Gondar City

Gondar City 

Gondar is a city and separate woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Tana Lake on the Lesser Angereb River and southwest of the Simien Mountains. It has a latitude and longitude of 12°36′N 37°28′E with an elevation of 2133 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by the Gondar Zuria woreda. Gondar served as a strong Christian kingdom for many years.

Gondar previously served as the capital of both the Ethiopian Empire and the subsequent Begemder Province. The city holds the remains of several royal castles, including those in Fasil Ghebbi (the Royal Enclosure), for which Gondar has been called the "Camelot of Africa".

Until the 16th century, the Solomonic Emperors of Ethiopia usually had no fixed capital town, but instead lived in tents in temporary royal camps as they moved around their realms while their family, bodyguard and retinue devoured surplus crops and cut down nearby trees for firewood. One exception to this rule was Debre Berhan, founded by Zara Yaqob in 1456; Tegulet in Shewa was also essentially the capital during the first century of Solomonic rule. Gondar was founded by Emperor Fasilides around the year 1635, and grew as an agricultural and market town. There was a superstition at the time that the capital's name should begin with the letter 'Gʷa' (modern pronunciation 'Gʷe'; Gonder was originally spelt Gʷandar), which also contributed to Gorgora's (founded as Gʷargʷara) growth in the centuries after 1600. Tradition also states that a buffalo led the Emperor Fasilides to a pool beside the Angereb, where an "old and venerable hermit" told the Emperor he would locate his capital there. Fasilides had the pool filled in and built his castle on that same site.^[5] The emperor also built a total of seven churches; the first two, Fit Mikael and Fit Abbo, were built to end local epidemics.The five emperors who followed him also built their palaces in the town.

16th Century

Beginning with Emperor Menas in 1559, the rulers of Ethiopia began spending the rainy season near Lake Tana, often returning to the same location each year. These encampments, which flourished as cities for a short time, include Emfraz, Ayba, Gorgora and Dankaz.

17th Century

In 1668, as a result of a church council, the Emperor Yohannes I ruled that the inhabitants of Gondar were to be segregated by religion. This caused the Muslims to move into their own quarter, Islamge (Amharic: እስላምጌ, "Islam place," or "Islam country") or Islam Bayt (እስላምቤት"House of Islam," lit. "Islam house"), within two years. This quarter came to be known as Addis Alem (Amharic for "New World").

During the seventeenth century, the city's population is estimated to have exceeded 60,000. Many of the buildings from this period survive, despite the turmoil of the eighteenth century. By the reign of Iyasu the Great, Gondar had acquired a sense of community identity; when the Emperor called upon the inhabitants to decamp and follow him on his campaign against the Oromo in Damot and Gojjam, as had the court and subjects of earlier emperors, they refused. Although Gondar was by any definition a city, it was not a melting pot of diverse traditions, nor Ethiopia's window to the larger world, according to Donald Levine. "It served rather as an agent for the quickened development of the Amhara's own culture. And thus it became a focus of national pride... not as a hotbed of alien custom and immorality, as they often regar Addis Ababa today, but as the most perfect embodiment of their traditional values." As Levine elaborates in a footnote, it was an orthogenetic pattern of development, as distinguished from an heterogenetic one.

19th Century

The town served as Ethiopia's capital until Tewodros II moved the Imperial capital to Magadala upon being crowned Emperor in 1855; Tewodros II plundered and burnt the city in 1864, then devastated it again in December, 1866. Abdallahi ibn Muhammad sacked Gondar when he invaded Ethiopia June 1887. Gondar was ravaged again on 23 January in the next year, when Sudanese invaders set fire to almost every one of the city's churches.

20th Century

After the military occupation of Ethiopia by the Kingdom of Italy in 1936, Gondar was further developed under Italian occupation,^[14] and the Comboni missionaries established in 1937 the Latin Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of Gondar, which would be suppressed after its only prefect's death in 1951.

During the Second World War, Mussolini's Italian forces made their last stand in Gondar in November 1941, after Addis Ababa fell to British forces six months before. The area of Gondar was one of the main centers of activity of Italian guerrilla against the British forces until summer 1943.

During the Ethiopian Civil War, the forces of the Ethiopian Democratic Union gained control of large parts of Begemder, and during parts of 1977 operated within a few kilometers of Gondar, and appeared to be at the point of capturing the city. As part of Operation Tewodros near the end of the Civil War, Gondar was captured by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front in March 1991.

