IHMS COMMENTARY
Political Hacking and Hooliganism in Ethiopia
The Case of Harar
Written by Professor Abdi Khalil
The 80+ minority ethnics are the majority with respect to inclusion and diversity measurement because this measurement indicates multiple languages, cultures, traditions, religions, historical facts and peaceful co-existence. This measurement emanates from divine principle ‘If you save a single human being, it is like saving the whole of humanity. And, if you destroy a person, it is like destroying the whole of humanity.’ Not only minority groups matter, but also a single human being matters the most in any system!
The richness of Ethiopia’s heritages from the 80+ minority social groups is paramount, significant and meaningful, where beauty and peace are defined. Without these 80+ groups, it would be mirage to define Ethiopians and talk about Ethiopia. The various small nations and nationalities define Ethiopia as multiple tributaries define the Nile River. Because of the existence of the minorities, Ethiopia has been and will continue to be the land of tolerance, solidarity and co-existence. Ethiopia exists because of the understanding and tolerance emanating from the minority social groups. Mind you, small things always lead to perfection and beautify the rest, whatever it is!
In fact, the law of large population often sparks conflict unless mature and wise political leaders fairly lead and control the numerically large regional states or the country. Ignorant and inhumane leaders threaten the existence of the minorities no matter how many minority groups they are, and no matter how indigenous the local people are. Having two numerically giant groups in a nation has also become the source of hate between themselves as they compete for resources and power control. Uncontrolled power defies humanity, infringes the rights of the minorities and becomes the source of destruction for all.
Protecting endangered nations and nationalities from constant threats, unleashed from the so-called population giants, should be the priority of considerate political elites, if they were to implement vital and significant democratic principles in Ethiopia. Not only interventions in protecting and upholding the rights of the minorities, but also involving the minorities to have the right to rule and govern. This would practically translate to sustainable peace and prosperity in Ethiopia.
If they were to build peaceful Ethiopia, the two population giants should talk to each other humbly and to the many minorities with humility and humanity. Giants usually lose their sense of humanity as they adamantly brag about their numbers always! They so often stop listening to what it matters the most. The political leaders usually become arrogant, ignorant, insensitive, uncompromising, selfish and hateful; even though their own people do not endorse such behaviors and become victim themselves as most are blinded with political rhetoric and propaganda. Forgiveness and reconciliation would be far-fetched and beyond the politicians reach. They are consumed with power play. Ultimately, these reckless political attitudes will set up the whole country into self-destructive mode and thereby in flames. It is suffice to recall what happened between the two ethnic giants, Hutsi and Tutsi, in Rwanda in 1990s. No need to fall into such political traps and hooliganisms to repeat human tragedy and natural destructions in Africa.
Nowadays, Ethiopia is in a constant shock with fluid politics. A daily shock that comes from the two titans propagating hatred and seemingly irreconcilable ideologies. Ideologies that are unhealthy for the whole country. It is high time they listen to the minorities, who have experiences in tolerance, solidarity, reconciliations and unity. Ethiopia survived this long because of tolerance and peaceful nature of the minorities. The minorities are full of knowledge, as knowledge is a light that leads to wisdom. Wisdom is life for the soul and fuel in building societies’ characters. Proper characters build a peaceful nation. Harar is one of the prominent sources of such wisdom as it continues to demonstrate its characters as a sharing and caring regional state since it is the basket of tranquility, bounty and divine hospitality.
Behold real Ethiopians. Grasp these for your actions! The continuation of social injustices and miscarriages of law and order in Harar since April 2018 is real. We repeat, political hooliganism is real! Political hacking and hooliganisms in Harar are manifestations of defiling the Federal constitution and rights of Hararis at large. Political dilution and forceful marginalization, as well as confiscations of lands, properties and administrative positions in the name of large numbers have become a day to day discourse intending to wipe out Harar from the map of Ethiopia.
For the record, here are some facts indicating a race to erase Harar from Ethiopia’s political, economic and social maps since April 2018.
