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1900 Booker T. Washington founds the National Negro Business League.

Washington publishes his first autobiography “The Story of my life and work” editor of the New York Age Timothy Thomas Fortune.

October Washington attends the White House for dinner with President Theodore Rosevelt.

Du Bois attends the First Pan-African Conference in London and drafts letter ”Address to the Nations of the World” to the European heads of states.

Seay becomes a qualified educator and begins teaching in the Mayan village of Xcalak in Mexico.

1901 January 22 Queen Victoria passes away and Edward VII becomes King.

Garvey becomes apprentice to printer Alfred ‘Cap’ Burrowes in his native parish of Saint Ann.

Du Bois with his wife Nina and daughter Yolande ca. 1901

Washington publishes his second autobiography “Up From Slavery”.

Washington recieves honorary decorate from Dartmouth College.

Du Bois writes a critical review of WashingtonsUp From Slavery biography.

Queen Victoria passes away and Edward VII assessees to the throne.

1902 Vladmir Lenin publishes his “What is to Be Done” book.

Ras Makonnen travels to France and England.

Earnest Alfred Wallace Budge makes his first excavations at the city of Meroe.

1903 Du Bois publishes his 14 essay book The Souls of Black Folk containing his “Mr. Booker T Washington and others” essay.

Garvey leaves school after completing the 6th standard employed as compositor in the printery of Alfred E Burrows and company.

August The Second Party Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party takes place.

1904 Garvey relocates from his native parish of Saint Ann 25 miles away to Alfred Borrows print branch in Port Maria, Saint Mary.

1905 Garvey moves to Smith Village in Kingston at 13 Pink Lane, begins working for P. A. Benjamin and exceeds to the position of foreman.

April The Third Party Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party is held in London.

November 1 Tafari at 13 years old is appointed Dejazmatch of Gara Mullata by his Father Ras Makonnen.

Washington receives President Roosevelt at Tuskegee Institute.

December Du Bois purchases printing press and publishes the first African American Illustrated Weekly “The Moon”.

Budge makes more excavations at Meroe.

1906 January 23 Washington gives speech at Tuskegee Institute Silver Anniversary Lecture Carnegie Hall in New York City.

March 21 Tafari’s Dad Ras Makonnen dies in the city of Qullebi and is buried in the church of St. Michael in Harar which he founded.

April The Fourth Unification Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party is held at Folkets Hus, Nada Bantorget, Stockholm.

May 9 Dejazmatch Tafari is given Ras Darge’s governorate of Sallale and his older brother Dejazmatch Yelma son of Wayzaro Assallafatch, Empress Taitu’s niece, their father’s governorate of Harar.

Du Bois and American Civil Rights activists meet in Canada and write declaration opposing Washington’s Atlanta Compromise and form the Niagara Movement.

August The Second Niagara conference commemorating the 100th anniversary of the abolitionist John Brown’s birth, is held in West Virginia at Harpers Ferry where Brown’s raid on the federal armory took place in 18.

gubernatorial election M. Hoke Smith Democratic primary nomination campaign to defranchize black voters in Georgia.

September 22 Saturday Afternoon rioting begins in Atlanta. Newspapers in Atlanta report four separate cases of alleged rapes on white women by black men, whites take to the streets and begin attacking blacks, by midnight 10, 000 whites in the Five Points section of downtown.

10 p.m. The first three dead are reported some people are hospitalized with five deaths, three of those being that of black women.

Governor Joseph M. Terrell eight companies of the Fifth Infantry and one battery of light artillery.

African American Alonzo Horndon’s barber shop is attacked, black men are killed on the steps of the U. S. Post Office and inside the Marion Hotel, a mob attack the center of black business’s at Decatur Street, mobs attack at Peters Street and neighborhoods.

3 a.m. to 5 a.m. Heavy rain

6 a.m. Militia deployed in

The Le Petit journal of Paris. Black men and black women were thrown from trolley cars, assaulted with clubs and pelted with stones.

The New York Times reports 25 to 30 black men and women dead.

September 23 Sunday Hundreds of Blacks flee the city.

A group of armed black men meet in Brownsville near Clark University to talk about the rioting, three companies of militia are sent to Brownsville, an officer is killed in the ensuing shootout and 250 blacks are disarmed and arrested.

Du Bois publishes his “A Litany at Atlanta” essay criticizing Washington’s Atlanta Compromise.

1907 Hubert Harrison begins working at the United States Post Office.

January 14 Jamaica earthquake.

Garvey elected vice president of the compositors branch of the Kingston Typographical Union organised as affiliate #98 of International Typographical Union of American Federation of Labour.

Du Bois publishes his The Horizon: A Journal of the Color Line.

Philadelphia Quaker Anna T Jeanes donates 1 milion dollars to Washington for elementary schools for Negro children in the South.

October 10 Tafari’s brother Yelma dies, Dejazmatch Baltcha is given governorate of Harar.

Budge publishes the record of his excavations at Meroe in his book The Egyptian Sudan, Its History and Monuments.

1908 March 18 Garveys Mother Sarah Richards passes away at age 56.

April 4 Tafari is given part of the governorship of Sidamo.

November 28 Garvey participates in Jamaica print worker strike.

Du Bois attends the Fourth Niagara conference.

1909 Washington tours southern Virginia and West Virginia.

May Du Bois attends the First National Negro Conference in New York where the National Negro Committee is created chaired by Oswald Villard and also publishes his biography of abolitionist John Brown who raid Harpers Ferry Western Virginia.

August-September Garvey supports Jacob Warcham's election to the city council in Kingston and speaks at political meetings on behalf of H. A. I. Simpson in the general election.

German Orientalist Dr. Carl Bezold and the Bavarian Royal Academy publish their edition of the Ethiopic manuscript the Book of the Glory of Kings/the Kebra Negast with a German translation.

December Du Bois attends the American Historical Association where he reads his Reconstruction and its Benefits and has it published in the American Historical Review.

1910 Du Bois attends the Second National Negro Conference Committee where the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is created and he becomes Director of Publicity and Research of its monthly magazine the Crisis.

