Briefing: Ethiopia's Muslim protests
ADDIS ABABA, 15 November 2012 (IRIN) - Tensions have been simmering over
several months between Muslims and the government, with thousands holding
demonstrations in protest at the government's alleged interference in
religious affairs; the government has blamed the protests on a small group
of extremists.
Around 60 percent of Ethiopia's 84 million people are Christians; Muslims
make up about one-third of the population, according to official figures.
Religion-related clashes have been rare in the country, but unrest over the
past several months has led to several deaths and dozens of arrests. IRIN
looks at the causes of, and fallout from, the protests.
What sparked the protests?
The leaders of the protests, which began in December 2011, accuse the
Ethiopian government of trying to impose the al-Ahbash Islamic sect on the
country's Muslim community, which traditionally practises the Sufi form of
Islam. Al-Ahbash beliefs are an interpretation of Islam combining elements
of Sunni Islam and Sufism; its teachings are popular in Lebanon. Said to be
first taught by Ethiopian scholar Abdullah al-Harari, the Ethiopian
Al-Ahbash teachings are moderate, advocating Islamic pluralism, while
opposing political activism.
In December 2011, the state moved to dismiss the administration of the
Awoliya religious school in Addis Ababa. In July, police dispersed an
overnight meeting at the school on the eve of an African Union heads of
state summit, and arrested several protesters and organizers of the meeting,
which police officials said did not have a permit.
Those behind the meeting, an "Arbitration Committee" of 17 led by prominent
religious scholars, said they wanted to dialogue with the government but
insisted they would continue legitimate protests to oppose its continued
interference in the administration of the religious school and the election
of members of the country's supreme Islamic Council.
They accuse the government of dictating
<
http://www.mfa.gov.et/news/more.php?newsid=1370> elections to the council,
which concluded on 5 November, and favour the Al-Ahbash Muslim sect.
Temam Ababulga, a lawyer representing activists who led the protests - some
of them are currently behind bars - says they are appealing to a federal
court to cancel the election and its outcome, on the grounds that the
elections were not conducted in accordance with the council's by-laws.
"The opposition to Ahbash at this time is not theological. the protesters
oppose... that the regime is sponsoring the movement, providing finance,
logistical support and allowing it to use both the Islamic Council and the
state institution in its proselytization," said Jawar Mohammed, an Ethiopian
analyst now studying at Columbia University in the USA.
"Ahbash has been in Ethiopia since the 1990s and has peacefully coexisted
with the rest of Islamic revival movements," he added. "The confrontation
came only after the government invited the leading figures from Lebanon and
started aggressive re-indoctrination campaign."
What is the government's response?
The government denies that it is violating the country's constitution by
meddling in religious affairs. Addressing parliament on 16 October, Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said: "The government is not and would not
interfere in the affairs of any religion in the country."
At the height of the protests in mid-April, then Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi, who died in August, told parliament that "a few extremists are
working to erode the age-old tradition of tolerance between traditional Sufi
Muslims and Christians in Ethiopia," and stressed that they would not be
tolerated by the government.
"The government... has made a number of efforts to encourage engagement with
the protesters and has, for example, also done all it can to support the
matter of elections for the Islamic Council," said a
<
http://www.mfa.gov.et/weekHornAfrica/morewha.php?wi=684> statement by the
government in response to Amnesty International's allegations.
"It is true that some members of a `protesters committee' have been arrested
following violent protests, but it is completely misleading to suggest that
this `committee' had been `chosen to represent the Muslim community's
grievances to the government'. This `committee' was not chosen nor elected
by anyone... It was, in sum, a small, self-appointed committee of protesters
whose support in the community at large, as the recent election clearly
demonstrated, was minimal."
Increasing Islamic militancy in the region - Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania
have all witnessed increased Islamist activity - is of concern to the
Ethiopian authorities, who say they are facing growing threats evident from
the discovery of the first Al-Qaeda cell in the country; 11 people have been
in an on-going trial, suspected of being members of an Al-Qaeda cell and
accused of planning terrorist attacks.
What are rights groups saying?
The USA has added its voice to accusations that Ethiopia has been
interfering in the religious affairs of its Islamic population and
wrongfully arresting people. Addis Ababa has on several occasions rejected
these charges.
