians (falsely translated as ´Finikiyane´ in the otherwise good English translation) become associated with the Kushites, because Bulatovich and the Russian Orientalist academia failed to stand critically toward the erroneous classification of nations into main groups made within the Bible. Quite unfortunately, the Biblical mistake suited the Anglo-French Orientalists´ needs, and for this reason it was maintained in their bibliography in order to fool others. Certainly, at the end of the 19th century, Bulatovich had a certain excuse: little advance had been made in the field of North West Semitic languages, and few people had clearly understood that the Ancient Phoenicians were a Semitic nation. The problem is that today´s Russian diplomacy keeps acting as if the aforementioned aberrations have not been rejected and denounced.
The dissociation between the Ancient Egyptians and the ancestors of the Oromos, the Afars, and the Somalis (Punt, Azania) is another grave mistake made by Bulatovich. The fact that he calls all these nations "semi-savages" shows that
a) he failed to properly study their civilizations,
b) he traveled to Africa with many preconceived – and wrong – ideas,
c) he was partially favoring those whom he considered as Christians (although they were not – namely the Abyssinians), and
d) he (although a Russian Orthodox monk) was a victim of Western European Anti-Christian philosophical dogmas (positivism, monism, materialism, phenomenalism, epistemology, atheism), and of the deception of modernism.
Bulatovich´s sentence that "from the fifteenth century B.C., a vast movement of Semites into Africa began" consists in another aberration which is relevant to the constant Freemasonic Orientalist effort to turn Hamitic Africa into a Semito-Hamitic or Islamo-Arabic or Afro-Asiatic mixture, a simple dependency of Semitism, safe enough for the Freemasonic plans providing for a fake state "Israel" inhabited (not by Israelites but) by Jews of Indo-European – Uralo-Altaic descent.
Today, Russia needs to
1) instantly reject these fallacies,
2) forget once forever the idea of a Christian Abyssinian ally in East Africa,
3) learn the lesson from its calamitous Ogaden policy,
4) turn to the Oromos, the Afars, and the Somalis,
5) help the former liberate and the latter pacify their country, and
6) set in East Africa the solid foundations of a Christian Orthodox – Islamic rapprochement that will keep Europe, America and Israel far from Africa.
Ethiopia through Russian Eyes
An eye-witness account of the end of an era, 1896-98 consisting of two books by Alexander Bulatovich
From Entotto to the River Baro (1897)
With the Armies of Menelik II (1900)
Translated by Richard Seltzer (seltzer@samizdat.com, www.samizdat.com)
From Entotto to the River Baro
http://www.samizdat.com/entotto.html
An account of a trip to the southwestern regions of the Ethiopian Empire 1896-97 by Lieutenant of His Majesty's Life-Guard Hussar Regiment Alexander Bulatovich
Originally published in St. Petersburg, 1897, Printed by V. Kirshbaum, 204 pages
Reissued in 1971 as part of the volume With the Armies of Menelik II, edited by I. S. Katsnelson of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R."Science" Publishing House Chief Editorial Staff of Oriental Literature Moscow 1971, entire book 352 pages, Entotto pp. 32-156
Translated by Richard Seltzer (from the 1971 edition)
The Population of the South-western Regions of Ethiopia
The population of southwestern Ethiopia consists of the following main groups: Galla, Sidamo, and Amhara60; and on the western and southern borders -- Negroes.
The Galla dwell to the west of Entotto up to the River Baro.
There are two tribes of them: Tuluma and Mocha. The latter extends from the Awash River to the Baro River in the west and from Abbay to Kaffa in the south. They belong to the Galla -- Oromo.
The inhabitants of Kaffa, Mocha, Gurage, Kulo, Kusho, Sidamo, and Amaro are called "Sidamo." Some authors suggest that these were the first inhabitants of the Ethiopian plateau.
Amhara, or, as we have become accustomed to called them, "Abyssinians," constitute the latest, military, and official population of these regions and are scattered among them rather uniformly.
The origin of these people has still not been accurately established; and, with regard to this question, there are only hypotheses, often contradictory.
Some authors call all three groups "Cushitic." Others, considering the first two Cushitic, count the Abyssinians as of Semitic race. But to call Galla and Sidamo descendants of Cush, the son of Ham, doesn't mean anything at all. Why between the ones and the others is there such a huge difference with regard to culture and customs and language? Where did the ones and the others come from? I am too little acquainted with this question to take upon myself its resolution. But bringing my personal observations together with works I have read about this question, I believe the most probable explanation of the existing ethnographic grouping is as follows. Galla, Somali, Adali (the latter two are steppe nomadic tribes who occupy the coast of the Red Sea from the Ethiopian plateau) are all Cushites and occupied these places, it must be, in the time when the descendants of Mesraim occupied Egypt. They arrived here, probably, by a dry route with their herds, and to the present have remained semi-savage.
In the reverse movement of Cushites from Africa to the Arabian peninsula, (which was mentioned by Lepsius), they encountered Semites, who, so to say, cut them in half. The Finikiyane were driven toward the Mediterranean Sea, and the other part toward the Arabian Sea. This forced the migration of the latter to Africa across the Bab-el-Mandeb Gulf. These immigrants occupied the Ethiopian plateau. They must have been culturally higher than the Galla and drove the Galla to the south. Aren't these the ancestors of those peoples we call Sidamo, Agau, Bylen, the original inhabitants of the country? And don't the inhabitants of Harar likewise belong to them? Much data inclines me to accept this hypothesis. Firstly, the type of the Harar and the Sidamo; secondly, the similarity of sounds in the languages of these groups; and thirdly, the level of culture.