Harrison writes two letters to the New York Sun critical of Washington which cost him his job at the United States Post Office.

March 3 Dejazmatch Tafari is finally given governorate of Harar.

March S.A.G. "Sandy" Cox forms the National Club of Jamaica.

April 20 Garvey is elected first assistant secretary along with apprentice tailor Wilfred Domingo, second assistant secretary of the National Club assisting with its fortnightly journal “Our Own” and also co publish “The Struggling Mass” pamphlet.

May 6 Edward VII passes away and George V assessees to the throne.

May 18 The legislative council suspend Cox for making Ill founded charges against certain public officers.

July 16 The Artisans and Labourers Union informs United Fruit Company that it intends to take August 1 Emancipation day in the British West Indies as a holiday from work.

August 1 5, 000 Jamaican's stage an Emancipation Day demonstration in Limon, Costa Rica and Garvey is 1 of 15 contestants in an all island elocution competition held at Collegiate Hall in Kingston where he protests the judges decision.

Garvey enrolls for elocution lessons with Bahamian born Dr. Robert J Love.

October Garvey travels to Costa Rica where his maternal uncle Henry Richards finds him employment as a time keeper on a Banana plantation in Limon.

November Over 700 workers recruited by the United Fruit Company in St. Kitts and Nevis arrive in Limon aboard a dangerously overcrowded vessel and are sent to outlying farms, where they face extremely unhealthy conditions. The workers return to Limon and refuse to return to work, they also demand that the British vice consul at Limon seek redress from the company. For 3 weeks the firm stand of the St. Kitts workers continues to generate the strong support of the Jamaican community.

November 17 Cox wins St. Thomas seat in the legislative council by large.

November Du Bois edits and publishes the first issue of The Crisis.

December Joseph Nathan, the leader of St. Kitts workers, is deported from Limon, signaling the end of the banana workers strike. Shorty after his expulsion and return to St. Kitts he helps to launch the labor movement in the Leeward Islands and assumes leadership of the Garvey movement in St. Kitts.

The leadership of the Artisans and Labourers Union collapses and is replaced by more militant members of the rank and file, but the new leaders are eventually deported from Limon.

Garvey publishes three issues of his Watchman journal named after George William Gordon’s journal the Watchman inspired by Psalm 127.

1851 October 8 The first case of Cholera is in Port Royal.

October 11 The first fatal of Cholera in the parish of Kingston.

40, 000 people in Jamaican die from Cholera part of the second Pandemic according to the Statistical Report of the Epedemic Cholera in Jamaica published in 1852 by John Parkin.

1864 crops are destroyed by floods in Jamaica effected by cholera and smallpox followed by a two year drought.

1865 Dr. Edward Underhill secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society in Great Britain writes a letter to the colonial office in London, the Governor of Jamaica John Eyre Underhill parish of Saint Ann petition Queen Victoria for land.

August A Baptist deacon, the Right Excellent Paul Bogle ordained by Sir George William Gordon, leads a 45 mile walk from Stony Gut in the parish of St. Thomas to Spanish town in the parish of St. Catherine, the then capital of Jamaica, to petition the Governor.

October 7 A man by the name of James Geoghegon creates a disturbance in Morant Bay court house during the trail of a man having charges brought against him for trespassing on an inactive sugar plantation, the police try to arrest Geoghegon, the obstruct and begin to fight with the police and the court house issues a warrant for those including Bogle.

October 11 Bogle leads hundreds to the court house, the confrontation between the group and the militia begins with the group attacking the militia with sticks and stones, the militia shoot and kill members of the group and at the end of this confrontation 25 people had been killed.

The parish goes into unrest, Eyre declares martial law and sends government troops led by Brigadier General Alexander Nelson to bring Bogle and those involved to the court to be tried and convicted, the militia kill innocent men, women and children totalling 439 dead, 354 people are arrested, tried and executed, some several hundred who are flogged and sentenced, the soldiers also burn thousands of homes.

Eyre has Gordon who he believes to have made the matter worse arrested in Kingston and brought to Morant Bay where he is tried under martial law, convicted and executed.

October 21 Gordon is tried and charged with high treason by Lieutenant Herbert Brand.

October 23 Gordon and Paul’s brother William are hanged.

1866 Eyre is criticized for his handling of the situation.

John Stuard Mills forms the Jamaica Committee which British Liberals.

The Committee present its cases against Brand and British Army Officer Brigadier Abercromby Nelson to the Central Criminal Court but the grand jury decline to certify these cases.

August Eyre returns to Britain.

September Thomas Carclyle forms the Eyre Defense and Aid committee.

The indictment against Eyre fails on the count that he lives in Market Drayton outside the jurisdiction of court, the council of the committee, Barrister James Fitz James Stephen travels to Market Drayton but fails to convince the Justices to endorse his case against Eyre.

The Jamaica Committee asks the Attorney-General to certify the criminal information against Eyre but are rebuffed.

Eyre moves to London.

The magistrate at Bow Street Police Court decline to arrest Eyre due to the failure of the cases brought against Brand and Nelson.

The prosecutors are successful in their application to the Queen's Bench for a writ of mandamus justified by the Criminal Jurisdiction Act 1802.

The case is presented to The Queen's Bench but its grand jury decline to find a true bill of indictment, and Eyre is freed of criminal pursuit.

1911 Harrison becomes Americas leading black socialist at the Socialist Party of America.

March Garvey in Costa Rica becomes editor of the daily newspaper La Nacionale, he writes a letter critical of the editor of the West Indian newspaper, The Times/El Tiempo, setting off protracted controversy between the two papers and later travels to Colon, Panama.

April Garvey launches a subscription for a "Coronation Fund" to celebrate the coronation of King George V, to be held on June 22.

June 7 Cox is unseated from legislative council.

June 10 Garvey resigns as head of the coronation committee organized by him and agrees to merge with the "official" coronation committee chaired by the Anglican archdeacon of Limon.

