A Historical Explanation as to Why
Members & Supporters of the TPLF
are Ethnocentric
By Fikre Tolossa
January 1997
In these days of ethnic
madness, many Ethiopians consider Tigreans to be
self-centered, and even tribalistic. "Where is
the Tigrean sense of Ethiopian nationalism?"
they ask. If they are not Ethiopians, who is? I hesitate to make such a gross
generalization about all Tigreans since I haven't
been in Tigray lately to survey their true feelings towards Ethiopia.
I would hate to speculate about their national integrity. However, from what I
have seen, read and heard about the members and supporters of the TPLF who live
outside Tigray in the rest of Ethiopia
and in the West, I have come to realize that they display a terrific
ethnocentric behavior.
The supporters of the TPLF
and those Tigreans now in power in Ethiopia,
including Ato Meles Zenawi, have implied time and again that they are Tigreans, first and foremost, and then Ethiopians. In other
words, they have suggested that their Ethiopianess
comes second to their Tigreaness. Contrary to this,
many Amharas, for instance, consider themselves
Ethiopians, first and foremost, and then Amahras,
thus demonstrating their great feelings of Ethiopian nationalism and
patriotism.
Running briefly through the
pages of Ethiopian history, let us analyze why the members and supporters of
TPLF incline to be more ethnocentric and less nationalistic than the Amharas. There are two reasons why the Amhara in general appear to be more nationalistic than the Tigreans. First, the Amharas are
more heterogeneous compared with the Tigreans because
of their geographical locations and the fact that they have intermingled with
non-Amhara peoples such as the Oromo. Second, they
have had access to state power for the past 700 years, and because of that they
had to bear the responsibility of playing a leading role in preserving the Ethiopian
Tewahedo Church
and the territorial integrity of Ethiopia
during those years. The opposite holds true for Tigreans
during the past 700 years except the second half of the last Century (1872-89)
when a Tigrean emperor, Atse
Yohannes IV, ruled Ethiopia.
Let us briefly examine the
backgrounds of the members of the TPLF and their Tigrean
supporters by having a glimpse of the history of the Tigre, and compare it with that of
the Amhara. Of course, when we say let us examine the
history of the Tigre or even that of the Amhara, we, in reality, mean to say, the history of the
ruling classes of both peoples, since these classes were the ones which decided
the fate of the two peoples and the course their history took for the past 3000
years. The most important leaders of the TPLF who are now deciding the course
which Ethiopian history is taking are from the Tigray ruling class whose
fathers and grand fathers, as well as some of their family members, bore feudal
titles ranging from Kegnazmatch to Dedjazmatch. And as such, the major cause of their
hostility towards the Amhara is nothing but sheer
power struggle, for they consider the Amhara to be their
political rival. The common people of Tigray and even the masses of the TPLF
fighters have nothing to do with this hostility. The history of Tigray has
its roots deep down in the Aksumite Civilization and
beyond. It is impossible to talk of the history of Tigray without tracing it
back to the Aksumite and the pre-Aksumite
civilizations.
The history of Aksum
has been documented in monuments, coins, artifacts, paintings, inscriptions,
books and oral literature. According to these sources, the regions known today
as Tigray and Eritrea
and even beyond them, were identified as Pount about 5000 years ago. The people of Pount traded with the ancient Egyptians in spices, myrrh,
incense, ivory, gold and other minerals, medicinal herbs, hides and various kind of woods, as well as domestic and wild animals.
History has recorded the
existence of a strong state in North East Ethiopia between 500 and 100 B.C.
preceding the Aksumite civilization. It was
identified as the Empire of Daamatt. The people of Daamatt had their own unique alphabet and were architects
and sculptors. Some of their statues and monuments have survived to our day.
One of their famous statues, a lady sitting on a chair, was discovered in
Tigray. Though it is 2500 years old, it is still intact. One of their leaders,
King Lemene, in one of his inscriptions which has
reached our age, states that he was the king of the Daamatt,
Saba, Aberra, and the red and the black. The Daamatt Empire had commercial, cultural, religious and
linguistic relationships with Arabia across the Red
Sea.
Aksumite
leaders who ruled in the early Christian era followed in the footsteps of their
Daamatt predecessors and continued to expand the
Empire. Among the powerful kings of Aksum
in the Christian Era was Zoscales.
According to a book entitled, The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,
written by a Greek traveller in the Second Century
A.D., a young and wise leader by the name of Zoscales
was ruling Aksum when he visited
that magnificent City. Zoscales spoke Greek and
controlled the international commercial transactions which took place in his
seaport of Adulis. Zoscales
had a close relationship with the then powerful states such as Egypt,
Greece and Rome.
He extended his territory as far as near Port Sudan
and the Aden Peninsula.
Aksum attained international
respect and recognition during the reign of Zoscales.
The successors of Zoscales colonized Arabia
and stretched out as far as Nubia
and Egypt.
However, within Ethiopia
itself, they went southward and occupied only a few territories such as the
ones inhabited by the Agew, Agame
and Gambela peoples. The colonization of Arabia
enabled Aksum to compete in
international commerce with the superpowers of the day, such as the Turks,
Romans, Greeks and Persians.
The towering figure among Aksumite emperors in the 4th Century A.D. was Ezana. In fact, he is one of the greatest Aksumite emperors. He was himself converted to Christianity
first, and then made Christianity the official religion of his Empire, even
though Christianity had been practised by Aksumites since the First Century A.D. By so doing, he laid
the corner-stone for the development of Ethiopian Christian inspired theology,
literature, arts, culture, architecture, history, law and music. Ezana loved to record history. He documented his valor and
the affairs of his days and the history of his time on coins and in three
languages: Greek, Sabean and Geez.
He established a close relationship with the Coptic Church of Alexandria and
enabled Ethiopia
to obtain patriarchs from there up until the last century for about 1500 years.
He expanded the territory of his empire beyond the Red Sea,
and to some extent, within inland Ethiopia.
The Geez alphabet and literature began to achieve a
new dimension during his reign.
Aksum
continued to be a profoundly Christian city even after the death of Ezana, so that it attracted foreign missionaries to come
and convert the "pagans" outside Aksum.
Towards the end of the Fifth Century, a group of nine saints from the different
parts of the then Roman Empire including Constantinople,
Antioch, Rome
and Asia Minor headed for Aksum.
