Why is Ethiopia still humiliating its Muslim population?

I should be writing about the senseless civil war in Tigray; a looming fracture within the ruling Prosperity Party (PP) that is likely to take us into another civil war, jeopardizing the very existence of the nation; the countless killings and displacements in the Amhara region, Benishangul Gumuz, Oromia, and elsewhere across the country; the debilitating condition created by the COVID-19 pandemic; an ailing economy that, in the words of a friend, an economist, “seems being led by an enemy” or growing election fever ahead of a forthcoming parliamentary vote.

But, those in power wanted me to worry about something else.

This week, the Ministry of Peace and security forces sought to obstruct a planned meeting of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC), insisting that the gathering be postponed until after the June parliamentary elections.

The General Assembly meeting was called for 28-30 March 2021 by 23 of the 26 transitional council leaders after two years of delay and obstructions. Despite the government’s deliberate obstacles, the participants concluded the two-day meeting on 30 March 2021 in the open area at the Ghion Hotel. The Ministry is now working with the remaining three Council members to undermine the will of the majority and overturn the outcome of the meeting.

The Ministry of Peace is not a neutral body on this matter. In a recent joint meeting, the Ministry promised to help organize a general meeting within ten days. But, after the participants left the meeting, it withdrew that commitment. Undeterred, the 23 members of the Council decided to call the general meeting.

The organizers informed the Ministry and relevant city officials of the meeting in advance. When the organizers refused demands that they postpone the meeting, the Ministry resorted to intimidation by warning individual Council members and the Elilly Hotel, the meeting venue, to cancel the gathering. Security forces then prevented scholars and out-of-town regional representatives from accessing the hotel.

The Ministry of Peace and intelligence officials are vowing not to recognize the decisions taken at the meeting. Any official attempt to overrule the conclusion of the assembly will confirm the continuation of decades of government interference in religious affairs and could lead to yet another confrontation, further alienating and disenfranchising the Muslim community.

A history of meddling

Ethiopian Muslims have been demanding an independent and legally recognized organization representing their collective interests since the 1960s. The Derg acknowledged their concerns and permitted the establishment of the EIASC as a civil association. EIASC, popularly known as the Majlis, was set up to serve as a supreme organ representing the Muslim community’s religious interests. The Council, though legally speaking an association, has been the de facto organ representing the group interest of all Muslims. However, as an association in which membership is voluntary, it does not have the power to organize the Muslim community and represent their interest. Besides, like any other association, a government organ that regulates associations may cancel its license at any time.

Ethiopian Muslims have since pushed for religious equality and the Council’s legal recognition in par with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) and other religious groups. The Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which succeeded the Derg, rejected the call and controlled the Council.

Since 1995, the Council was under the total control of the EPRDF government, and co-opted officials from the security apparatus, including non-Muslims, were appointed to lead the EIASC. In 2011, the Ethiopian government supported and promoted the introduction of a new sect of Islam called Al-Ahbash ostensibly to fight religious extremism and terrorism. The government took several incendiary steps, including the forceful indoctrination of local imams, provoking massive outrage among the Mulsim population.

From 2011 to 2015, Ethiopian Muslims launched a popular protest movement to demand an end to government interference and the Council’s independence from official control and manipulation. The widespread protests were met with brutal repression, culminating with the arrests of the Committee of 17 elected to serve as representatives of the public. Known as Dimtsachin Yisema, the Muslim protest movement introduced Ethiopia to a new protest genre and challenged the authorities for a sustained period.

During the protest, the Muslim community went through highly challenging times. Tens of innocent civilians were killed, thousands wounded, thousands arbitrarily imprisoned, hundreds of Muslim government officials and employees were expelled, thousands were forced to flee their localities, hundreds passed through torture chambers across the country, and police targeted Muslims in Addis Ababa and Dessie through house-to-house looting. Muslim women were raped.

A call for a legally recognized umbrella Council, whose leaders shall be elected by the believers, was one of the three basic questions of the protest movement. Contrary to the equality of religions enshrined in the Constitution, the long history of Islam in Ethiopia, and the percentage of the Muslims, the de facto and de jure stances of the Majlis have been embarrassing.

In 2018, as incoming EPRDF chairman, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially acknowledged government intervention in the work and affairs of the EIASC  and established a committee to work out the issues. The committee drafted a transitional bylaw and called a meeting of 300 notable scholars from all over the country.

The conference, held in Sheraton, elected 26 Islamic scholars to lead the Council and an executive board to run the day-to-day activity. The primary mandate of the Transitional Council was to prepare conditions for an election.

It has been an uphill battle ever since. Some of the elected scholars were arbitrarily replaced; communication between the president and other Council members was cut. The newcomers “dissolved” the executive board elected at the Sheraton conference and refused to call a general meeting of the scholars.