June 13 Following the demise of the Artisans and Labourers Union, a wave of intense religious revivalism sweeps over Limon. The Times weekly newspaper complains of the "vile practices which gave stirred the town during the past month the like of which has never been known in the previous history of Port Limon"

June 14 Just prior to his departure from Limon aboard the S. S. Cartago, Garvey is apprehended and escorted ashore, allegedly for unpaid debts to various creditors, including unpaid wages to the staff of La Nacion.

July 26 Du Bois attends the First Universal Race Congress in London with Sir Sydney Olivier Governor of Jamaica and Harry Johnston of the Royal Geographical Society among its attendees, joins the Socialist Party of America and publishes his “Quest of the Silver Fleece” novel.

July 31 Tafari at age 20 marries Wayzaro Manan in church ceremony.

August-September Garvey visits British Honduras gives elocution concert.

Randolph moves to New York City and studies Social Science at City College.

Cox is reelected to the legislative council at the general Election petition is fieled against Cox by Henry Cork.

1912 February 7 Edward Wilmot Blydenauthor of Christianity, Isalm and the Negro Race passes away in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Harrison campaigns for Eugene V. Debs founder of the Industrial Workers of the World, as presidential candidate, writes the Negro and Socialism for the socialist newspaper the New York Call as well as the socialist monthly the International Socialist Review, founds the Colored Socialist Club and speaks at Broad and Wall Street in front of the New York stock exchange in Manhattan.

Du Bois is forced to resign from the Socialist Party of America for breaching its rules by supporting the Democrat Woodrow Wilson in presidential campaign.

Garvey sails to London where he attends evening classes at Birkbeck College.

August Garveys sister, Indiana, joins him in London.

Julius Rosenwald begins serving on the board of directors of Tuskegee Institute.

Mc Kay publishes his “Songs of Jamaica” as well as his “Constab Ballads” for which in the same year he is awarded the Jamaican Institute of Arts and Sciences, Musgrave Medal.

1913 January 1 Du Bois and New York State Commission attend the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, his "The Peoples of the People and Their Gift to Man" (later renamed The Star of Ethiopia) Pageant is performed Emancipation Proclamation.

Candice the Queen of Ethiopia has also been identified with the Kandake’s of the Kingdom of Kush whilst it was centered at the city of Meroe because of the King Taharqa the Kingdom of Kush whilst it was previously centered at Napata in Nubia prior to Meroe Taharqa in the bible is mentioned as being the King of Ethiopia having assisted Hezekiah King of Judah in conflict with the Assyrians.

And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 2 Kings 19:9-10/Isaiah 37:9-10

674 BC Taharqa defeats the Assyrian Emperor Sennacherib at Eltekeh.

Sennacherib then defeats Taharqa.

671 BC The Assyrian Emperor Esarhaddon captures Memphis with Taharqa fleeing to in the south, takes members of the royal family as prisoners at his capital Nineveh in Assyria and places Libyan Necho I as the first of the Twenty Sixth Dynasty at Sais.

Esarhaddon on his return to Assyria erects a Stele his Stele of Nahor el Kalb and his Victory Stele at Zincirle Hayok which shows Taharqa's son Ushankhuru taken as a prisoner by the Assyrians.

Esaehaddon dies in Palestine on the way to Egypt, his son Emperor Ashurbanipal defeats Taharqa who flees to the city of Thebes, where he dies in 664 BC and is buried in Nuri, North Sudan.

The Kingdom of Kush was centered at Napata in Nubia since the time of Alara who attacked Egypt, then Kashta who extended Kushite rule to Elephantine and Thebes in upper Egypt. His successor Taharqa's Dad, Piye, invaded and conquered Egypt.

Tefnakht of Sais forms a coalition with Kings of the Delta region, persuades Piye’s ally Nimlot King of the city of Hermopolis and Herakleopolis King Peftjauawybast.

Piye army invade middle and lower Egypt Thebes Opet fesitival detailed on his victory stele at Gabel Barkal found in the Amun temple.

Piye in retaliation then relieves Herakleopolis, conquers Hermopolis after five month siege, Delta Kings of Leontopolis and Tanis.

Taharqa was succeeded by a son of his predecessor, Shabaka, Tantamani who defeated and killed Necho, and also took Thebes, which the Assyrians then retook from him.

Meroe was ruled by Kandakes from Shanakdakhete in 177 BCE to Lahideamani in 314 CE. The Mereotic city MusawwaratesSufra on the island of Meroe in the modern day Butana region was named by the Achaenid Persian King Cambyses after his sister.

Alexander the great romance by Pseudo Callisthenes.

A stele Geez of a King of the Aksumites and the Omerites/Himyar found in Meroe also provides evidence of the presence of Aksum in Meroe from the 4th century Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia.

February 25 July Hubert participates in the Industrial Workers of the World Paterson, New Jersey Silk Strike. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn is arrested on the first day of the strike for. William D. “Big Bill” Haywood helps to create create strike committee.

Patrick L. Quin.

Randolph marries Widow Mrs Lucille Campbell Green, Howard University graduate.

May Chief Alfred Charles Sam AkyemAbuakwa sells shares for his Akim Trading Company in Texas, Oklahoma.

June 7 The pageant of the Paterson Strike is performed at Madison Square Garden.

Garvey begins working for Dusé Mohamed Ali as messenger and handyman at his African Times and Orient Review office on 158 Fleet Street.

October Garveys “British West Indies in the Mirror of Civilization: History making by Colonial Negroes” essay is published in the African Times and Orient Review.

Garvey travels to Scotland.

Garvey granted month long readers pass to the British Museum library, where he reads Blyden’s “Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race” as well as Washington’s autobiography Up from Slavery.

6 new small schools in rural Alabama funded by Rosenwald as part of Washington's project are built and opened.

July 20 Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association at 12 Orange Street, Kingston and holds the first UNIA meeting.

August 4 Great Britain declare war on Germany.

August Garvey meets Amy Ashwood at the Queen Street Baptist Literary and Debating Society.

Ashwood secures the property at 20 Orange Street, Kingston with her Dad's money and with Garvey establishes it as the new location of the UNIA headquarters.