Emperor Ella Amida II, who was the grandfather of
Caleb, was delighted to have them around. The people of Aksum,
too, welcomed them. The nine saints went, boldly risking their lives, into the
remotest parts of the Aksumite Empire and fought
against "paganism" by preaching the Gospel. Their spiritual activity
is supposed to have lasted through the reigns of four emperors, such as Ella-Amida, Tazena, Caleb
and even through that of Atse Gebre
Meskal. Besides evangelizing Ethiopia,
the nine saints were also engaged in the development of theology and in
literary activities such as the completion of the translation of the Holy Bible
into Geez which had started in the early 5th century
A.D. The life history of the nine monks (Gedle)
written by Ethiopian biographers by itself became a source of Ethiopian
literature. Moreover, the canonization of the nine monks as saints by the Ethiopian
Tewahedo Church
has deeply affected the spiritual life of all Christian Tigreans
and other Ethiopians to this day, since these saints are commemorated in Tigray
and the rest of Ethiopia
every October, June, March, November, December and January.
Kaleb,
the son of Ezana, expanded and consolidated his father's
empire in both Arabia and Ethiopia.
In addition, he extended his own territory upto Yemen.
He made an expedition to Southern Arabia to subdue a
rebellious prince and to restore his colony, besides rebuilding churches and
towns. Later, an Aksumite soldier by the name of Abreha became the king of Arabia
including Yemen,
after murdering the new appointee of the Aksumite
Emperor. The Emperor forgave him and approved of his kingship. Abreha colonized almost all of Arabia
on behalf of his Emperor, built his capital at San'a,
constructed marvellous churches, expanded commerce
and attempted to invade Mecca and
destroy its Ka'ba to stop the people from worshipping
idoles before the rise of the Prophet Mohammed. After
Abreha's death, his son failed to rule Arabia
as effectively as his father. Eventually, assisted by the Persians, who were Ethiopia's
commercial rivals, the indigenous Arabs were able to free themselves from the
domination of the Aksumites.
Kaleb's
son, Gebre-Meskel (534-548) A.D., was as great a leader
as his pious father. He held his father's territory tightly as soon as he
ascended to the throne. Moreover, he devoted his time to supporting and
building churches such as the Debre-Damo and St.
Mary of Zion. He is also supposed
to have supervised the construction of the Zur Amba
Church in Gaynt,
Begemedir. He befriended with St. Yared,
the greatest poet-composer of Ethiopia,
and appointed him to be his "minister of culture." The respect and
support of a great emperor as Gebre-Meskel helped Yared to compose such great lyrics, hymns and melodies that
still thrill the souls of Ethiopians of the Tewahedo denomination. His verses
became a model for Geez poetry. Yared
and Gebre-Meskel introduced the celebration of
Hosanna in imitation of Jesus' return to Jerusalem
riding a donkey. The tradition is still observed in Northern
Ethiopia. It was Gebre-Meskel who
initiated the crowning of an Emperor in a church. It seems that Gebre-Meskel's contribution to Aksumite
Civilization is more of spiritual than material.
In spite of the fact that Aksum
lost Arabia at the end of the 6th Century, its influence
on its former colony was remarkable. Those Ethiopians who survived in Arabia
continued to participate in the military, political and cultural activities of Mecca.
Their impact upon navigation was particularly significant. Many of the Arabic
vocabularies which had to do with ships and navigation were of Geez origin. On top of that, Aksum
continued to dominate the religious life of Arabia in
the early 7th Century when the Prophet Muhammed was
yet a young man in Mecca. He had
the opportunity to hear both the Torah and the Gospel read aloud and discussed
in public by the Ethiopian priests with whom he was a friend. Their impact on
him has been evidenced by his knowledge of the Bible and his use of numerous Geez vocabularies in the Koran. His connection with Ethiopia,
however, was deeper than that. His nurse when he was a baby was an Ethiopian
lady. It was to Ethiopia
he sent his followers and relatives to find safe-haven with the Aksumite Emperor when they were persecuted in Arabia
at a time when Islam was at its infancy. A significant number of Ethiopians was
present among the Prophet's soldiers and entourage.
In addition to Arabia,
the Aksumites went as far as Nubia (Sudan)
to help the Christian churches there in many ways until the rise of Islam. In
the long run, the rise of Islam proved to be an obstacle to Aksum's
spiritual and material progress. Aksum was cut off from Arabia and Christian
Europe so that its cultural, spiritual, economic and political developments
were thwarted for nearly a thousand years when "the Ethiopians slept
forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten," as Edward Gibbon put
it rightly.
In the 10th Century, the
advent of Islam, the lack of a patriarch from Alexandria
without which the Ethiopian Emperor and Church were powerless, and the rise to
power of a female Jewish (Felasha) warrior named Yodit (Gudit), caused the
downfall of the Aksumite Empire. Yodit
destroyed many monuments, castles and churches including the illustrious
cathedral of Aksum, St. Mary of Zion.
She burned countless books of immense value. She persecuted Del Ne'ad, the last Aksumite Emperor
of the Solomonic Dynasty and reigned over Aksum
for 40 years. When she died, Dil Ne'ad,
who had been in exile in Menz, Shewa, restored his Dynasty.
He was overthrown again probably around 1030 A.D. by his Agew
servant Mera Tekle-Haimanot
who claimed connection with the Solomonic Dynasty and
established the Zagwe Dynasty.
With the ascension to the throne of Mera Tekle-Haimanot, the link of the chain of the Solomonic Dynasty was broken. The capital city, Aksum,
was also replaced by Lasta in Wello, thus moving away
the spiritual, political, economic and cultural nerve center of the Aksumites. This way the glorious Aksum
lost its significance as one of the cradles of Ethiopian civilization. After
the decline of Aksum up until 1974
for about 1100 years, Tigray was first ruled by the Agew,
later by the Amhara, Oromo and a few Tigre governor generals who were
appointed by the Amhara emperors excluding the time
(seventeen years) when the Tigrean Emperor Yohannes IV reigned over the entire Ethiopia.
The Agew
are one of the indigenous inhabitants of Ethiopia.
They were there and even took part when the Aksumite
Civilization was in the making. However, they never had a chance to rule Ethiopia
directly until about the 11th Century when they established the Zagwe Dynasty. The greatest leader among them was Emperor Lalibela. It was during his reign that the Amhara started to play a leading role in Ethiopian history.