Gondar traditionally was divided into several neighborhoods or quarters: Addis Alem, where the Muslim inhabitants dwelled; Kayla Meda, where the adherents of Beta Israel lived; Abun Bet, centered on the residence of the Abuna, or nominal head of the Ethiopian Church; and Qagn Bet, home to the nobility.^[18] Gondar is also a noted center of ecclesiastical learning of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and known for having 44 churches – for many years more than any other settlement in Ethiopia. Gondar and its surrounding countryside constitute the homeland of most Ethiopian Jews.

The modern city of Gondar is popular as a tourist destination for its many picturesque ruins in Fasil Ghebbi (the Royal Enclosure), from which the emperors once reigned. The most famous buildings in the city lie in the Royal Enclosure, which include Fasilides' castle, Iyasu's palace, Dawit's Hall, a banqueting hall, stables, Empress Mentewab's castle, a chancellery, library and three churches. Near the city lie Fasilides' Bath, home to an annual ceremony where it is blessed and then opened for bathing; the Qusquam complex, built by Empress Mentewab; the eighteenth century Ras Mikael Sehul's Palace and the Debre Berhan Selassie Church.

Downtown Gondar shows the influence of the Italian occupation of the late 1930s. The main piazza features shops, a cinema, and other public buildings in a simplified Italian Moderne style still distinctively of the period despite later changes and, frequently, neglect. Villas and flats in the nearby quarter that once housed occupation officials and colonists are also of interest.

Based on the 2007 national census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Gondar had a total population of 207,044, of whom 98,120 were men and 108,924 women. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, with 84.2% reporting that as their religion, while 11.8% of the population said they were Muslim and 1.1% were Protestant.

The 1994 national census reported a total population of 112,249 in 21,695 households, of whom 51,366 were men and 60,883 women. The three largest ethnic groups reported in Gondar Zuria were the Amhara (88.91%), the Tigrayan (6.74%), and the Qemant (2.37%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.98% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 94.57%, and 4.67% spoke Tigrinya; the remaining 0.76% spoke all other primary languages reported. 83.31% adhered to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 15.83% of the population said they were Muslim. Gondar was once the home of a large population of Ethiopian Jews, most of whom immigrated to Israelin the late 20th and early 21st century, including the current Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia, Belaynesh Zevadia.

Bahir Dar City

Bahir Dar City.

Bahir Dar City

Bahir Dar is the former capital of Gojjam province and the current capital of the Amhara Regional State in Ethiopia. Administratively, Bahir Dar is a Special Zone. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The city is known for its wide avenues lined with palm trees and a variety of colorful flowers. In 2002 it was awarded the UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize for addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization.

Originally the settlement was called Bahir Giyorgis. In the 19th century, Bahir Dar was visited by Belgian, French, British and Italian travelers, who described it alternatively as a village or a town.The Italian traveller Mario Alamanni (1891) estimated its population between 1,200 and 1,600.

During the early 20th century, the British, desiring to construct a barrage at the outlet of Lake Tana, dispatched several study teams, such as those of Dupis (1902), Grabham and Black (1920-21) and Cheesman (1926-34).In 1930 the Ethiopian Government sent to Bahir Dar its own team of experts, who described Bahir Dar as a village with considerable trading activity, with a population from the interior as well as from Lake Tana ports such as Zege. At this time Bahir Dar was characterized by various traditional settlement areas, each of which was distinguished by the social position its members occupied. The kahenat (clergy) and balabbat communities were the most important. In addition, three groups of tenant-craftsman communities, tanners, Muslims weavers and the Weyto stone-mill grinders, lived on balabbat lands. Although all were economically interdependent, there was no intermarriage between the tenant communities or between them and the balabbat and kahenat.

In 1936, Bahir Dar was occupied by the Italians, who gave it modern urban features. Abolishing communal family ownership of land, they instituted private ownership. Alienating the balabbats from their rist, the allocated land for administration, the army, an airstrip and port facilities. New residential and commercial zones were demarcated. Bahir Dar was connected by motor-boats with other Lake Tana ports and by motor roads with Gonder, Debre Marqos and Addis Ababa. The physical and social appearance of Bahir Dar was considerably changed. New settlement patterns emerged: and Italian camp, a Muslim community and a Weyto quarter, while the tanners' quarter remained unaffected. Bahir Dar became a melting-pot of different people and cultures. In the commercial zone, different types of shops, tea-rooms, tailor shops, bars and restaurants run by Italians, Arabs, Somalis and Sudanese made their first appearance. Ethiopian participation in this realm was insignificant.