National Oppression

The continued manipulation of EIASC and denial of recognition raises questions on whether there is a continued policy of marginalization and policing of the Muslim community or not. Muslim scholars and activists had entertained questions about the existence of national oppression against Muslims for a long time. Focussing on the post-1974, the opponents of the “national oppression” thesis argued that the brutal violations are not unique to the Muslim community. They substantiated this argument by citing the “visible manipulation” of the EOTC under both the Derg and EPRDF regimes. They also contended that conclusions about the existence of national oppression and continued alienation of Muslims would undermine the stability of the country and the wider region.

On the other hand, proponents of the national operation thesis emphasized the constitutionally declared discrimination in the pre-1974 period and the “level of oppression” the Ethiopian Muslims have endured during the EPRDF period.

The contentious debate formed the basis for the Dimtsachin Yisema movement, one of the longest, well-organized, and principled peaceful civil rights movements in the history of Ethiopia. The movement opened the door for subsequent public resistance that forced the EPRDF government to make leadership changes and launch reforms.

In effect, the Majlis has served as a rubber stamp to successive government violations against the Muslim community. The Council hardly organized congregations. Instead, it usually works to hinder the efforts of Muslim scholars. Filled with  “good men,” in the words of Mufti Haji Oumer himself, the Council has been the most corrupt outfit with no audit and annual report.

Given the history of discriminatory, illegal, and consistent violation and other enormous structural challenges Ethiopian Muslims face, isn’t it right then to ask whether there is national oppression against Muslims in Ethiopia?

The Majlis under Abiy

With Abiy’s rise to power and his initial promises, the Ethiopian Muslims hoped that their century-old question would finally be resolved. The goodwill he has demonstrated in the initial months of his premiership strengthened the hope. Subsequent months, however, have shown the hypocrisy and duplicity of his government. The arduous process of ratifying the “Proclamation to Provide Legal Personality to Ethiopian Islamic Affairs General Council,” which for the first time legalized the hitherto ordinary association, shows that the post-reform period won’t be much different for Ethiopian Muslims.

It took enormous patience to overcome several challenges and finally ratify the proclamation that legally recognized the Council for the first time in more than four decades of existence.

The challenges of the Majlis did not end with the adoption of the proclamation. A government that, in the words of one priest, “forced” the various Evangelical churches to unite and have a single umbrella organization has been publicly working to divide the Ethiopian Muslims.

Members of the transitional committee, which is empowered to finalize the bylaws of the Council and organize elections within six months, stayed “in power” for almost three years. Few committee members, in collaboration with the “invisible hands,” have worked to obstruct progress. They blocked the audit, refused to call three regular general meetings that should have been held every six months, and forced the executive board manager to resign. In short, they paralyzed the Council.

After two years of plea and negotiations, a general meeting was called at the request of two-thirds of the Council members. Accordingly, the organizing committee, established to facilitate the holding of the general meeting, set the agendas, booked hotels, and notified the media and relevant government bodies. The meeting was held despite enormous obstacles and inconveniences, especially for delegates from various regions around the country.

The general meeting, among others, annulled the ban on the administrative board, ratified the draft bylaw of the Council, suspended a co-opted member of the Council who was acting as a secretary, and decided to hold an election within three months from the day of the national election. They also called for regulation and directive to expedite the implementation of the proclamation that legally established the Council.

Muslims make up 34 percent of the Ethiopian population and contribute enormously to the peace and development of the country. They are at the forefront of national flagship projects such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). In the current political turmoil in which the elites are busy fighting over power and land grab, Muslims are advocating for the peace and stability of the country in the English, Arabic, and French-speaking world.

Yet the same government that on 14 March helped celebrate the first anniversary of the Ethiopian Gospel Believers Churches Council by dispatching a marching band and high-ranking government officials and dignitaries, including the President of the Republic, the Minister of Peace, and the mayor of Addis Ababa, and other dignitaries, intervened and stopped Muslims from holding a meeting in a small conference room in a hotel. This is inconsistent with the government’s duty to respect the separation between state and religion.

It is, therefore, safe to conclude that Abiy’s administration is continuing the same practice of humiliating Muslims and reducing them to second-class citizens.

Ethiopia is facing enormous challenges, both domestic and external. As if the war in Tigray and Oromia, the killings and displacement in different parts of the country, the tension over the GERD, and the mounting electoral fever are not enough, the government is adding another challenge to the multitude the country is already facing. It is ill-advised to alienate and disenfranchise the Muslim community, and such a blatant intervention in the affairs of Muslims would complicate Ethiopia’s internal crisis even further.

A strong Majlis with widespread support and electoral legitimacy is indispensable to Ethiopia’s overall development and sustainable peace. Authorities should enable and facilitate — not hinder — the efforts of Muslim scholars to reconstitute the Majlis.