To seize power, when Lalibela waged war against his
brother Harbe' who was supported by the majority of
the Agew, the Amhara fought
along Lalibela's side. As a reward for this service,
he distanced himself from the Agew and promoted the Amhara to high ranks in his government. As the high ranking
officials and soldiers of Lalibela's government, the Amhara became prominent in Wadla
& Delanta, Begemedir,
Saint and Weleka. From this time on, the Amhara appeared in the scene to play a vital role in
Ethiopian history for more than seven hundred years.
According to Aleka Desta Tekle-Wold,
the word Amara or Amhara
means people who are free. According to Aleka Taye and Aleka Asme-Giorgis, the Amhara are the
descendants of Ethyiopis, one of the settlers of
North East Africa, whose name probably Ethiopia
bears. Unlike the Tigre,
there was no one particular place or defined territory in which the Amhara lived. Nevertheless, it was observed that by the
13th Century, they had settled in Gonder, Gojam, Shewa, Wadla & Delanta, Lasta, Saynt, Meket and Shadaho. The Amhara were as much
Christian as the Tigre.
Gradually, the word Amhara and Christian became so
synonymous that when a non-Amhara was converted to
Christianity, it was said of him that he became an Amhara.
It has been reported that Emperor Lalibela used the
technical know-how of the Amhara to build one of the
wonders of the world, the rock-hewn churches of Roha.
The Amhara
probably spoke Geez before they created Amharic
during the reign of Lalibela out of a mixture of Tigrigna, Arabic and Hebrew, in order to convey across a
secret message. Later, when the Amhara mixed with the
Oromo, Amharic enriched itself with Oromo syntax, vocabularies and idiomatic expressions.
For this reason and as a result of the subtlety of the Amharic language, Aleka Asme-Giorgis asserts that
even the Amhara of Gonder
and Gojam, let alone of Shewa, would not communicate
easily with each other. Gradually, during the reign of Yekuno
Amlak, Amharic spread like wild-fire and non-Amhara peoples all over Ethiopia
began to speak it. Consequently, they were considered to be Amhara,
even as the non-Amhara converts to Christianity were
seen as Amhara.
Despite the fact that Emperor
Lalibela of the Zagwe
Dynasty raised the Amhara to higher ranks and inspite of the fact that he granted them land and tenants,
their hearts were yearning for the restoration of the Solomonic
Dynasty. This they were able to realize through the help of a famous Amhara monk, Aba Tekle-Haimanot of Bulga, who
plotted against Ne'akuto Le'ab,
the last Zagwe Emperor, partly because of the promise
which the claimant of the Solomonic Dynasty, Yekuno Amlak, made to him to
grant the church a third of his Empire if he would help him to dethrone Ne'akuto Le'ab. (Ironically, Yekuno Amlak was in the service
of Ne'akuto Le'ab, the last
Zagwe Emperor, even as Mera
Tekle-Haimanot was in the service of Dil Ne'ad, the last Emperor of
the so-called Solomonic Dynasty whom he had managed to
overthrow). Moreover, the Patriarch, representing the Church would sit next to
the Emperor's throne at public ceremonies and the Akabe
Se'at would control the affairs of the Church in
relation to the State. In other words, the Church would have an immense wealth
and power in the land. As a result, Christianity, the Emperor and the
motherland became synonymous for the Amhara upon Yekuno Amlak's ascension to the
throne. This interrelationship lasted up until 1974 when the Derg separated State and Church after the overthrow of
Emperor Haile-Selassie I, who claimed to be the
descendant of Yekuno Amlak.
Abune
Tekle-Haimanot, supported by the Ethiopian clergy
including Aba Iyesus Moa of
the Haik Monastery, Aba Yohannes of Debre Damo, and even the Nebure'ed of Aksum
as well as the Patriarch of Ethiopia, Abune Kerlos, convinced the pious and God-fearing last Emperor of
the Zagwe Dynasty who revered Abune
Tekle-Haimanot immensely, that his dynasty was
illegal, that he should hand over power without bloodshed to Yekuno Amlak, the
"rightful" heir to the throne. After a series of negotiations Ne'akuto Le'ab, whom you can
consider either naive or a great man of God, agreed to let Yekuno
Amlak sit in the Ethiopian throne upon his death
providing the descendants of the Zagwe Dynasty are
given due respect and homage as long as the descendants of the Solomonic Dynasty reigned. This way the Amhara
throned an Emperor of their
choice claiming that he was one of the descendants of the last Aksumite Emperor, Del Ne'ad.
In reality, however, three
hundred years had elapsed ever since Del Ne'ad was
overthrown. Therefore, the integrity of the lineage was debatable. To
legitimize Yekuno Amlak's Solomonic lineage, he and the Amhara
had the Kebre-Negest composed. The Kebre-Negest narrates how, about 1000 B.C., Queen Maqda of Ethiopia
traveled to Jerusalem to hear the
wisdom of King Solomon by whom she was impregnated to give birth to a son, Menelik, who became the first Ethiopian Emperor of the Solomonic Dynasty. Numerous Aksumite
emperors claimed descent from him. Among the Amhara, Haile Selassie claimed to be the
225th Emperor of this Dynasty. The whole story of King Solomon and Queen Maqda is a legend. If he had indeed impregnated her, since
King Solomon, who was the greatest womanizer of all time with over 900
concubines, without counting his wives, the fact that he impregnated a
dignified Ethiopian Queen who was his guest was not something to be proud of.
However, because of the greatness of Solomon and because of Ethiopia's
attachment to Judaism and Christianity, the legend was accepted positively.
Consequently, it helped Yekuno Amlak
and his descendants to rule Ethiopia
for 700 years.
Yekuno
Amlak is supposed to be the 9th descendant of Del Ne'ad the Tigrean. If this was
true, then the Amhara who
had no ethnic relationship with him contrary to the Tigreans,
used Yekuno Amlak by whom
they were used mutually to seize power. If Yekuno Amlak was indeed the descendant of the last Aksumite Emperor, and as such a Tigrean,
then all those emperors who succeeded him and reigned in Gonder
and Shoa including Fasiledes, Menelik
and Haile Selassie, were
all of Tigrean and not of Amhara
descent. In that case, the allegation that it was Amhara
emperors who sat upon the Ethiopian throne for the past 700 years has no
foundation. In the final analysis, it doesn't matter whether Yekuno Amlak and his descendants
were Tigreans or Amharas
who usurped the Solomonic Dynasty like the Zagwe emperors. The fact is that they ruled Ethiopia
for 700 years supported by the Amhara and the Ethiopian
Tewahedo Church.