The Italians gave Bahir Dar political importance making it the administrative center of the Lake Tana southern territories. They also showed interest in the possibility of developing the Lake Tana and Blue Nile basic agriculturally and of exploiting their waters for hydroelectric power. In 1941, the Ethiopian Government was reinstated. It made Bahir Dar a capital, first at a sub-district and then at a district level. Various offices and public services were set up. In 1945 Bahir Dar was raised to the status of a municipality. In the early 1950s, it was considered to be the best site selected for the construction of an alternative capital of Ethiopia.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Bahir Dar grew rapidly, being the capital of the awrajja by the same name in the Gojjam province. The central government developed it as a market and transportation center of the economic growth of Lake Tana and the Blue Nile basin. A comprehensive master plan, with the new zoning, was prepared by German experts. Its implementation changed completely the physical appearance of Bahir Dar, which grew as a center of industrial and economic development. It was provided with a water-supply, hydroelectric power, improved lake-port facilities, the Abbay bridge, textile mills, a hospital and institutions of higher education which now form Bahir Dar University.

During the Ethiopian Civil War, May 1988 the 603rd corp of the Third Revolutionary Army (TLA) made its headquarters at Bahir Dar. On 3–4 March 1990, the TLA abandoned Bahir Dar in disarray, blowing up the nearby bridge with several hundred soldiers which stopped the TPLF/EPRDF forces from occupying the city. However, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) claimed they had too few effectives in the area to capture the town at that time, and the Derg army reoccupied Bahir Dar a few days later.The EPRDF gained permanent control of the city around 1810 hours on 23 February 1991, as one of the objectives of Operation Tewodros. In the 1990s Bahir Dar experienced remarkable growth and expansion. It has become the capital of the Amhara National State. The country's free-market economic policy has encouraged investment and other market potentialities. Today Bahir Dar is not only a center of administration, but also a nucleus of commerce, industry, transport, communication, health, education and tourism.

Bahir Dar is located at the exit of the Abbay from Lake Tana at an altitude of 1,820 metres (5,970 ft) above sea level.The city is located approximately 578 km north-northwest of Addis Ababa. The Lake Tana region is a UNESCO Biopshere Reserve since 2015.

Bahir Dar has a borderline tropical savanna climate, very close to a subtropical highland climate. Afternoon temperatures are very warm to hot year-round, and morning temperatures cool; however, the diurnal range is much larger in the largely cloudless dry season.

Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Bahir Dar Special Zone has a total population of 221,991, of whom 108,456 are men and 113,535 women; 180,174 or 81.16% are urban inhabitants, the rest of population are living at rural kebeles around Bahir Dar. At the town of Bahir Dar there are 155,428 inhabitants; the rest of urban population is living at Meshenti, Tis Abay and Zege towns which are part of Bahir Dar Special Zone. As Philip Briggs notes, Bahir Dar "is not only one of the largest towns in Ethiopia, but also one of the fastest growing – the western outskirts have visibly expanded since the first edition of this guide was published in 1994."

The three largest ethnic groups reported in Bahir Dar Special Zone were the Amhara (96.23%), the Tigrayan (1.11%), and the Oromo (1.1%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.56% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 96.78%, and 1.01% spoke Oromiffa; the remaining 2.21% spoke all other primary languages reported. The 1994 national census reported a total population for Bahir Dar of 96,140 in 20,857 households, of whom 45,436 were men and 50,704 women. The three largest ethnic groups reported in the city were the Amhara (93.21%), the Tigrayan (3.98%), and the Oromo (0.7%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.11% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 95.52%, and 2.93% spoke Tigrinya; the remaining 1.55% spoke all other primary languages reported.
In 2007 census 89.72% of the population said they practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 8.47% were Muslim, and 1.62% were Protestants.

The 1994 national census reported 87.53% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 11.47% of the population said they were Muslim.

The Ethiopian Catholics, who practice the Alexandrian Rite in Geez language, have a cathedral in the city, which is the episcopal see since 2015 of the Ethiopic Catholic Diocese of Bahir Dar–Dessie, one of the suffragan eparchies (dioceses) of the Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba, a Metropolitanate sui juris.

