Ethiopian Review Editorial
It was reported on Saturday that the Debre Selam Kidist Mariam (DSKM) church’s board had sent a letter to officials of the Kidist Mariam Idir informing them that their church membership has been revoked. The letter also warned that if the Idir officials appear on the church premises, the board would take ‘police action.’
After consulting with their lawyer, the Idir officials ignored the board’s letter and went to the DSKM church on Sunday morning, as they have been doing for the past several years. When they arrived at the church, none of the board members could muster the courage to tell them to leave. The membership fee for one of the Idir officials, Ato Tadele, was due. So after the prayer service, he went to the membership fee collector, paid the fee and received a receipt while some of the board members looked on. Many of the church members warmly greeted the Idir officials and expressed to them their outrage at the board’s ill-advised letter.
During the prayer, the head priest acknowledged that the church is going through a crisis and called for a week of prayer.
As if handing over the church to the Woyanne patriarch is not enough, using the church’s financial and other resources, the DSKM board has unleashed a misinformation campaign against those who expressed opposition, such as the three officials of the Idir (self-help association).
The board has been trying to mislead members of the church that the Idir officials have made an unauthorized withdrawal of funds from the Idir’s account. As a matter of fact, the DSKM board is not the one that determines what is authorized or unauthorized withdrawal. It is the Idir officials who have full authority over the Idir’s funds, unless otherwise decided by members of the Idir at a general meeting. The DSKM board has no authority over the Idir what so ever. Its relation with the Idir is limited to allowing members and officials of the Idir to use the church’s facilities for meetings and other activities, and also to deposit the Idir’s money in the church’s bank account. (Since the Idir is not a legal entity, it could not open its own bank account.) That’s how it has been done for the past 7 years.
One may ask, ‘So what has changed now?’
It all began recently when the DSKM board started to flirt with Tagay Gebre-Medhin (formerly Aba Paulos). The DSKM board has launched an all out smear campaign against the three Idir officials when they started to take steps to protect the Idir from being taken over by Tagay Gebre-Medhin. After becoming aware of that, the DSKM board went on a vicious campaign of lies and misinformation to destroy the good names of Ato Seyoum Garedew, Ato Tadele Gebre-Wold and Ato Solomon Bedasso. The DSKM board has almost succeeded in discrediting these three innocent Ethiopians, until Ethiopian Review and Addis Dimts Radio stepped in and started telling the other side of the story. In retaliation, the DSKM board sent a lawyer after the Ethiopian Review publisher.
Members of the DSKM board have brought shame to the church and themselves by accepting a Woyanne cadre as the patriarch. Then they started to conducted themselves as a bunch of thugs against those who opposed their act of treachery. Their most recent unchristian behavior is the threat of ‘police action.’
The real force behind the DSKM board is a group of prominent individuals in our community who put the board up for all this mess — starting with accepting Tagay Gebre-Medhin as a patriarch. The group includes, among others, Prof. Getatchew Haile, Dr Aklilu Habte, Dr Almaz Zewde, and Ato Billilign Mandefro. Behind all the crises inside Ethiopian Orthodox churches around the world is this group of individuals. They present themselves as anti-Woyanne to the public, but turn around and promote the Woyanne-installed patriarch by campaigning against the legitimate leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The root cause of the crisis inside the DSKM and other Ethiopian churches around the world is this persistent, all-out effort by Prof. Getatchew Haile and friends (read this) to discredit the exiled leaders of the Orthodox Church. The likes of Frew Bulbula and Abebe Aboye are working for Prof. Getatchew’s group, directly or indirectly serving Tagay Gebre-Medhin.
* Listen to Addis Dimts Radio’s interview on Saturday with Abune Yoseph for further information [click here – forward to 31:00 minute]
* This letter was originally posted on Aiga Forum, a Woyanne web site. It talks about a meeting that was held in the DSKM church in Washington DC to condemn the exiled Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church. The meeting also called for greater tie with Tagay Gebre-Medhin.
* The DSKM was represented by Dr Aklilu Habte at a meeting in Minneapolis in April 2007, to discuss how to destroy the exiled Holy Synod of the EOTC. Read its resolution here, which was carried by Woyanne media like the Aiga Forum. There is clearly a close coordination of activities between Dr Getatchew Haile (mastermind of the anti-Abune Merkorios camp), Dr Aklilu, Dr Almaz and others with Woyanne organizations like Tagay Gebre-Medhin’s synod in Addis Ababa, the Aiga Forum and others.