This Church, though Aksumite in origin, empowered
itself during the Shoan era, and became for the Amhara the foundation of their monarchy, history, arts, and
culture and the source of their inspiration and courage. The Amhara thought that if their Church was threatened their
livelihood was at stake. The Tewahedo
Church indeed enabled the Amhara, at least nominally, to have an access to the power
which the Tigreans had lost about 1100 years
ago.
Since Yekuno
Amlak was born among the Amhara,
even assuming that he was not an Amhara, there is no
doubt that he spoke Amharic as his mother-tongue. As a matter of fact, it was
during his reign that Amharic began spreading fast throughout the Ethiopian
Empire. He made Tegulet (Debre-Berhan)
in Shoa his Capital city. Nevertheless, he didn't stay there all the time. He
roamed about the empire to consolidate his power and to build his nation, a
tradition which almost all Ethiopian emperors followed.
Contrary to the Aksumite emperors, who made their presence felt mainly in
the North and across the Red Sea, Yekuno
Amlak and his descendants expanded South, West and
East within Ethiopia.
Yekuno Amlak, Amde-Tsion (r. 1314-1344), Dawit
I (r. 138O-1412), Zera Yacob
(r. 1434-1468), Be'ede Mariam
(r. 1468-1478), Naod (r. 1494-15O8), Lebene Dengil (r. 15O8-154O), Gelawdewos (r. 154O-1559), Sertse
Dengel (r. 1563-1597), Susenyos
(r. 16O7-1632), Fasilidas (r. 1632-1667), Yohannes I (r. 1667-1682), Iyasu
I (r. 1682-17O6), Bekaffa (r. 1721-173O), Iyassu II (r. 173O-1755), Iyoas
(r. 1755-1769), Menelik II (r.1889-19O9) and Haile Selassie (r.193O-1974), all
these emperors defended the territorial integrity of their country against
foreign powers, upheld Christianity strongly and withstood the forces which
used Islam as a pretext to wage war and seize power. They also intermingled
with the Oromo and shared with them blood and culture, after a long fight with
them. The Aksumites, in their heydays, crossed
the Red Sea, seized Arabia,
colonized it and converted their subjects to Christianity. In other words, they
were the ones who were aggressive. The Amhara,
because of the historical time they were in power, i.e., after the rise of
Islam and during the age of imperialism, had to be defensive for the most part.
However, it doesn't mean that they didn't invade and occupy foreign countries.
As a matter of fact, they raided Nubia (Sudan)
from time to time. According to his Gedl, Atse Fasil (1632-1667) colonized Nubia and a part of Egypt
successfully. Besides trying to expand Ethiopia's
territory, the Amhara played a leading role in
defending the territorial integrity of Ethiopia
from foreign aggressors.
The Turks were the first
foreign aggressors towards the end of the 16th Century who had an immense
ambition to colonize eastern and northern Ethiopia,
control Ethiopia's
commerce and communication with the outside world, and impose their religion
upon her. This they attempted to exercise first by using Muslims of Yifat, as well as Somali and Afar Ethiopians. Gragn Muhammed and his successors
were instrumental for the Turks to weaken Christian Ethiopian emperors. The
Turks were then one of the super powers of the day. Besides occupying the
coast of Eritrea
and the Red Sea islands of Ethiopia
such as Harkiko, they even came as far as Tigray to
wage war against Ethiopia.
One of the Amhara emperors who fought the Turks
ferociously was Atse Sertse
Dengel. In 1588-89 he mobilized a large army and
waged a decisive war against them in Tigray and what is now called Eritrea.
He managed to wipe them out of Eritrea
and Tigray liberating Massawa and Debarua.
They escaped to the sea and either hid in the island
of Arkiko
or fought back with canons mounted on their naval fleets from the Red
Sea. Since Ethiopia's
great navy had ceased to exist with the decline of the Aksumite
Empire, Sertse Dengel could
not pursue them with ships. As a result, he kept his troops at the coast of the
sea for a while and due to scorching sun and lack of provisions, he retreated
inland lest his solders die from dehydration and starvation.
The Turks returned and seized
the Red Sea coast including Massawa
and Debarua. Later, another emperor, Atse Fasil, realizing the
futility of fighting with them, chose diplomacy and made a pact accepting to
live with them. History repeated itself in time of Menelik
II. Atse Sertse Dengel's defeat of the Turks and Atse
Fasil's pact with them is amazingly similar to Menelik's defeat of the Italian imperialists 308 years
later at the Battle of Adwa. Emperor Menelik, too, had to make a pact with the Italians who were
in Eritrea and
return to his Capital lest his soldiers die from drought and starvation if he
were to pursue the Italians any further to the sea. In any case, in 1896 and
1936, the role of leadership in defending Ethiopia twice from European
imperialism during the scramble for Africa and the rise of fascism, was played
once again by the Amhara and Amhara
emperors, Atse Menelik and Atse Haile Selassie,
who mobilized the various ethnic groups to resist the aggression.
The reason why the Amhara and their emperors played a leading role in
defending Ethiopia
was not that they loved Ethiopia
more than the Tigreans or other ethnic groups. It was
because they happened to rule Ethiopia
when her independence was at stake. The Tigreans and
Emperor Yohannes IV, too, had fought the Italian and Mahdist aggressors on several occasions when the Tigreans once again were ruling Ethiopia albeit briefly. In
fact, it was while fighting against the Mahdists that
Atse Yohannes lost his
life. The time in which the Tigreans once again ruled
Ethiopia after
they lost power for about 1100 years were too short (seventeen years, 1872-89)
to create in them a strong feeling of nationalism for the entire Ethiopia.
Moreover, in contrast to the Amhara who went to
Tigray several times from southern, central and western Ethiopia to liberate
Tigray including Eritrea from the Turks and Italians, the Tigreans
were fighting against the foreign invaders only within Tigray proper (except Metema where Yohannes IV died to
avenge the Mahdists for raiding Gonder)
to liberate their own land. The fact that the Amhara
were defending Tigray and the rest of Ethiopia
for 700 years helped them to develop a strong sense of Ethiopian
nationalism.