The city offers a small daily market and a very extensive weekly market. There are some music clubs in the city.

The Blue Nile Falls (Tis Issat) are located about 30 km to the south. Nowadays the amount of water running through the falls is being reduced and regulated, since the construction of a hydroelectric power dam. Nevertheless, the Blue Nile Falls are still one of the main tourist attractions of Bahir Dar, especially during the rainy season when the water level rises and the falls become greater.

Bahir Dar is home to a number of universities and colleges. The most prominent of all is the Bahir Dar University, which projects an enrollment of over 40,000 students in the academic year beginning in October 2012. Bahir Dar University is home to more than 40,000 students. Emperor Haile Sellasie inaugurated the Technical School in Bahir Dar University on 11 June 1963.

As part of political initiatives and development efforts in Africa, renewed interest in the higher education in Ethiopia has been the focus of partnerships between governmental and private funders. The Ethiopian university system has been noted as one of the "fastest growing" systems in the twenty-first century.

Bahir Dar University, one of the largest universities in Ethiopia, has an enrollment of 45,000 students in 65 undergraduate and 67 graduate programs. A Council of Ministers regulation combined the Bahir Dar Polytechnic and Bahir Dar Teachers’ College in 2000 to establish the university. Supporting the country’s objective to attain a "middle income status" by 2025, a research priority has produced eleven research centers. within the university.

As part of the US AID objective IR 3.2: Improved workforce skills development, an identified strategy of enhancing "... university partnerships with U.S. Universities to strengthen the capacity of Ethiopian Universities." Primary and secondary education goals are supported by the university through teacher education programs designed to improve literacy rates, supporting employment and higher education opportunities for citizens.Degrees in science and health support the effort to address Ethiopia’s inclusion as one of 57 countries on the health workforce crisis list.

Alkan University College is located in Bahir Dar. The Institute of Land Administration was founded and located in Bahir Dar in 2006.

Air transportation in Bahir Dar is served by the Bahir Dar Airport (ICAO code HABD and IATA BJR). Also known as Belay Zeleke Airport, it has paved runways. Ethiopian Airlines operates daily flights through the facility, linking Bahir Dar and the capital, as well as with Gondar to the northwest. In December 2014 a new domestic airline TNA started flights to Bahir Dar but only on Mondays and Fridays.

Additionally, the city is also connected through roads (and buslines) to these cities. The most common and convenient way of traveling in Bahir Dar is cycling. Auto rickshaws and share taxis also provide transportation in the city. Intercity bus service is provided by the Selam Bus Line Share Company, Abay Bus s.c, Ethio Bus s.c and Sky Bus Transport System which operates daily to and from the capital.

National Movement Of Amhara Expose The Truth About The Constitution

Ethiopians of ethnic Amhara root propelled a two days establishing gathering and proclaimed the appearing of another resistance ideological group, National Movement of Amhara (NAMA). The traveler city of Bahir Dar, which is likewise the seat of the territorial government which is driven by Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), facilitated the two days in length establishing meeting of the new party that tries to speak to ethnic Amhara, one of the biggest gathering of Ethiopia's 100 million individuals. Unexpectedly, the gathering occurred at Mulualem social focus, which is named after one of ANDM's fallen soldier who is accepted to be killed by Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) killers and what is amusing about it is that ANDM, which additionally claims to speak to ethnic Amhara and oversees the area, permitted a conceivably fighting political power have its gathering before its eyes and even permitted territorial media, similar to Amhara Mass Media Agency, to give the occasion a selective inclusion. Generally there have been two ways to deal with the use of mental and psychoanalytic reasoning to the political procedures. One methodology asserts that, as a science, brain research and therapy ponder the political procedure from a fair view. The second methodology expresses that a therapist's qualities are inalienably interwoven with the two his clinical work and his perceptions of socio-political examinations. Welch has a place with the second gathering. This book fills two needs. One is as an investigation of the mental and psychoanalytic comprehension of current socio-political issues. The second is as a reminder to be all the more completely mindful of the political control to which we are oppressed. Utilizing his experience as a legal advisor, a psychoanalytically arranged clinical therapist, and previous leader of the Practice Directorate of the APA, Bryant Welch has composed an intriguing and pertinent book communicating his point of view on current social-political issues. Welch expounds enthusiastically on issues we as a whole face. Welch's fundamental subject is that the psyche experiences issues enduring unpredictability and vulnerability, particularly when stood up to with conditions which strife with genuinely held feelings. A develop mind is better ready to endure numerous causes, or unpredictability, and is inclined to reason as communicated through logical information. Welch's idea of the brain is steady with liberal, systematic reasoning, and the adjustments in intuition saw in customers amid explanatory psychotherapy. He builds up his topic by talking about numerous parts of current socio-political issues, some of which the peruser will know. I, for one, was better ready to comprehend the religious right and addition further understanding into jealousy as it shows up in the sociopolitical scene to name two occurrences.

