Hundreds of thousands of irate Ethiopian Muslims took to the streets of Addis Ababa this weekend – Africa’s biggest protests since Tahrir Square. They want the government to stop meddling in their religious affairs, and acknowledge that Muslims can’t remain a marginalised minority. Ethiopia’s Christian-led government better make some concessions quickly, or risk finding out exactly how many irate Muslims there really are.
By SIMON ALLISON
Daily Maverick
You would be forgiven for thinking that the tense, dramatic African Union elections were the most exciting thing to
happen in Addis Ababa this weekend – but you would be wrong. While the diplomats were squabbling about procedure and protocol, in another part of the capital an altogether more serious situation was developing, at least as far as hosts Ethiopia are concerned.
While reports are hard to confirm, participants claimed that somewhere between 500,000 and one million Muslims gathered in and around one of the city’s main mosques in a blatant show of defiance against the Christian-led government, while smaller marches took place in other cities across the country. If these numbers are true, then the government of Meles Zenawi – who is currently in Brussels receiving medical treatment, adding to the uncertainty – should be gravely concerned. To put them in perspective, the marches on Tahrir Square which precipitated the Egyptian Revolution were of a similar size; demonstrations of this scale have not been seen in Africa since.
Sunday was the third consecutive day of protests and mosque sit-ins, and already hundreds are reported arrested or injured by the government response, which has definitely included the liberal use of tear gas and – again according to participant claims – live rounds.
Ethiopia is a historically Christian country, one of the oldest Christian countries in the world. But Islam too has deep roots there; it was the first place that persecuted Muslims sought refuge, fleeing Mecca to the kingdom of Axum where the Prophet Muhammad had told them they would be safe. The Axumite king, recognising that his Christianity and the exiles’ Islam shared the same Abrahamic roots, welcomed them. “Go to your homes and live in peace. I shall never give you up to your enemies,” he said.
Ever since, there has been a Muslim community in Ethiopia, and the two religions have co-existed relatively peacefully; both the Christian majority and Muslim minority generally treated with similar disdain by whatever emperor or government was in power, even though Ethiopia’s leaders have always been Christian.
Meles Zenawi’s government, however, is having to contend with a new threat. According to official statistics, Muslims make up 34% of the population; Ethiopian Orthodox Christians 44%; and various Protestant groupings another 17%. But the Muslim population is growing so quickly that, even taking these numbers at face value, Muslims are projected to become the majority in Ethiopia by 2050.
But Ethiopia’s Muslims say these figures have been twisted, and that they are already the majority. This is part of the rhetoric which underpins the current protests, and it’s not the first time I have heard this claim. Three years ago, in Addis Ababa, a diplomat who asked to remain anonymous told me that the results of the 2007 census had been delayed for months as the government struggled to deal with what that census revealed: that, in fact, there were more Muslims than Christians in the country. This posed an existential threat to Zenawi’s government, eroding its traditional support base, and the numbers were fixed – or so the story goes.
A more recent spark for the unrest has been the government’s perceived meddling in religious affairs by encouraging and supporting one minority Muslim sect over the more mainstream others. Terrified of the potential emergence of Al Shabaab-style fundamentalist Islam, Zenawi’s administration has promoted one particular sect of Islam, the Al Ahbash, which opposes ultra-conservative ideology and rejects violence. This has included appointing Al Ahbash clerics to lead the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, despite the fact that the Al Ahbash are pretty far from mainstream Islam – in Ethiopia and anywhere else. “It (Al Ahbash) has the right to exist in Ethiopia, but it is unacceptable that the Council tries to impose it on all members of the Muslim community,” Abubeker Ahmed, head of an independent Islamic arbitration committee, told Reuters.
All this takes place against the backdrop of a highly autocratic state. Meles Zenawi would describe it as a benevolent autocracy, but human rights watchdogs would beg to differ. “Ethiopian authorities continued to severely restrict basic rights of freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Hundreds of Ethiopians in 2011 were arbitrarily arrested and detained and remain at risk of torture and ill-treatment,” wrote Human Rights Watch in their World Report 2012.
Restrictions on journalists are particularly tight, making it very difficult to gauge accurately what’s going on in the country. Nonetheless, it’s a story that needs to be covered; it’s clear that the tinderbox of religious divisions, strong-arm responses from the state, historical inequalities and modern demographic shifts has the potential to turn ugly. A media source in Addis Ababa told the Daily Maverick that tensions were so high that the smallest spark could cause a conflagration. And with Zenawi out of action in Brussels, who is around to put out the fire? DM
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Sister
July 18, 2012 at 6:26 am
Simon,
“christian led government”? This is what I call lazy journalism but with a dynamite effect. There is nothing christianly about the ruling regime. Governance in Ethiopia however bad, has always been secular. So where did you get “christian government” idea from?
If it because the ruling elite is from the christian denomination
again, that is lazy journalism -as that is different from christian government. Christian government means when the constitution is inshrined with christian teachings. (I wish that was the case- we would not have been is so much corruption and Sodom and Gomorah state)! Ethiopian muslims and christians are different calibre but we have to be careful as poision is being injected into us from everycorner!!!