August Sam’s ship the S. S. Liberia, the German steamer, Curityba, sets sail for Gambia with sixty trained men and a cargo of lumber, cement, lime, flour, agricultural implements, and household goods.

September 4 Garvey writes to appeal to Washington for support and Washington invites him to visit.

October 31 Ashwood recites Paul Lawrence Dunbars “The Lover and the Moon” at Collegiate Hall UNIA meeting.

Tsar Nicholas II makes his October manifesto.

November 12 Garvey and UNIA delegates inspect Hope Farm.

The Russian army invade Germany.

Mckay moves to the U. S. and begins attending Washington’s Tuskegee Institute.

December Sam and immigrants arrive at their destination in Bathurst, Gambia (present day Banjul) and also travel to Freetown, Sierra Leone.

1914 After 10 years of construction, the first vessel passes through the 52 mile Panama Canal waterway, in the course of the American led construction, some 5, 000 workers, most of them West Indian, perished.

May 29 Garvey now visits the Colonial Office in London requesting financial assistance to return to Jamaica.

May 31 Prince Emmanuel Charles Edwards is born.

June 17 Garvey leaves England aboard the S. S. Trent to Jamaica.

June Garvey's article "The Evolution of Latter Day Slaves: Jamaica, A Country of Black and White," is published in the Tourist: A Literary and Anti Slavery Journal, published by the Anti Slavery Society in England.

July 20 The first meeting of the UNIA and ACL is held, along with the election of officers, in Kingston, Jamaica.

July 8 Garvey arrives in Jamaica.

August 4 Great Britain declares war on Germany.

August 15 The Panama Canal is officially opened to traffic. The majority of West Indian workers chose to remain in Panama despite deteriorating working conditions and oppressive discriminatory policies.

August 28 The Colonial Office communicates the West Indian desire to send a military contingent overseas; the War Office immediately rejects the offer on the grounds that black's are required for local defense purposes and to maintain order locally.

August In Antigua, Robert and James Brown return to the island from New York; the brothers become engaged in organising the Antiguan working class.

September 8 Garvey writes to letter Washington appealing for support.

December 14 British Arny Council informs the Colonial Office that it does not consider West Indian troops suitable for service in Egypt or West Africa and offers to accept a West Indian contingent to serve as a peacekeeping force in captured territories of West Africa, causing public anger in the West Indies.

1915 Sam and immigrants arrive at Saltpond on the Gold Coast present day Ghana.

Harrison publishes his own version of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden.” entitled “The Black Man’s Burden.”

February Garvey wins first place in elocution contest at Collegiate Hall for his recital of “Catham on the American war of independence.”

April 12 Garvey writes to Bascungoth informing of his to America and requesting his assistance.

May 17 The UNIA Reading Room in Kingston is opened.

Du Bois publishes his “The Negro” book, his “The African Roots of the War” essay in the Atlantic Monthly and article numbering 2, 732 lynching’s from 1884 to 1914 in the Crisis as well as fights with the NAACP to band “The Birth of a Nation” film for its portrayal of black men.

Russia Tsar Nicholas assumes Commander in Chief.

September 8 Dr Leo Pink, Jamaican dentist writes letter to the Daily Chronicle requesting an accounting of UNIA funds.

October 11 Monday, 13 Wednesday and 15 Friday Du Bois’s “The Star of Ethiopia” pageant of the history of the Negro Race from 50,000 B.C to 20th century written, produced, and directed by Du Bois himself, presented by the Horizon Guild and the National Pageant and Dramatic Association is performed at the American League Ball Park in Washington D. C. to commemorate the 13th amendment.

October 15 Leonard Percival Howell witnesses the murder of his neighbor by her Husband, his parents refuse to let him testify as a witness, Howell travels to Panama.

November 15 Washington collapses in New York diagnosed with Brights disease dies of Hypertension.

November 22 Garvey delivers address on life and walk of the late Washington at special UNIA memorial meeting.

1916 February 29 Robert Russa Moton, newly appointed principle of Tuskegee Institute, on his visit to Jamaica, receives lengthy

March 7 Garvey departs from Jamaica to New York on the S. S. Tallac.

March 23 Garvey arrives in New York.

April issue of the Crisis magazine article covers the lynching of six in Lee County, Georgia.

April 25 Garvey heads to the NAACP offices at 25 695th Avenue in search of Du Bois.

Garvey visits the Tabernacle Church of Billy Sunday at Broadway and 168th Street.

May 9 Garvey holds his first public lecture in New York City at St Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery where he becomes overwhelmed whilst speaking and falls off the stage.

Garvey 38 state tour.

May 16, 18 and 20 8 P. M. Du Bois’s “The Star of Ethiopia” portrayed by 1010 Actors in Costume 53 Musical Numbers Full Brass Band is performed at the 100th General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church held in the CONVENTION HALL BROAD AND ALLEGHANY AVENUE, Philadelphia. Lucien B. Watkins publishes his “The Star of Ethiopia” poem.

Meroe geographically was known to the Greeks as Ethiopia, according to the Greek historian Herodotus who lived during the 5th century BC Meroe had the reputation of being the mother city of the Ethiopians. Candice the Queen of Ethiopia has also been identified with the Kandake’s of the Kingdom of Kush whilst it was centered at the city of Meroe because of the King Taharqa the Kingdom of Kush whilst it was previously centered at Napata in Nubia prior to Meroe Taharqa in the bible is mentioned as being the King of Ethiopia having assisted Hezekiah King of Judah in conflict with the Assyrians. And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 2 Kings 19:9-10/Isaiah 37:9-10

Egyptian Pharaoh Taharqa's pyramid at Nuri.