Simien Mountains are Burning

The Semien Mountains, in northern Ethiopia, north east of Gondar in Amhara region, are part of the Ethiopian Highlands. They are a World Heritage Site and include the Simien Mountains National Park. The mountains consist of plateaus separated by valleys and rising to pinnacles. The tallest peak is Ras Dejen (4,550 m); other notable heights include Mounts Biuat (4,437 m) and Kidis Yared (4,453 m).

Because of their geological origins, the mountains are almost unique, with only South Africa's Drakensberg having been formed in the same manner and thus appearing similar. Notable animals in the mountains include the walia ibex, gelada, and caracal. There are a few Ethiopian 

The Semien Mountains were formed prior to the creation of the Rift Valley, from lava outpourings between 40 and 25 million years ago during the Oligocene period. The volcano is believed to have spread over more than 5000 m² and resulted in a thick sequence of basaltic lava some 3,000-3,500 m thick that was deposited on Precambrian crystalline basement. The major part of the Semien Mountains consists of remnants of a Hawaiian-type shield volcano. The Kidus Yared peak is situated near the center of the shield volcano. Ras Dejen (4,533 m), Bwahit (4,430 m) and Silki (4,420 m) were formed from the outer core of this ancient volcano.

The extreme escarpment in Semien appears to be a precondition for the formation of the extended uplift of the whole mountain massif 75 million years ago. The dramatic views are due to this volcanic activity. Especially of note is the 2,000 m high escarpment extending in a southwest-northeast direction.

There are different types of soils as a result of the difference in geological formation, glaciations, topography, and climate. The Humic Andosol is the dominant soil type which is mainly found at an altitude of 3,000 m. The other types of soil are shallow Andosols, Lithosols, and Haplic Phaeozems that are mainly common in the area between 2,500 and 3,500 m. The Semien Mountains are highly eroded as a result of human land use practices and as a result of the topography of the area.

Although the word Semien means "north" in Amharic, according to Richard Pankhurst the ancestral form of the word actually meant "south" in Ge'ez, because the mountains lay to the south of Aksum, which was at the time the center of Ethiopian civilization. But as over the following centuries the center of Ethiopian civilization itself moved to the south, these mountains came to be thought of as lying to the north, and the meaning of the word likewise changed.

The Semiens are remarkable as being one of the few spots in Africa where snow regularly falls. First mentioned in the Monumentum Adulitanum of the 4th century AD (which described them as "inaccessible mountains covered with snow" and where soldiers walked up to their knees in snow), the presence of snow was undeniably witnessed by the 17th century Jesuit priest Jerónimo Lobo. Although the later traveler James Bruce claims that he had never witnessed snow in the Semien Mountains, the 19th century explorer Henry Salt not only recorded that he saw snow there (on 9 April 1814), but explained the reason for Bruce's failure to see snow in these mountains – Bruce had ventured no further than the foothills into the Semiens.

Despite their ruggedness and altitude, the mountains are dotted with villages linked by tracks. Historically they were inhabited by Ethiopian Jews (the Beta Israel), who after repeated attacks by the zealous Christian Emperors in the 15th century withdrew from the province of Dembiya into the more defensible Semien mountains.

Towards the end of the Zemene Mesafint, Dejazmach Wube Haile Mariam maintained his arsenal and treasury on Mount Hai

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Consisting of Ras Dejen (also known as Ras Dashen), the highest peak over 4,530 meters above sea level, Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains in the North Western parts of the country has been one of the major tourist attractions.

UNESCO called the Simien National Park, which is part of Semien Mountains, as “one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world.” The park is also known for its endemic animals the Walia ibex, Chilada baboon, and the Simien fox.

News coming from the regional state since Thursday, March 28, 2019, seems to indicate that the park is facing great threat, perhaps in its history.

