KINIJIT NOW ANDENET - The Way of Peace & Ethiopiawinet

December 11 , 2007Girma Kassa (muziky68@yahoo.com)

Our Lord Jesus (or Issa) is worshipped by Christians as the Son of the Living God. It was His birth two thousand years ago in Bethlehem that we commemorate and celebrate as Christmas .

There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. According to the Gospel of Luke an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and told them the good news of great joy that will be for all the people. A great company of the heavenly host (angels) appeared praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all men.”

The message of Christmas is a message of joy and peace. One of the heavenly declarations during that holy night, is that peace be on Earth to all men. Our Lord Jesus Christ has come to the world to give us true peace that does not depend on external circumstances but springs out from our heart. The lack of peace and internal security severely affects many dimensions of our lives.

Suicides, addictions, alcoholism … all are manifestations of the lack of internal peace within individuals. According to official statistics, about a million people commit suicide annually, more than those murdered or killed in war. As of 2001 in the USA, suicides outnumber homicides by 3 to 2 and deaths from AIDS by 2 to 1.

Depression is the common phenomenon amongst those who terminate their lives in suicide which is simply the lack of internal peace and internal security.

The message of Christmas is a message of peace. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all men.” declared angels. All of us are important to God. There is something unique that we can accomplish that no-one can. We may loose what we have labored for years in one night. We may be told a bad news by our physician. We may have difficulty feeding our children. We may be lonely and betrayed by our dear friends. We may loose loved ones and be at the bottom of our society. We may not have hope in our life and feel very empty. We may be told by others that we are hopeless and are no good for nothing. Because of what we did sometime in the past, we may continuously be blaming ourselves and see or have no purpose in our life at all.

However, I declare the message of Christmas: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to all men”. This is a heavenly message to each one of us. It is a message of hope, peace and joy. There are always alternatives. The stormy season will surely pass and spring will come. We should give ourselves second chances. We should tell ourselves that we are human beings created in the image of God for a unique and a noble cause. We may not be needed by others but we are important to God. We should stop blaming ourselves for what we did years ago. Instead let us make use of the past mistakes to make our future a better one. Let us open our heart to a new beginning and a holy message of Christmas which is a message of joy, peace and reconciliation.

The peace between fellow human beings is the second dimension of peace. The message of Christmas is the message that brings people together. Many couples who used to be lovers are no more dining on the same table. There may be some childhood friends who do not talk to each other anymore. We are so slow to love and forgive but so quick to hate and judge, slow to build but quick to destroy. What we have learned from our culture and our society may be hate towards certain group of our population. What we are filled in our heart may be bitterness and rage against other fellow human beings.

Let there be an opportunity for divorcees to reconsider and restore back their marriages. Let us remember the good days we have spend together than those few days that led us to our divorce. The message of Christmas is a message that focuses on the positives. Let children go to sleep kissing their fathers and mothers every night. Let there be peace and joy in all families. Let the whole family sing “Joy to the World” sitting around their Christmas tree. Let the whole family go to church and praise God with “Tsenatsil” and “Kebero”.

The third dimension of peace is the lack of peace in our world. Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Chad, Gaza and the West Bank, Burma, Sri Lanka, Chechnya, Ethiopia...human beings are dying in hundreds and thousands in man made wars and atrocities. The lack of peace is destroying cities, villages and countries. As an Ethiopian my message to Ethiopia is that it has some clear choices to make.

It can either be like Iraq and Somalia where one group of the population is going after the other, where its citizens are fleeing all over the places, attacks and counterattacks are basically destroying the social fabrics of the society or it can be like South Africa where mercy and reconciliation has brought the country from its ugly past.

Let the Spirit of Christmas help Ethiopia make the right choices. Let peace, wisdom and knowledge fill the heart and mind of authorities in Addis Ababa. It seems dark now. With the miscalculated invasion of Somalia, the unrest of Ogaden and the looming war with Eritrea, It seems officials in Addis Ababa may have shut the door for peace. Let their blind eyes be opened so that they may get wisdom and maturity.

Peace is not something that can be imposed and exported from the outside. Peace is not a gift from the Americans and Europeans. Peace is not a product of the United Nations. Peace is something that comes from within. Unless we Ethiopians solve our problems ourselves it is naïve to expect peace from outsiders. We are the only solution for our problems. Only we can turn around the fate our country if we want to. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said nothing can bring us peace but ourselves.

Peace is not stability. It is not the lack of gun fires. Peace is freedom and joy and a life lived without fear and torment. There is no peace where there is fear. “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom” said Malcolm-X. There is no peace where there is no freedom. There is no peace where there is no joy.

It is in this context that I call for the good conscious of the EPRDF officials to do the right think and give true peace a chance. The ball is in their court. The EPRDF controls the economy, the army, the judiciary and the parliament. It controls everything in Ethiopia. If it chooses to, it can bring peace and hope to that country and its 77 millions inhabitants in a matter of weeks. If only the EPRDF takes courageous and bold reconciliatory moves now, though it might be considered as a defeat at the beginning, it would surely be the ultimate winner in the history book.

The courage of the EPRDF to introduce democracy and free speech in Ethiopia was historic. Their willingness to open up the country for democracy and a truly free election in May 2000 was commendable. Their decision to release more then 17000 prisoners of conscious including CUD leaders is a very good step. However they must not let bad elements in their party undo their great accomplishments. Victory is not measured only by silencing opponents by force. Victory is also measured by being humble and accepting the verdict of the People.

Some among the EPRDF circles may thing it is to late. They may think it is impossible to get the support of the people. I say: “it is not”. They might say:” there is no partner to talk to”. I say again: “There is.” The CUD leadership is open for a dialog and understands that the EPRDF has to also be part of the solution. They are accommodating to the need of the EPRDF as long as basic democratic principles are not violated.

It may be difficult to deal with armed groups whose leaders are most of the time inflexible. Armed group leaders, most of time tend to solve their problems with their gun. However I am sure the OLF and ONLF leadership would be willing to lay down their arms should there be a possibility of a genuine peace partnership from the part of EPRDF (The AFD is a clear indication. These groups formed an alliance to give peace a chance and try to solve the problem in a dialog).

It is my hope and prayer that the leadership of the EPRDF will look beyond the horizon and above their individual prides, and take historic steps at this historic moment in this historic country of ours. It is my hope and prayer that W/t Birtukan Mideksa, Ato Daoud Ibassa, Ato Mersha Yoseph, Dr Merra Gudina, the ONLF leaders will dine together with their families and share the Joy of Christmas. It is my hope armed groups will renounce violence, lay down their arms and come to the peaceful table. It is my hope that all parties will come to the recognition that the culture of violence does not work in Ethiopia anymore. We are tired of an Ethiopian killing another Ethiopian. We are tired of seeing the blood of our brothers and sisters shed in vain. We are tired of hearing gun fires. We are tired of smelling powders from explosives. We are tired of spending billions of dollars on weapons.