And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea. Acts 8:27-40 674 BC Taharqa defeats the Assyrian Emperor Sennacherib at Eltekeh. Sennacherib then defeats Taharqa. 671 BC The Assyrian Emperor Esarhaddon captures Memphis with Taharqa fleeing to in the south, takes members of the royal family as prisoners at his capital Nineveh in Assyria and places Libyan Necho I as the first of the Twenty Sixth Dynasty at Sais. Esarhaddon on his return to Assyria erects a Stele his Stele of Nahor el Kalb and his Victory Stele at Zincirle Hayok which shows Taharqa's son Ushankhuru taken as a prisoner by the Assyrians. Esaehaddon dies in Palestine on the way to Egypt, his son Emperor Ashurbanipal defeats Taharqa who flees to the city of Thebes, where he dies in 664 BC and is buried in Nuri, North Sudan. The Kingdom of Kush was centered at Napata in Nubia since the time of Alara who attacked Egypt, then Kashta who extended Kushite rule to Elephantine and Thebes in upper Egypt. His successor Taharqa's Dad, Piye, invaded and conquered Egypt.

Pharaoh Piye's pyramid at El-Kurru.

Tefnakht of Sais forms a coalition with Kings of the Delta region, persuades Piye’s ally Nimlot King of the city of Hermopolis and Herakleopolis King Peftjauawybast. Piye army invade middle and lower Egypt Thebes Opet fesitival detailed on his victory stele at Gabel Barkal found in the Amun temple. Piye in retaliation then relieves Herakleopolis, conquers Hermopolis after five month siege, Delta Kings of Leontopolis and Tanis. Taharqa was succeeded by a son of his predecessor, Shabaka, Tantamani who defeated and killed Necho, and also took Thebes, which the Assyrians then retook from him. Meroe was ruled by Kandakes from Shanakdakhete in 177 BCE to Lahideamani in 314 CE. The Mereotic city MusawwaratesSufra on the island of Meroe in the modern day Butana region was named by the Achaenid Persian King Cambyses after his sister. Alexander the great romance by Pseudo Callisthenes. A stele Geez of a King of the Aksumites and the Omerites/Himyar found in Meroe also provides evidence of the presence of Aksum in Meroe from the 4th century Christian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia.

June issue of the Crisis in “Waco Horror” article covers the lynching of mentally impaired 17 year old Jesse Washington in Waco, Texas.

September 27 the day of the feast of Masqal, nobles, army, the Archbishop Abuna Mettewos, Etchage Walda Giyorgis and priests assemble at Palace disposing of Emperor Lij Iyasu of Ethiopia and proclaim Zawditu his aunty, Menelik’s daughter as Empress with her cousin DejazmatchTafari assuming the rank of Ras, Crown Prince and hier to the throne as well as Regent Plenipotentiary.

Randolph and Chandler Owen drop out of college and jointing the Socialist Party.

December Russia Grigori Rasputin murdered by Prince Yusopor.

1917 January Randolph and Owen publish the Headwaiters and Sidewaiters Society of Greater New York’s monthly magazine the Hotel Messenger.

January 30 The UUU is registered as a friendly society in Barbados.

Garvey's "West Indies in the Mirror of Truth," article is published in Chicago in the Champion Magazine.

February 11 Sunday Zewditu is anointed with the oil of kingship by Abuna Mettewos with Tafari previously Dejazmatch assuming the rank of Ras, Crown Prince, hier to the throne and Regent Plenipotentiary.

Garvey along with 13 others form the Harlem, New York branch of the UNIA becoming its first members.

Randolph who had stepped down from his stepladder in Harlem to let Garvey speak earlier in the year founds the Messenger monthly magazine with Owen, Randolph also becomes President and Executive Secretary of the Independent Political Council.

March 25 Garvey speak on “The Negroes of the West Indies, after 78 years of Emancipation.” With a general talk on the world position of the race.at the Big Bethel African Methodist Espicopal Church Corner Auburn Avenue and Butler Street in Georgia, Atlanta.

the handbill reads BIG MASS MEETING A CALL TO THE COLORED CITIZENS OF ATLANTA GEOGRIA To Hear the Great West Indian Negro Leader HON. MARCUS GARVEY President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association of Jamaica, West Indies. Big Bethel A.M.E. Church Corner Auburn Avenue and Butler Street SUNDAY AFTERNOON, AT 2 O’CLOCK MARCH 25, 1917 He brings a message of inspiration to the 12,000,000 of our people in this country. SUBJECT: “The Negroes of the West Indies, after 78 years of Emancipation.” With a general talk on the world position of the race. An orator of exceptional force, Professor Garvey has spoken to packed audience’s in England, New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinatti, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville and other cities. He has travelled to the principal countries of Europe, and was the first Negro to speak to the Veterans’ Club of London, England. This is the only chance to hear a great man who has taken his message before the world. COME OUT EARLY TO SECURE SEATS. It is worth travelling 1,000 miles to hear.

March Tsar Nicholas II resigns.

April 26 'Mayor Fred W. Moflman arrived in the city on a trip from St. Louis. In New Orleans he was met by Mayor Behrman and the New Orleans Board of Trade. For months the Farmers of Louisiana were frightened out of their wits over the everyday migration of Negroes from great farming centers of the State. They wrote to the papers, they appealed to the Governor, the Mayor and the Legislature and the Board of Trade to stop the Negroes going away, but up to the 26th of April nothing was done to stop the people excepting the Railway Companies promising to use certain restraint on the rush of people obtaining passages on the trains by Railway orders sent to them from the North. At this time Mayor Mollman arrived and the Farmers and Board of Trade met him and asked his help in discouraging the Negroes from going North and especially to East St. Louis. In an interview given out to the New Orleans press he said that the Negroes from the South were reaching St. Louis at the rate of 2,000 per week, and that they were creating a problem there. He said that some of the largest industries in the country were established in East St. Louis and there were strikes for the last few months. He believed the labor conditions in East St. Louis were responsible for the number of Negro laborers going to that city. When the strikes started, he said, United States District Judge Wright issued an injunction restraining the strikers from intimidating the laborers who took their places. This order prevented uprisings and riots. "Conditions are very bad in East St. Louis," he said, "because many plants are suffering for the want of labor. However, our city is growing and we have a population of 85,000 persons. During 1916 we gained 1,600 in population." His interview did not make pleasant reading for the Farmers and others interested in labor in New Orleans and Louisiana so that the very next day he appeared at the Board of Trade where he met the Farmers and others and in discussing the labor exodus with them, he promised that he would do all he could to discourage Negroes from Louisiana going into East St. Louis as the city did not want them. His interview on the first day was an encouragement to the Negroes to go to East St. Louis, as there was work for them, owing to the inability of the various plants to get labor. On the second day when he was approached he said East St. Louis did not want the Negroes, and he then promised to do all in his power to prevent them going there. His remarks to the people whom he met were published under big headlines in the News papers, so that the Negroes could read that they were not wanted in East St. Louis, but that did not deter the blackmen of Louisiana who were looking for better opportunities in the land of their birth going about the country looking for better conditions than the South offered with lynching and Jim Crowism. The Negroes still continued their migration North. The Mayor of East St. Louis returned to the city after making his promise to the Farmers, Board of Trade and others who were interested in Negro labor.'