A fierce fire is raging in the park since yesterday and it does not to be under control although there were initial reports, from the region’s Wildlife protection and conservation authority Director – Belayneh Ayele that the fire was controlled but that does not seem to be the case. Trees and grass in the park are burned.

Amhara Mass Media Agency (AMMA) reported on Friday that the fire is out of control. The methods used to control the fire since Thursday was traditional ones including using water and soil, and mostly volunteer based – showing lack of coordinated emergency response on the part of government. Students, farmers and the region’s Special Forces, among others, are engaged in the effort to put out the fire.

North Gonder Zone authorities have already pleaded for government support although the Federal government is yet to respond to it.

Apart from lack of modern methods like Air spray using aircraft, dry grass in the park and wind have aggravated the fire.

Cause of the fire is believed to be arson but no suspects are in custody so far, according to the region’s state media.

This is the second wild fire in the country in less than a week. Bale National Park in South Ethiopia experienced similar situation.

Skeptical politicized Ethiopians seem to see the news of fire on Ethiopia’s’ two important parks as parts of coordinated and orchestrated strategy to create another dimension of crisis in the country.

Mustafa Omer Brings Hope and Light to the Somali Region

President Mustafa Omer

The New Reform Leadership of President Mustafa Omer Brings Hope and Light to the Somali Region

What an opportunity we on the SMNE team had during a recent visit to the Somali region where we were able to see so much evidence of reforms brought by the new president, Mustafa Omer, and his administration. Everywhere we went, people told us about the new leadership that is bringing genuine reforms.

We had a very meaningful and productive discussion with President Mustafa. We had a meeting of minds. He told us he was well aware of our work and that he had a great appreciation and respect for what we have done over the years, especially struggling for the rights of all Ethiopians, including the Somali region.

He strongly supports and has implemented the core values of the SMNE. He urged us to work together with him to advance these values, believing the only way forward was to value the freedom and rights of all citizens, closely quoting the SMNE principle that no one ethnic group will be free until all ethnic groups are free. He said the country belongs to all of us and that working together is the only way for the survival of our country.

He spoke with concern regarding problems in the region; in particular, the division within his party. He explained that changes being made are not welcomed by some who do not like what he is doing and want to take the region back to where it was a year ago— a time of killing, violence and destruction.

Some of those now opposed to the reforms were power holders in the past and see these reforms as a threat to their control. He stressed that his team was working hard to resolve this problem peacefully. He also urged us and others to stand with him in support of these reforms.

We really appreciated his straightforward message and his commitment to these goals in the midst of the resistance of a few hardliners.

Our Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is the best thing that has happened to the country for as long as I can remember. He came into office already holding to an inclusive vision for all of Ethiopia. Soon after that came our brother Mustafa someone who holds to similar values as Abiy. He has become the best thing I can remember happening in the Somali region.

These two men give light back to our beloved country of Ethiopia. Anti-reform people are working hard to switch off the light, worried that the greater light will expose them and their wrongdoing.

All of us have to be vigilant to protect and preserve this light. If the lights are switched off in Jijiga, we should consider the lights switched off in all other regions. If the lights are switched off in Addis Ababa in resistance to Abiy’s efforts; it is like the lights were switched off in the whole nation.

The same light that is now shining more brightly in Somali region, is also only shining in Oromia and Amhara; however, it must be turned on in other regions as well. A place like Tigray, Gambella, Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, Harare, Dire Dawa and the Southern Nations need genuine reformers, not people who are part of the system where they are secretly working to undermine the change.

Most of these places only superficially changed since the insiders still remain as power holders and this is the reason these regions are still experiencing violence, conflict and displacement.

Real reform can only thrive where there are genuine reformers like Mustafa and other leaders endorsed and respected by their people.

We cannot go back to the former darkness of the TPLF. The country needs more light, not less light; more unity, not division; more love, not hatred; more truth, not deception; more harmony, not violence; more reconciliation, not revenge; and more justice, not vigilante justice or mob rule.

A more peaceful, just, democratic and honorable Ethiopia begins right here and all of us should stand together to support our Prime Minister Abiy, our Brother Mustafa and leaders like them who have integrity, share these core values and genuinely care about other people.

Ethiopia needs national leaders, not tribal or village leaders who undermine the lives and rights of others because of self-interest, ambition and greed. Read more here