Before the rise of Islam, the
Afar and the Somali peoples were first under the sovereignty of the Aksumites, and later under those of the Zagwe
emperors to whom they paid tribute. With the rise of Islam, however, Aksum
began to decline and these Ethiopians were converted to Islam. Later, during
the reign of Yekuno Amlak
and his descendants, supported by the Arabs and the Turks, they rebelled
against their Christian sovereigns who ruled them from Shoa. They defied their
authority and waged Jihad wars against Shoan emperors
such as Amde-Tsion, Seife-Ar'ed,
Dawit, Zere-Yacob, Be'de-Mariam, Lebene-Dengel and Gelawdewos. Though there were other Ethiopian Muslim
leaders (for instance, the Sultans of Yifat such as Sabredin, Kadi Selehi, Hakadin and Se'adadin) who had waged unsuccessful Islamic wars against
the Shoan emperors, Ahmed Gragn,
who was based in Harer, was able to defeat them and
rule a good part of Ethiopia for about 16 years, until he was killed by a
Portuguese soldier in a battle in 1543. Ahmed Gragn's
nephew, Nur Ahmed, avenged his uncle later by killing
Emperor Gelawdewos in 1560. After that, the Amhara emperors didn't resume fighting against their Afari and Somali countrymen until 1577 when Sultan Mohamed
IV rose against Emperor Sertse-Dengel in a battle at
the Wabi Shebele region. He
lost this battle and his life. To temper the aggression of the Afar, the Shoan Emperors sought marriage with the daughters of the
Afar chieftains. This strategy helped them to some extent.
In 1887, Emperor Menelik II established a total dominion over Harer and ended the emirate and sultanate once and for all.
The fact that the Amhara were ruling Ethiopia
until the rise of Emperor Yohannes IV, who empowered
the Tigreans once again, made them historically
responsible to defend Ethiopia
and to play a leading role in her expansion and unity. This situation stirred
in them a strong national feeling as well as unbreakable bond to and an
identity with Ethiopia
for whose sake they shed their blood willingly. Whereas the expansion of
the Aksumites within Ethiopia was very limited, the Amhara, basing themselves in Gonder
and Shoa, stretched to the peripheries in their nation-building endeavor in
which they succeeded to bring together Ethiopia under their sovereignty, so
that when the Derg collapsed in 1991, the TPLF and
EPLF were able to inherit the present large territory of Ethiopia including
Eritrea. Of course, there were two non-Amhara
emperors who have also contributed to the expansion and unity of Ethiopia,
namely, Atse Tewodros of Quara and Atse Yohannes of Tigre.
Even though these emperors were not Amhara, they
followed in the footsteps of Amhara emperors linking
themselves to the Solomonic Dynasty and maintaining
the status quo which the Amhara had
established.
The Amhara
were not lucky enough to live in peace. Shortly after the Islamic wars were
over, they engaged in a war with their other countrymen, the Oromo, who had
started expanding into their territories in the 1520s when the Amhara were busy with their Muslim brothers. Compared with
the Tigre,
the Amhara lived in the most fertile regions of Ethiopia.
Initially, the different Oromo tribes fought the Amhara
wherever they happened to be, looking for ideal grazing lands for their cattle.
Tigray being arid, the Oromo were not interested in it. So, they looked at it
from afar and ignored it. After the Amhara moved
their capital city from Shoa to Gonder in order to be
less accessible to the Muslim invaders, the Oromo had engaged in many battles
with the Amhara in Gonder
and Gojam. In one of such battles, a little "Amhara"
prince by the name of Susenyos was captured by the
Oromo and was adopted by one of them. He learned the Oromo language and grew up
in accordance with the Oromo culture. After he lived six years with them, he
reunited with his royal family in Gonder. Upon the
death of his father his power rivals chased him out of Gonder.
He found refuge among his former Oromo friends and persuaded them to follow him
claiming that he was their king. Indeed, they accepted him as their leader and
fought for him in Shoa and other parts of central Ethiopia where he emerged
victorious. Gradually, he marched with them to Gonder
and seized power and became emperor. He filled the court with his Oromo friends
and soldiers and spent most of his leisure time with them ignoring the Amhara. He appointed them to higher posts in his empire.
Whenever the Amhara of Gojam and Gonder
rebelled against him, he sent the ferocious Oromo fighters whom he allowed to
rule over the rebellious Amhara as governors and landlords.
This way the Oromo rooted themselves in Amhara
territories consolidating their power and exerting their influence upon the Amhara. Their presence and influence were felt more in Gonder when Emperor Iyasu II
married an Oromo lady by the name of Wabi and begot Iyoas. Later, Wabi appointed her
Oromo brothers and relatives to higher positions in the empire, and her son,
Emperor Iyoas, favored them more than the Gonder Amhara. Elsewhere in Shoa,
Wello, Meket and Shadaho,
the Amhara got tired of fighting with the Oromo and
intermingled with them through marriage and Oromo adoption systems known as Mogassa and Gudifecha.
Eventually, the Amhara and the Oromo, besides mixing blood, influenced each
other's language, religion, culture, arts and crafts, warfare and horsemanship
to mention just a few. This mixing of blood and culture resulted in creating
great emperors, kings and empresses of Oromo descent such as Iyoas, Tekle-Haimanot of Gojam, Menelik II, Haile Selassie I, Itege Tewabech, Itege Taitu Betul and Itege Mennen, even without mentioning the myriads of Oromo
princes, Rasses and Dedjazmatches.
This phenomenon coupled with the fact that the Amhara
were more or less dispersed all over the length and breadth of Ethiopia,
expanded their world-outlook and sense of belonging to the entire Ethiopia.