April 27 Friday Mayor Mollman appeals before the Board of Trade where he makes his statement of promise

April Lenin returns to Russia from exile in Switzerland and later also flees to Finland.

The United States enter WWI.

May 4

May 5 The New Orleans Board of trade elects Mr. M. J. Sanders its president, and Mr. W. P. Ross as delegates to attend a transportation conference at St. Louis to be held on May 8-9.

May 8-9 The transportation conference is held at St. Louis at which several prominent men interested in the labor condition of the South were present as messrs.

May 28 East St. Louis. White employees of the Aluminium Ore Company vote for labor strike, the Company employ hundreds of blacks, 3, 000 white men begin rioting.

Crowds of white men after leaving the city council stopped street cars and dragged Negroes off and beat them.

May 29 Night 3 Negroes and 2 white men are shot. An investigation of the affair resulted in the finding that labor agents had induced Negroes to come from the South.

Governor Frank Orren Lowden summonds the National Guard subdue to riot.

'One thing I do no[w?] know; the first riot started on May 28 after a conference of labor leaders with Mayor Mollman. On that day, May 28, crowds of white men after leaving the City Council stopped street cars and dragged Negroes off and beat them. Then the night following three Negroes and two white men were shot. An investigation of the affair resulted in the finding that labor agents had induced Negroes to come from the South. I can hardly see the relevance of such a report with the dragging of men from cars and shooting them. The City authorities did nothing to demonstrate to the unreasonable labor leaders that they would be firmly dealt with should they maltreat and kill black men. No threat was offered to these men because Mayor Mollman himself had promised to do all he could to drive the Negroes out of East St. Louis, and to instill fear in the hearts of the people in the South so as to prevent them coming North. On the 29th of May, a day after the first disturbance, and when three Negro men had been killed, Mayor Mollman sent a dispatch to Governor Pleasant of Louisiana advising the Negroes of Louisiana to remain away from East St. Louis. This news item from the "Call" of May 31 which I will read will speak for itself.

May Garvey returns to New York from his speaking tour.

Harrison founds the Liberty League and Voice newspaper.

June 12 Harrison and Garvey speak at Harrisons Liberty League of Negro Americans meeting to petition the government again lynchings and disenfranchisement at the African Methodist Espicopa lBethal Church on 52-60 West 132ND.

The handbill which also details Chandler Owen as one of the speakers reads STOP LYNCHING AND DISFRANCHISEMENT IN THE LAND WHICH WE LOVE AND MAKE THE SOUTH “SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY” A Mass Meeting OF COLORED CITIZENS WILL BE HELD AT BETHEL CHURCH, 52-60 West 132ND Street On TUESDAY, JUNE 12th, at 8 P. M. UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE LIBERTY LEAGUE of Negro-Americans To take steps to uproot these two evils and “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” IF YOU BELIEVE IN NEGRO MANHOOD IF YOU BELIEVE IN NEGRO WOMANHOOD IF YOU LOVE YOUR COUNTRY IF YOU LOVE YOUR RACE The meeting will be addressed by MR. HUBERT H. HARRISON MR. CHANDLER OWENS REV. DR. CLAYTON POWELL other prominent ministers and laymen.

June 15 The United States congress pass the Espionage Act of 1917.

July Race riot in East Saint Louis, Illinois, on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from St. Louis, Missouri.

The East St. Louis Riot, or rather massacre, of Monday [July] 2nd, will go down in history as one of the bloodiest outrages against mankind for which any class of people could be held guilty. (Hear! hear.) This is no time for fine words, but a time to lift one's voice against the savagery of a people who claim to be the dispensers of democracy. (cheers) I do not know what special meaning the people who slaughtered the Negroes of East. St. Louis have for democracy of which they are the custodians, but I do know that it has no literal meaning for me as used and applied by these same lawless people. (hear! hear!). America, that has been ringing the bells of the world, proclaiming to the nations and the peoples thereof that she has democracy to give to all and sundry, America that has denounced Germany for the deportations of the Belgians into Germany, America that has arraigned Turkey at the bar of public opinion and public justice against the massacres of the Armenians, has herself no satisfaction to give 12,000,000 of her own citizens except the satisfaction of a farcical inquiry that will end where it begun, over the brutal murder of men, women and children for no other reason than that they are black people seeking an industrial chance in a country that they have laboured for three hundred years to make great. (cheers)'. Garvey “The conspiracy of the East St. Louis Riots” July 8.

White men in a Ford drive by and fire shots at blacks, an hour later a journalist and two police men also drive by in a Ford, blacks open fire on car killing one officer, thousand of whites begin rioting.

An example of what the guardsmen encountered, and themselves enjoyed, was the beating of colored women by white girls. This sort of thing was common. It resulted in the death of several Negro women. Six girls, according to the report pursued a colored girl around the main railway station. A mob formed behind the girls who were screaming frantic epithets at the terrified black girl. "Send them back to Africa." "Kill them all." "Lynch them," shouted the young amazons. Suddenly the crowd swept from the trail of the girl. A yell then arose. "There is one." It was a Negro walking on the railroad track. Before he realized his peril he was killed. Half a dozen pistols cracked and the man dropped without a chance to run. (groans) Two white girls, neither more than 17 years old, the report said, were cheered when they dragged a colored girl from a street car, removed her slippers and beat senseless with the sharp wooden heels. Some reports said black women were stripped by white women for the amusement of the crowd. (Cries of shame!). Garvey “The conspiracy of the East St. Louis Riots” July 8.