"Since July 2011, the Ethiopian government has sought to force a change in
the sect of Islam practiced nationwide and has punished clergy and laity who
have resisted," an 8 November
<
http://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/whats-new-at-uscirf/3860-press-statement-us
cirf-deeply-concerned-by-emerging-religious-freedom-violations-in-ethiopia.h
tml> press statement by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom
- a bipartisan federal government body - said. "Muslims throughout Ethiopia
have been arrested during peaceful protests."
<
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR25/016/2012/en/f77e6342-5d69-4ed
9-b595-c23fd2e3cb3d/afr250162012en.html> Amnesty International has also
accused the Ethiopian authorities of "committing human rights violations in
response to the ongoing Muslim protest movement in the country". The
organization said the police was using "excessive force" against peaceful
demonstrators.
Human Rights Watch says it is deeply concerned that Ethiopia's government
has repeatedly used terrorism-related prosecutions to clamp down on lawful
freedom of speech and assembly.
"Many of these trials have been politically motivated and marred by serious
due process violations," Laetitia Bader, a Human Rights Watch researcher on
Ethiopia, told IRIN via email. "The Muslim leaders and others, should be
immediately released unless the government can produce credible evidence of
unlawful activity. The fact that many of the detainees have been in
detention for over three months without charge does raise questions about
the existence of such evidence."
Rights groups also say journalists covering the protests are being
increasingly harassed. In October, police briefly detained Marthe Van Der
Wolf, a reporter with the Voice of America as she was covering one of the
protests at the Anwar Mosque, and according to the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ), told to erase her recorded interviews.
"Ethiopian authorities should halt their harassment of journalists covering
the country's Muslim community and their intimidation of citizens who have
tried to speak to reporters about sensitive religious, ethnic, and political
issues," CPJ said in an
<
http://www.cpj.org/2012/10/ethiopia-briefly-detains-voice-of-america-corres
po.php> October statement.
The government denies violently suppressing the protests, and says "one or
two of the protests were extremely violent (with police killed)."
Activists and rights groups are concerned about references to "terrorism" in
the charges. "The charges contain similar allegations used to prosecute
dissident journalists and opposition leaders in the past few years... the
leaders of the Muslim protest are just the latest victims of the regime's
war against dissenting voices," said Jawar Mohammed.
"In fact, many of the Muslim scholars and spiritual leaders being accused of
such conspiracy to create an Islamic state have written and publicly spoken
advocating against any form of extremism, emphasizing that Ethiopia is a
multi-faith country where secular state is indispensable for co-existence,"
he added. "The irony is that these Muslim leaders, many of them, are
followers of the Sufi tradition and have a proven track record of actively
fighting against infiltration of the community by extremist elements."
What is the extent of the protests and violence?
The demonstrations have continued for close to a year, and show no signs of
abating. During Eid Al Adha celebrations in late October, tens of thousands
of Muslims took to the streets to celebrate the holiday; after the prayers,
they staged protests. "We have nothing to kill for. but we have Islam to die
for," read some of the protesters' banners.
The arrest of an Imam in the Oromia region back in April led to clashes that
left four dead, while the country's federal police clashed with protesters
at Addis Ababa's Grand Anwar mosque on 21 July.
In October, in the Amhara Region, three civilians and one police officer
were killed when protesters stormed a police station where a religious
leader was jailed, said Communication Affairs State Minister Shimeles Kemal.
On 29 October, federal prosecutors charged the jailed activists and others
with terrorism; a group of 29 people are accused of aiming to establish an
Islamic state, undermining the country's secular constitution.
How might resentments play out?
In a
<
http://www.crisisgroup.org/%7E/media/Files/africa/horn-of-africa/ethiopia-e
ritrea/b089-ethiopia-after-meles> report released shortly after Meles's
death, the think tank International Crisis Group warned that the new
government would find it difficult to deal with grievances in the absence of
"any meaningful domestic political opposition".
"Resentments would likely continue to be turned into ethnic and religious
channels, thus undermining stability and, in the worst case of civil war,
even survival of a multi-ethnic, multi-faith state," the authors said.
kt/kr/cb
Received on Thu Nov 15 2012 - 21:30:48 EST