Instead of being locked within their own ethnic shell, they broke out of it and
achieved universality. Instead of feeling being only Amhara,
they considered themselves, first and foremost, Ethiopians. Further more, the
fact that the Amhara were dispersed in different
provinces mixed with various ethnic groups by whose languages, religions,
culture and psychological makeup they were influenced, each Amhara
group, depending on its location, evolved as a unique entity with its own
characteristic features, which to a degree distinguish it from the others. In
other words, it lacked homogeneity to be so ethnic-minded. Particularly the Shoan Amhara which both the TPLF
and EPLF resent extremely, formed an independent state
with its own unique political, economic, cultural and social system, unlike
that of the Gonder and Gojam Amhara,
when they refused to pay tribute to the Gonder Amhara in 1738. Atse Iyasu Adiam-Seged, who was then
the Emperor of Ethiopia, sent his army to subdue the Shoan
Amhara, who, led by Mered Azmatch Abiye, won the battle,
thus cutting off Shoa from Gonder for about 125 years
until Emperor Tewodros II captured young Menelik upon the death of his father King Haile-Melekot in 1863. This lack of homogeneity among the Amhara turned out to be a positive factor which helped them
to evolve as Ethiopians first and foremost and as such, to develop a strong
feeling of a "wider nationalism" as opposed to narrow
nationalism.
That was not the case with
the Tigreans. Since the Tigreans,
compared with the Amhara, were confined to their own
province without mixing with the Oromo or other ethnic groups, which would
imprint a lasting impact upon them for the past 1100 years, kept themselves homogenous. For this reason, their language (in
spite of the fact that many of them spoke Amharic), religion, culture,
psychological makeup and geographical territory (except Eritrea's
separation from it), remained predominantly the same as they were for hundreds
of years. This fact made the leaders of the TPLF so ethnocentric that their
most articulate members such as Meles Zenawi and his associates declared that they were Tigreans first and foremost. Hence, their
lack of Ethiopian nationalism. Hence their opting to wage ethnic war
against Mengistu Haile-Mariam's
regime, whereas the great majority of the Amhara
youth chose to fight for all Ethiopian oppressed masses irrespective of their
ethnic origin.
After the fall of Aksum,
Tigre was
ruled first by the Agew, later by the Amhara and Oromo emperors, regents, Dedjazmatches,
Rasses or by Tigrean
chieftains appointed by them. The Tigrean ruling
class submitted to the Amhara emperors or the enderasses of Ethiopia (regents) whether they were Oromo or
Amhara, and expressed their allegiance to them
whenever they (the Tigreans) were weaker. On the
other hand, when they felt that they were strong enough or oppressed too much,
they defied their authority, refused to pay tribute, and even fought them. One
typical example of such Tigre
warlords was Ras Se'ul Mikael. In 1745, when he felt that he was powerful
militarily, he rebelled against Emperor Iyasu Birhan Seged, but when he
realized that he couldn't withstand him, he submitted to him. Around 1805 Ras Wolde-Selassie rebelled
against the Oromo Regent of Ethiopia,
Ras Gugssa. After his
death, Dedjazmatch Sabagadis
defied the Authority of his son, the Regent Ras Mariye. After the death of Ras Mariye, his brother, Dedjazmatch Dori became the Regent of Ethiopia. Dedjazmatch
Sabagadis' son, Dedjazmatch
Kahssaye, refused to submit to Dedjazmatch
Woube who was appointed by Dedjazmatch
Dori. After the death of Atse
Yohannes IV, Ras Mengesha, who claimed the throne, supported by Ras Alula and Ras
Hagos, did not express his allegiance to Menelik and submit to him in the beginning. It took Menelik a long time to reconcile with both Ras Mengesha and Ras Alula of Tigre.
In the days gone by, in the
regions known as Tigray and Tigre,
located on both sides of the Mereb
River, the ruling classes used to
fight each other for the sake of territories and power. For example, the ruling
family of Shum Agame Woldu,
the father of Dedjazmatch Sabagadis
from Agame, the family of Shum Tenben
Mircha, the father of Atse Yohannes IV from Tenben, the
family of Ras Wolde-Selassie
from Enderta and the family of Kentiba
Tesfa and Zeray, Dedjazmatch Wolde-Mikael and Dedjazmatch Hailu from Hamassien, were bitter enemies who battled often for the
acquisition of land and power. Nevertheless, they were all united in their
opposition against and their feelings of resentment towards the Amhara, even though this or that group may have appeared to
be preferred by the Amhara or seemed to favor and
collaborate with the Amhara.
In the 20th Century, the Tigre ruling class persuaded by
the British, stirred the peasants to rise (the Woyane
Uprising) against the Shoan Amhara
and Emperor Haile Selassie,
after the liberation of Ethiopia
from fascist Italy
in 1943-44. A special force led by Ras Abebe Aregay suppressed the
uprising. Taking the place of the Italians, the British had a scheme to rule
both Tigray and Eritrea
as one entity of Tigre-Tigrigna. To this end, they
attempted to use Atse Yohannes'
close relatives such as Ras Seyum
and Dedjazmatch Haile-Selassie
Gugssa who had already been appointed as the Governor
General of Tigre
by the Italian fascists. Ras Seyum
accepted the British offer to be the Governor General of Tigre, and then changed his mind
when he found out that Emperor Haile-Selassie had
arrived in Ethiopia
from exile. The British replaced Ras Seyum with the opportunist banda Dedjazmatch Haile-Selassie Gugssa whom they promoted to Ras.
The Emperor had to put immense pressure on the British government to assert his
sovereignty. Despite Ras Seyum's
expression of his allegiance to Emperor Haile-Selassie,
the latter was at times suspicious of the former, remembering his initial
collaboration with the British. Even the young Ras Mengesha Seyum, who was then only
16 years old was implicated with being a part of the Woyane
Uprising and brought to trial in Addis Abeba.
Evidently, the leaders of the
TPLF sympathize with the Woyane Uprising and regret
its failure since they have named their organization the Woyane
Harenet Tigray. Some of the important leaders of the
TPLF such as Meles Zenawi
and Hayelom Araya (TPLF's
militia leader who was posthumously promoted to general), to mention only the
two as an example, were from the Tigre
ruling class. Ato Meles's
grandfather and Ato Hayelom's
father were Dedjazmatchs. Usually, the son of a
warlord had a chance to inherit the title of his father if he was favored by
the Emperor of Ethiopia. Ato Zenawi,
the father of Meles, did not either serve fully under
Emperor Haile Selassie, or
if he did, obviously was not favored by the Shoan
Emperor, since he didn't confer upon him his father's or any title for that
matter. It is not surprising then if he disliked the Emperor Haile-Selassie, in particular, and the Amhara
ruling class in general, and if he passed on this sentiment to his son. Tigrean leaders and warlords who disdained the Amhara ruling class, in particular, and the Amhara, in general, are likely to influence their children
including some of the important leaders of the TPLF with their negative
attitude towards this class and ethnic group. Therefore, the hatred towards the
Amhara by some of the TPLF leaders is primarily
subjective and vindictive. The feelings of the leaders of the TPLF towards the
Ethiopian feudal system and its officials were the same as that of the
progressive Amhara youth. However, their resentment
of the Amhara ruling class, in particular, and that
of the Amhara, in general, originates mainly from the
influence of their families.