The National Guard do nothing.

Congressional Investigating Committee reports 39 blacks and 9 whites dead, although more accurately hundreds more are believed to have died, 6 thousand blacks are left homeless after their neighborhood burned.

The NAACP reports 100-200 deaths. Ida B Wells reports in the Chicago Defender 40-150 dead.

The Southern Railway Company warehouse is burned with 100 car loads of merchandise leaving them at an estimated loss of $525, 000. White owned theatre $100, 000 as well as 44 freight cars and 312 houses, with a concluded estimate of $400, 000 property damage.

July 4 The Anti Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society demands that the postwar reconstruction of Africa recognize the interests and wishes of the native inhabitants; the resolution is forwarded to the representatives of the Allied and Neutral powers.

July 8 Garvey makes his “The conspiracy of the East St. Louis Riots” speech at Lafayette Hall in Harlem, this speech is also printed and distributed in pamphlet form.

July 28 Du Bois and NAACP organise and lead the “Silent March” of 10,000 Negro New Yorkers down Fifth Avenue to protest the East St. Louis race riot, Du Bois travels to St. Louis to report on the riots and receives commission in army.

July Public debate intensifies in the West Indies regarding the denial if military commissions due to color prejudice, increasing apathy and resistance to military recruitment in the region.

August 3 The Committee on Rules and House of Representatives 65th Congress issue hearing for the riots at St. Clair Country court, 10 white defendants and 24 others, Dentist Dr.LeRoy Bundy is charged with inciting riot.

August 10 Lenin arrives at Helsinki where he hides away in safe houses belonging to Bolshevik sympathisers.

September Du Bois in the Crisis publishes his “The Massacre of East St. Louis" article.

September Army Order #1/1918 institutes a 50℅ pay increase throughout the British Army, but excludes members of the BWIR.

October 16 Lenin returns to Russia.

November 2 The British cabinet issues the Balfour Declaration, supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

November 6 (October 24th/25th) Bolshevik Marxist majority of the Russian Social Democratic Party founded by Lenin seize power in Petrograd.

December In British Guiana, Hubert Crichlow leads a campaign for a general wage increase.

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Text

Assessment of Government and NGOs Joint Efforts and Role in Drought Mitigation Program: The Case of East Guji Zone Drought Vulnerable Areas by Mengesha Robso Wodajo* in Open Access Journal of Biogeneric Science and Research

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to examine the responses of NGOs and governmental bodies joint efforts in drought mitigation programs of southern Ethiopia, East Guji Oromo drought vulnerable areas in the 20th century. The manuscript also explores the role of thus bodies and the perceptions of local communities towards those organization intervention extents and ways of assistance to occurred hardships. Likewise, the article also tries to look, assess and well exhibit a well-known and still active NGOs in the area and their individual paramount participation, efforts and roles in the drought vulnerable areas of East Guji Zone, and types of aid, assistance, donation and empowering of the vulnerable communities; joint works with governmental organizations like RRC or DPPC and others in crisis anticipation, intervention and rehabilitation activities.

Keywords: Drought; NGOs; Government; Negele; Eastern Guji; Oromo; Ethiopia.

Introduction

Like other African countries, Ethiopians have a tradition of helping and supporting mean in times of difficulties or normal times through religious and community-based organizations or civil society’s institutions for long periods of time. Some of those Ethiopian traditional self-help associations are, Idr, Mahibar, Equb, Dabo and others [1]. Thus traditional self -help institutions and religious organizations have played a great role by leading a good ground for the introduction of local and international NGOs, modern financing systems like: -banking and macro and micro financial enterprises, and by facilitating Ethiopia’s development and growth [2,3].

As an example, equb is considered as an effective traditional saving association. Members contribute a certain amount of money usually every month and they give priorities for poor and the needy members to take the first collected money [1]. It is also common that members of this group support and subsidize orphans, oldest man or elders and disable members of a society through groups’ monthly contribution, and even sometimes they give their monthly collected deposit as donation for emergency accidents and problems (Ibid).

The other communal self-help organization is idir. Idir is a non-profit institution organized by group of people who want to help each other during the times of death and marriage. Although, the principal objective of Idir is provision of social services for communities (they buy different gifts usually household utensils during a times of marriage and death) by collecting small sums of money from members. Mostly members of Idir are known in assisting family members of the deceased like orphan children. They cover their school fees, house rents and other expenses. Dabo is also another way of society’s self-help institution in a form of labor sharing. Free labor service was given to the poor, the elderly and widowed women [1].

The person in need asks his neighbors to help him in agricultural activities. Activities like weeding, harvesting, house construction, farming and others are among the most well-known activities which are performed by this institution [1]. Generally, before the introductions of local and International NGOs, all of these Ethiopian native self-help associations and organizations played a vital role in solving communal economic and social problems, and by strengthening and cooperating people’s union, interaction and relationships. All of those local institutions are still now active in both urban and rural Ethiopian areas [1].

However, these indigenous self-help associations did not solve serious problems (like, famine, poverty, and drought) due to lack of financial power. In order to fill this gap and for other social, cultural, economic and political problems NGOs take such responsibilities. For this reason, various NGOs came to Ethiopia around the second and third decades of the twentieth century. Sources indicate that, during the times of Empress Zawditu foreign missionaries entered Ethiopia through the support of Ras Tafari who was supportive of foreign missionaries [4].

After 1941, the number of foreign NGOs and missionaries increased. Emperor Hayla Sellase was worried by the great flux of NGOs and missionaries into Ethiopia. In1960, the government introduced a regulation to control the activities of NGOs, public associations and missionary religious organizations. Similarly, during that year various international, local NGOs and missionary organizations were registered officially and opened their branch offices in Ethiopia [1]. Among those organizations some of them were, Swedish Save the Children (SSC), International Red Cross Society (IRCS) or the Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS), Makana Eyasus Evangelical Church (MEEC), Christian Relief and Development Agency (CRDA) and other relief organizations were set up in Ethiopia [1].