Your second laziness is to imply that it is a muslim v christian issue. Not it is not. The muslims of Ethipia are asking to be left alone, they do not want government meddling in their mosque. The elephant in the room is, “the war on terror” The gobal dummest project and Meles, American’s cleaverest adopted son (like everything else) wants to take advantage knowing full well his backers in the west authomatically assume he is right becuase he is chrisian. So what you see is a conflict b/n western backed authoritorian regime v all sections of society.
The muslims happen to be in latest target to keep them under the elites control but this time the tiny elite have picked on the wrong lot. For your info, the regime have done its ransacking in the orthodox church already. Now every single church is under its rule lead by its cardres as head priests!
Look at the dodgy head we have. He looks and behaves like a Yardie from Jamaica as oppose to a patriarch of an Ethiopian Orthodox church. This is how humilated and oppressed we collectively are.
So, get your facts right before you muddle so many unrelated issues and make them one big religious story.
Askale Dama
July 18, 2012 at 4:41 am
Mr. Allision:
You almost sound like an 18th century visitor of Ethiopia. I hope you correct two grave errors. First, Meles doesn’t give a rat about Christianity. He is about the domination of a Tigre ethnic group. This is a fact, not my assetion. Second, Ethiopia is a model of Christian-Islam peace, with a few historical exceptions. Ethiopia is a nation where a single ethnic group is divided into Muslim and Christian faiths. It is brothers who adhere to these beliefs. So, the right of Muslims is not about being a majority or a minority. It is about them being my Ethiopian brothers and sisters. There were Muslim in Ethiopia in 1000 AD. What is taking place right now is this. The great religions of Ethiopia are working as one to get rid of injustice by the few godless criminals. Please, check you facts. We are in 21st centrury. Peac!
Birmaji
July 18, 2012 at 4:09 am
This is somewhat inflammatory article. The question in Ethiopia is about democracy. The issues Muslims raised are within the ambit of the quest for democratization. They can be properly addressed within a framework of secular politics. Also the projections on Muslim numbers are inserted to confuse the issue. Such projections are clearly base less. There is no documented study that shows a big difference of fertility rates among different sections of the Ethiopian society.
What is Simon Alison is up to?
T.Goshu
July 17, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Well, let me first say that the writer of the article ,Simon Alison’s expression”Christian -led Government ” has to do with either his genuine simplistic way of interpreating things or a deliberately way of misinformaion. Whether it is because of the first or the latter , let’s hope that Alison will have the courage to rethink about it and ask hinself if he had a very unqualified generalization.
Folks, having said this short paragraph of remark on Alison’s expression, I want to jump to a very disturbing and dirty drama which is in the process of preparation by the security agents and police forces of the tyrannical ruling circle in order to crack down the very legitimate , justified and peaceful demands of Ethiopian muslims (interviews on ESAT Radio ,today). Dear genuinely concerned Ethiopians, we need to be much more alart and united and abort this evil-driven drama before it is taken to its stage of actual acts. As I tried to undestand the synical behavior and practice by those deadly parasitic agents of the brutal ruling elite, it seems that they are going to play another “Akelidama” possibly, the worst of its kind which might iclude the acts of photographing of thier own deadly weapons in and around religious institutions , trigering explosions of bombs in and around certain areas of intersts ,and many more extremely dirty acts. Although the lasting solution is to get rid of the evil-guided regime , it is absolutely necessary to make urgent ,coordinated and effective effots to abort, if not minimize the consequences of this dangerous attempt. I strongly believe that one of the most important effort is creating public awareness .
Let’s go ahead and do it right now!! We cannot afford to waite and see!!
kidi
July 17, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Simon,
did you say”christian led government”? we have a tribal junta not a christian government. a man at your caliber should do better in writting the facts rather than what some TPLF thug informed you. Journalism a job with big resposiblity and you are obligated to write the facts, nothing more nothing less. one thing you should know is that the bond that existed between christians and muslims in Ethiopia. it is so strong and will remain that way. our muslim fellow citizens’ question and concern is shared by all Ethiopians. they are demanding FREEDOM and we Eco their demand too.
Ethiopia shall be free from blood suker thugs once for all with unity of her people.
LONG LIVE ETHIOPIA!
woz
July 17, 2012 at 8:23 pm
simon alison,
calling the devil woyane fascists ‘christians’ is an insult to christianity.
Anyway Simon Alison seems to be more worried about the demise of TPLF instead of focusing on the struggle of the Ethiopian people for freedom,democracy and justice.
Tedla Asfaw
July 17, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Simon Alison, “Christian led government” is your imagination. It is a tribal regime. The tyranny in Ethiopia has many friends including the Saudi Wahibists, the Secular West and one party dictatorship in China.
Writers like you are misinformed or deliberately writing to start religious war in Ethiopia. We Ethiopian Christians, Muslims non believers are coming out this Thursday in New York to denounce the “christian led government” for its killing of Muslim Ethiopians. Are you surprised Simon Alison ? Does Simon Alison know that the biggest supporter of the “christian led government” is Al Amoudi of Saudi Arabia. Can you explain that ?
The Muslims struggle for religious freedom and for the regime not to get involved in their religious affairs is our struggle too. I am a Christian against “christian led government” of Ethiopia, get it Simon Alison.