There are a few more reasons behind why Tigrean
elites resent the Shoan Amhara,
and all Amhara, in general. These Tigreans
have a contradictory relationship with the history of Tigray. Even though
because of their Marxist orientation they tend to label the history of Tigray
as feudal, in essence, deep down inside, they are proud of Aksum's
glorious past. The fact that Aksum declined, that Tigreans
in general lost power, that the capital of Ethiopia moved from Tigray first to Lasta, then to Shoa and Gonder
and back to Shoa, that Tigray is arid, less attended to and poverty-stricken
pains them deeply. As mentioned previously, since it was the Shoan Amhara who throned emperors who claimed to be of the Aksumite and Solomonic Dynasties
and ruled Ethiopia including Tigray for the past 700 years, with the exception
of the time when Ras Mikael
Se'ul as the Enderasse of Ethiopia,
was governing Tigray and the rest of Ethiopia, before the Era of Princess (Zemene Mesafent) for whose
occurrence he himself was partly responsible, and the reign of Atse Yohannes IV (1872-89) during
the last century, the Tigrean elite make these Amharas as scapegoat for the demise of Tigray. That is one
reason.
Another reason why the Tigrean elite resent the Amhara
is they see them as obstacle to the consolidation of Tigrean
power since they are afraid of the greatness in number of the Amhara, their seasoned experience for 700 years in warfare,
diplomacy, the political arena and bureaucracy. In order to withstand all of
these and survive, the leaders of the TPLF have resorted to demonizing the Amhara, to unite against them the other Ethiopian ethnic
groups, including the Oromo who are actually related to the Amhara.
That was why the TPLF regime neither protected innocent Amharas
when they were butchered mercilessly in Harer, Arsi,
Shoa and elsewhere, nor cared to bring the criminals to the court of
justice.
With the exception of some
individuals, the majority of Tigrean intellectuals
have chosen to remain silent about the division of Ethiopia
along ethnic lines and the attack on the Amhara.
First of all, because of the historical reasons given above, ethnicity has
always been in their blood regardless of how well they have been educated.
Therefore, they feel at home with the division of Ethiopia
along ethnic lines. Moreover, this scheme can weaken for them the Amhara, whom they consider to be their fiercest rivals.
Most important of all, they think that the status quo is in favor of their home
province which is prospering and developing rapidly at the expense of the rest
of Ethiopia. Consequently,
they have Yo ljc
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kind of attitude towards the TPLF leader ship. For the opportunist Tigreans, there is no better time than this to secure power
and amass wealth. So, why should they oppose the present Tigrean
government which, in their opinion, is working around the clock to make up what
Tigray has lost for the past 1100 years.
Even though their political
system was far from being perfect, the Amhara leaders
at least did not so openly campaign to promote only the interest of their own
ethnic group, and take total advantage of the fact that they were in power.
Striving to accommodate all, they somehow shared power and wealth with the
ruling classes of the other major ethnic groups including the Oromo and Tigre. The Amhara
people were not treated in any special way by the ruling Amhara
class. Consequently, the Amhara of Gonder, Gojam, Wello and Shoa remained as poor and as
miserable as the common folks of Tigre,
Harer, Sidamo, Keffa, and
the other regions.
Whereas the Amhara, and particularly the Shoan
and Wello Amhara, because of the vastness of their
territories, their active engagement in war, politics and commerce, as well as
their open-mindedness, easily intermingled and assimilated with various non-Amhara peoples of Ethiopia, whose ways of life, language
and culture they inherited and by whose religion and tradition they were deeply
affected, the Tigreans who lived in Tigray proper, as
indicated earlier, were intact and all alone by themselves with no other non-Tigrean people settling amongst them to influence them
linguistically, culturally and psychologically for at least 1100 years. True,
some Tigreans found their way to other provinces such
as Gonder, Wello and even as far as Shoa to seek out
their fortune. However, the number of such Tigreans
is insignificant in relation to the vast majority of Tigreans
who have never been out of Tigray proper. In our time, though these Tigreans have been exposed to the life-style, language and
culture of their "hosts," many of them remained to be a closed
society preferring often to speak their own language even in the presence of
non-Tigrigna speaking friends of theirs, sticking
together as much as they could. Even those who were born and raised away from
Tigray and Eritrea
portrayed themselves as foreign nationals with their hearts craving for Tigray
and Eritrea
where they have never been. Indeed, they were mightily ethnocentric. That was
why they used to support financially and otherwise their own ethnic political
organizations such as the TPLF and EPLF. This, of course, excludes those Tigreans and Eritreans who were
broad-minded enough to join non-ethnic Ethiopian political organizations such
as the student movement, the EPRP and Meison.
Unfortunately, some of these Tigreans abandoned the
student movement and the EPRP and joined their own ethnic fronts eventually. I
know of numerous Tigreans and Eritreans
who were born and raised in Addis Abeba and elsewhere
in Ethiopia,
who struggled in the Ethiopian student movement until they joined their own
ethnic front. What is more, they waged a war against the EPRP and chased out
its members from Assimba, Tigray, claiming that they
were not of the Tigre
ethnic group to operate there militarily.
Those who consider themselves
Ethiopians first and foremost have responded bitterly to the division of
Ethiopia along ethnic lines; to the way the referendum was conducted in
Eritrea; to the fact that Eritrea is still the economic and political burden on
Ethiopia despite her declaration of independence; to the sacking of Amharas from government institutions en mass and their
replacement with Tigreans and Eritreans;
to the disbanding of the Ethiopian army; and to the political and economic
domination of Ethiopia by the political organization of a single ethnic group
which safeguards only its own interest though it was supposed to cater to the
welfare of the whole of Ethiopia. Even some Ethiopians, who in the beginning
welcomed the TPLF when it seized power from the Derg
regime, have now withdrawn their sympathy from and are disappointed with the
TPLF Government. These Ethiopians fear that TPLF's
ethnic policy will lead to genocidal conflict like that of Ruwanda, Somalia
and Bosnia and
destroy Ethiopia.