- VOA, DW, Fana TV and various social media services have evidently reported that residents of Harar continue to be harassed, abused and their economic, social and political rights are violated daily. In fact, with all signs of silent genocide! Documented evidences show that over 35 genuine Harari farm lands were confiscated in the last 2 years alone by herds of predatory groups;
- Over 100 private small and large residential houses, as well as, government offices were ransacked and occupied by these illegal groups;
- Many historical shrines and mosques were occupied, and their religious leaders were chased out in day light;
- Recently, one of Harar’s iconic educational institutions, Aaw Abdal, was raided and its premises, surrounding areas and students’ playground were confiscated, and trees were cut and uprooted. In fact, over 30 illegal houses and shops are being built unabatingly;
- In mid-September 2019, Aaw Abadal’s board members were barred from having a meeting in Amir Abdulahi’s Conference Center with no apparent reasons. Their constitutional rights of peaceful gathering and deliberations were grossly violated by the government officials, specially the police;
- Documents show that Harari officials were forcefully made to sign an 8-point illegal treaty to allocate or transfer most Harari sectoral secretaries or administrative offices to ODP in the State of Harar. Despite Harar’s legal establishments, these unconstitutional move and arrangements are intended to wipe Hararis political, economic and social rights within the established federal system. It is a political plot and unacceptable!
All in all, of the 356 square kilometers surface area of the regional State of Harar (which is minuscule relative to the other regional states), about one-third of this area has already been confiscated by the political hooligans in the past two years alone. All these are fundamental violations of Ethiopian Constitution and day light aggression in Harar. The violations have fallen on the deaf ears, be it with Regional Police Commissioner, Justice Department (mostly controlled by ODP officials), as well as Federal officials including the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. What happened to the famous banner of justice, equality, equity, inclusion and togetherness? It is inconceivable why Harar is targeted. What have Hararis done to anyone to deserve all these illegal, unconstitutional, and inhumane actions and occupations? Why is the federal government silent when Harar is gradually and illegally being wiped out from the map of Ethiopia? It is a silent genocide, indeed!
Behold Ethiopia and Digest this! As the Humanly proverb says, ‘it is better to transform yourself with many small steps in the right direction than to make a corrupted leap forward only to stumble backwards again.’ The corrupted leap comes from selfishness, inhumanity and expansionist ideology. Destroying a regional state or a nation does not require modern weapons, it requires only constructing a political system full of hate, arrogance, ignorance and unforgiveness that can implode and explode any time. It is a ticking social bomb and it is just a matter of time.
All corrupted consciousnesses and heartless political recipes indicate that Ethiopia is largely becoming inhumane, undemocratic and directionless country since the current government does not protect the minorities, as well as does not uphold rules of law and order for peaceful co-existence among its people. Peace and security have been largely eroded and ignored. Abusing the minorities is widely spread across the country, specifically making Harar the hotbed of political hooliganism!
Remember, Harar is one of the building blocks of Ethiopia since it was giant politically, economically, socially, historically, as well as, a hub of Islamic and Secular knowledge Center for centuries. Despite its small population, these blocks of giantness made Harar one of the building blocks of Ethiopia. It is unimaginable to define Ethiopia without Harar. Harar is always visible peace since its core value is love. Hararis walk with moderate manners. They are people with balance and fairness in their intentions and actions for centuries. They gave happiness to many, though they were treated miserably. They made people laugh, though they were made to cry.
Behold Friends of Harar! We appeal to humanity conscious federal and regional leaders (there are some!), the local youth groups, the grass root political leaders and religious leaders. It is time to raise your voices to protect the city of consciousness and peace.
Behold International Community! Embassies, UN Commission on Human Rights (its Sub Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities), the International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights must act now before the extinction of the Regional State of Harar, which was UNESCO’s Heritage site with its unique tradition, culture and language. Prevention is the best cure, and the time is now to prevent such callous attacks!
Behold Ethiopian Human Right Commission, the Ministry of Peace and Ethiopian Politicians! Take a moment to reflect on these! Build humanity within yourself first to ultimately build humanely nation through people-to-people relationships in Ethiopia. Harar will continue to be a social university and institute for reconciliation and peace. Understanding Harar could profoundly help most Ethiopian politicians to learn and to open their eyes to the beauty of life, diversity, inclusion, co-existence and peace.
Until we meet in the next episode, uphold Rules of Law, Security and Peace!
Aselam Aleykum