From the fifteenth century B.C., a vast movement of Semites into Africa began. Between Ethiopia and the Arabian peninsula there were very active trade dealings. They spread out on the plateau, but unevenly. In all probability, their port of entry, so to speak, the point for settlement of the plateau was Massawa.
Therefore, we see the greatest concentration of Semites in Northern Ethiopia: Felasha, Abyssinian Jews in the mountains of Semien, and Tigreans in Tigre. Southern Ethiopia was under the least influence of Semitism. From the Arabian peninsula, they brought with them the language that belongs to the Hamitic root -- this is the present-day Geez language (literary). The Semites, having mixed with the inhabitants of the country, changed their language and pronunciation and hence came about the present-day Amhara, or Abyssinian, or Amharic language. "Amhara" is the name that the Abyssinians give themselves. The name "Abyssinian," accepted now in Europe, came about thus: Arabs call them "Habesh," which means "mixture" (confirmation of what we surmised that the Abyssinians are a mixed race). The Portuguese changed the word "Habesh" to "Habeks," and German scholars from "Habeks" made "Abessinen."
Although the Amharic language differs in grammar from the Geez (literary), many of its roots are borrowed from the Geez; so that the Amhara language is really Geez changed by mixing with other languages. The pronunciation of it likewise differs from the Geez. The Amharic language has no gutturals, which are characteristic sounds for Semitic languages, whereas Geez does have them.61
Let's now consider these nationalities in more detail. Galla -- Oromo The first mention of the Galla in The Abyssinian History of the Kings ("Tarika Negest") is attributed to 1480 A.D. During the reign of Iskander, the Galla made their first invasion into Abyssinian land and destroyed the monastery of Atones Maryam. In 1539 appears Gran.62 He is a native of the Harar region, which at that time already belonged to Galla who had adopted Mohammedanism. On the one hand, using the Galla's desire to occupy Abyssinian lands and on the other hand raising the banner of the prophet among the Moslem population of the coastal zone and declaring holy war, Gran invaded Abyssinia, burning and destroying monasteries and churches. At first, the Galla attacked Shoa and the provinces of Menjar and Ankober. But then, while the Arussi Galla independently waged war against the tribes of South Ethiopia, gradually ejecting them and occupying their places, Gran, inspired by the idea of Islam, made his way to North and Central Abyssinia, to the cultural and religious center of the empire, and destroyed Aksum. In 1545, Gran was killed in Damby, at Lake Tana. With his death, the Galla invasion lost its significance as a religious war. The Galla-Mohammedans who came with him occupied the best land in the province of Wollo. In the south, too, and in the west, Arussi Galla continued to gradually oust the indigenous inhabitants of these lands -- Amhara and Sidamo: the first to the north beyond Abbay, the second to the south to the mountains of Kaffa.
This gradual conquest continued until very recent times. The Galla of Leka, for instance, consider that they occupied this country only 180 years ago. Thus, in Abyssinia we meet Gallas of two kinds. Some, Mohammedans, came from the east, from Chercher -- they are Wollo Galla. Others, pagans, came from the southeast, from Arussi -- these are the Tuluma and Mocha tribes.
The first occupy the territory between the Kassam and Awash Rivers; the second are found to the south of the Abbay River and to the west of the upper Awash. Each of these tribes is divided into small clans. Tuluma is divided into seven clans, and Mocha into five (Liban, Afrenjo, Homo, Tume, Javi). Each of these small clans occupies a separate region, separated from the others by accurately established boundaries. But they all recognize that they belong to the Galla nation. They all call themselves "Oromo." Almost all of them have the same customs, language, type, and character, despite the difference of faith which exists between Galla pagans and Galla Mohammedans.
The Galla physical type is very beautiful. The men are usually very tall, with statuesque physique, lean, with oblong face and a somewhat flattened skull. The features of the face are regular and beautiful. The nose though sometimes fleshy is not a snub-nose. The mouth is moderate. The lips are not thick.
They have excellent even teeth; large and in some cases oblong eyes; and curly hair. Their arm bones are of moderate length, shorter than the bones of Europeans, but longer than among the Amhara tribes. The feet are moderate and not turned in. The women are shorter than the men, and very beautifully built. In general, they are stouter than the men, and not as lean as they.
Among them one sometimes encounters very beautiful women. And their beauty does not fade as quickly as among the Abyssinians.
The skin color of both men and women ranges from dark to light brown. I did not see any completely black Galla.
The separate clans of the Mocha tribe differ somewhat. The far western clans are more thick-set and taller than the eastern and northern. Among them there is a more uniform and consistent type. This, I think, must be explained by the greater purity of their clan, since, being farther from the Abyssinians, they could not mix with them.
Note
Picture: the two royal wives of the Kaffa King, and his sister
From: http://www.samizdat.com/bulatovichphotos/plates/Two%20wives%20and%20sister%20of%20the%20King%20of%20Kaffa.jpg