Ato Meles contends that his
policy will stop this from happening. What he refuses to admit is that there is
ethnic-cleansing albeit on small scale going on in Ethiopia,
which may transform itself into a larger scale unless it is checked now. That
is not all. This policy has established the political and economic domination
of one ethnic group, namely the Tigre,
over the rest.
I am not of the opinion that
the TPLF deliberately designed its ethnic policy to annihilate Ethiopia
totally. It organized itself ethnically to overthrow the Derg.
Mobilizing some of the people of Tigray by exploiting their hatred for the Derg, it liberated Tigray. In the same way, it marched to
Addis Abeba exploiting the hatred for the Derg by the rest of the Ethiopian people including the Amhara and the military which refused to continue the
fighting. Instead of dragging Ethiopia
back to an outdated form of social order after she had already achieved
statehood as a result of 1000 years of struggle by visionary Ethiopian leaders,
it would have been correct to only implement a policy which will secure
Ethiopian unity based on equality and regional autonomy.
As things now stand, it is
unlikely that the TPLF will destroy Ethiopia
and return to Tigray, as numerous Ethiopians fear. The TPLF will lose its
economic resource if Ethiopia
is eliminated totally. It keeps Ethiopia
in such a way that she is neither united to resist the TPLF nor totally
fragmented to be controlled by it. That is why it suppresses any ethnic
movement which seeks complete independence from its grip, though on paper, it
grants such rights. In the long run, however, I don't think it can continue to
play this game effectively. The people of Ethiopia,
whose level of consciousness is rising every minute, will definitely challenge
it.
The reason given by Ato Meles Zenawi
for the current economic, industrial, educational and cultural boom in Tigray
and the absence of these elsewhere in Ethiopia
is that, the Tigreans are working harder under a
peaceful circumstance, whereas the other ethnic groups of Ethiopia
are fighting each other instead of using their energy in constructing their
respective killils. What Ato
Meles has lost sight of is the fact that it is his
administration which has created such a hostile atmosphere which encourages
ethnic clashes. On top of that, the TPLF doesn't allocate as much funds to the
other regions as it does to Tigray. Ato Meles's assertion that Tigray is not the most favored killil of his government is far from the truth. There is no
doubt that, under the pretext of reconstructing war-torn Tigray, the TPLF is
pumping into the region money donated and borrowed in Ethiopia's
name. I have no objection if Tigray makes economic, educational and cultural
progress as long as the downtrodden people of Tigray can benefit from it. In
fact, I will be delighted about it as I deem the downtrodden Tigreans as my own people. Nevertheless, I want to see the
same progress in Gojam, Gonder, Illubabur,
Keffa, Bale, Sidamo Harer,
and the other regions of Ethiopia.
As long as these forgotten Ethiopian provinces do not get the same attention as
Tigray, then the TPLF is indeed out there to plunder Ethiopia.
I don't think Ethiopians will tolerate this sort of injustice for a long
time.
Will the people of Tigray get
anything out of TPLF's undertakings? I doubt that
they will. Since almost all of the industries are owned by a few TPLF officials
and supporters, it is this group of the "new rich" which will have
the lion’s share of it, and not the people of Tigray. Some enraged
Ethiopians accuse all the people of Tigray to be the supporters and
collaborators of the TPLF. They also assume that since the TPLF had an army of
about 100,000 Tigreans, by proportion, all Tigreans must be its supporters. The Derg
too, had about 500,000 soldiers and militiamen. Does it mean that the Derg was supported by all Ethiopians just because it had a
large army? Of course not! It was the Derg itself
which created all the forces which united against it. When the EPRP was waging
guerrilla warfare against the Derg in Assimba, Tigray, before the formation of the TPLF, or when
it was yet in its infancy, many Tigre
peasants embraced the EPRP. After the EPRP was forced to leave Assimba due to TPLF pressure however, the people had no
choice but to side with the TPLF since it was the only group operating in
Tigray against the tyranny of the Derg. That was it.
The only way any government can gain the total support of its people is by
winning their hearts. Even if the people of Tigray were to profit from all the
projects launched by the TPLF, it wouldn't be that easy for the TPLF to win
their hearts by buying them out with material luxuries. Individuals who have
traveled to Tigray and Addis Abeba witness that there
is more freedom in Addis Abeba than in Tigray. How
could then the TPLF win the hearts and total support of the Tigray people as
some of us think?
For any political entity to
succeed in Tigray without resorting to violence, it should base its philosophy
and cultural policy on the historical, traditional and spiritual foundation of
the Tigray people. This holds true to the TPLF and even to Tigrean
Alliance for National Democracy (TAND), which is opposed to government of Meles Zenawi; for neither of
these political organizations could deeply root itself and last long without
taking into consideration the cherished values of the Tigray people.
So far, I attempted to
explain why the members of the TPLF and its Tigrean
supporters are ethnocentric. Pertaining to the Tigre
people who now live in Tigray, as I pointed out in the beginning, one cannot
know for sure their exact feelings towards the TPLF and the rest of Ethiopia,
since they haven't yet been granted the opportunity to articulate their true
feelings. Theoretically speaking, however, most of them can't be the supporters
of the TPLF, since the TPLF doesn't have much regard for their religion,
history and culture which it negates as being feudal and backward, regardless
of the fact that it is working round the clock to industrialize Tigray.
Upto
the present time, the Amhara have voiced their sad
condition through the All Amhara People's
Organization. This Organization was necessary in the beginning in exposing the
atrocities committed against the Amhara. Now however,
in the best tradition of the Amhara, it should
transform qualitatively and call itself, All Ethiopian People's Organization,
and champion Ethiopian nationalism and unity, by uniting with all Ethiopian
ethnic groups including the Tigre, which genuinely
believe in Ethiopian unity based on equality. By so doing, it will win the
support of the other ethnic groups to protect its members more effectively and
to realize Ethiopian unity based on equality and mutual respect, for whose
attainment the Amhara have shed their blood during
the past 700 years. Otherwise, it will contribute indirectly to the ethnic
division of Ethiopia
against which it has struggled up to now.
___________________________________
Fikre Tolossa, Ph.D., is
Associate Editor of ER.
The above article by Dr. Fikre was published in the January-February 1997 issue of
Ethiopian Review
© Ethiopian Review/Fikre Tolossa
1997
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