But, most of their participation or activities were hampered by the Emperor’s strict control mechanisms in fear of the Emperor feudal-bourgeois opposition against the imperial regime. The 1973/74 famine affected ten provinces of the country. The famine claimed the lives of thousands of people in Wallo, Tigray and other parts of the country. However, through the efforts of foreign Ethiopian students (Ethiopian students studying in Europe and USA) and Jonathan Dimbiliby’s “Hidden Famine” documentary films and after it was opened or released in different European countries TV screens. Then this event brought to the attention of the international public societies through extensive humanitarian appeals supported by broad media coverage which detailed the extent of the catastrophe. An organizational network was formed, to coordinate activities and programs and intervention policies.

Then Emperor Hayla Sellasse accepted that the arrival of relief organizations to alleviate the pestilence of famine. Because, the tragic famine was growing to be beyond the ability of his government to manage, forced the imperial government to open its doors to relief organizations or NGOs. In 1984/85 another devastating famine broke out in Ethiopia. The Darg was forced to allow a large influx of Western NGOs into the country. Between 1980 and1990s the number of NGOs operating in Ethiopia grew from forty above to 106. As various pastoral studies and sources indicate that since 2000 the number of local and international NGOs in Ethiopia shows a dramatic increment. For instance, in the year 2009 more than 4,677 humanitarian and other NGOs were registered under the Ministry of Justice to operate and participate in development and public service activities rather than relief operation [1].

International and Local NGOs in the East Guji Zone

The first half of the twentieth century is considered as a turning point for the arrival of foreign relief organizations in Ethiopia. In the twentieth century, mainly because of modern communication and transportation the number of foreign missionaries coming to Ethiopia increased. These missionaries expanded their religious activities through missionary schools. But most of the activities conducted by those missionary schools were highly religious oriented. For instance, the Swedish and German Herman burg evangelical missionaries are among early comers. However, the 1960s witnessed the arrival of modern international organizations like MEEC, IRC, and CRDA others in Ethiopia. Most of them were based in Addis Ababa until the 1970s famine, but the Makana Eyasus Evangelical Church (MEEC) set up its branch in different parts of Ethiopia (i.e. even in peripheral areas) mainly in southern and western provinces after it was renamed the Ethiopian Makana Eyasus Evangelical Church [1,4].

To teach its doctrine for local communities, the Church opened various temporary shelters in some areas. The Church did not only give religious teaching but also modern education side by side, and beyond this the church also supported local peoples economically when they faced difficulties [5].

One of the churches was established at Hagara Maryam (current Bule Hora). Previously, Hagara Maryam Makana Eyasus Church embraced larger areas of the southern Sidamo provinces. It includes Borana, Jamjam, Gedeo, Sidama, Arero awrajas and other waradas. Among these awrajas, Jamjam or the current East Guji zone is the one which still has close connection with the church of Makana Eyasus ( Gemechu, 2002; Ayinalem, 1998).

As sources indicate the church of Makana Eyasus is the first religious organization which set up its office in the remote lowlands of East Guji and Borana (i.e. Dolo-Odo MEEC and Hostel) followed by the 1970s Ethiopian Red Cross Societies and other non-permanent relief organizations. In the 1970s famine period there were three local and international INGOs that opened their offices in the East Guji-Borana areas. However, during the 1984/85 famine, the numbers of relief organizations operating in the areas increased greatly [4]. Following the separation of both East and West Guji Zone and Borana Zones from Sidamo province and after a change of government in 1991, various foreign NGOs arrived to operate in the marginalized pastoralist areas and few numbers of local NGOs also emerged in the East Guji areas [6].

According to the East Guji Zone Governmental and NGOS registration office until1999 around sixteen permanent international and local NGOs were registered to operate in East Guji areas. In addition, eight NGOs opened temporary offices. Save the Children both USA and UK and Sweden, SOS-Sahel, Dubaf, Coopii, Pastoral Community Development Project, AFD, IIRR, and others are some of the relief organizations which set up their office both in the lowland and highland areas of East Guji. Those voluntary agencies worked in different developmental fields and social service activities beyond relief operations. Some of these areas were education, medical service, integrated rural development, water development, infrastructure development, livestock diversification, micro credit service, drought and early warning, children development, women empowerment, integrated urban development and human rights defense program [5,6].

Overview of NGOs Response to the Eastern Guji Periodical Droughts

For long periods of time the East Guji pastoralist people were not beneficiaries from the central government incentives and other benefits. For instance, governmental social service institutions like: School, health care, infrastructural and water supply facilities were mostly unknown among the East Guji. There was only one, health care center at Adola-Wayo or Kibra-Mangest [5,6]. As a result, majorities of the East Guji people have been suffering from lack of medical and education facilities. However, for a long time, they were forced to pay taxes and tributes both in cash and in kind for the central government. In addition to inter clan conflicts and security problems, periodical droughts and famine affected the East Guji communities severely [5].

Like famine victims in Wallo and Tigray and the central government failed to provide emergency food to East Guji communities. According to the 1980 EMEEC annual report, in the years of 1972/73, and 1976/78 drought and famine period’s more than 13,500 East Guji peoples faced acute food shortage. And the responses of NGOs were scarce or rare due to insecurity in the area caused by the Somalia irredentist rebels, shiftas (bandits) and robbers. Relief efforts were further hampered by the outbreak of the Ethio-Somalia war in July 1977. As a result, a military base was set up at Nagale town. Somali irredentists tried to bring the East Guji and Borana ethnic groups into conflict. But Ethiopian officials could manage to avoid the conflict [2].

As Ogaden areas became the main battle grounds conditions were difficult for relief assistances and food distribution. But, the Ethiopian Makana Eyasus Evangelical Church sheltered more than 3,678 drought affecteds and war displaced people for two years. And side by side the church also gave both regular and religious education for more than hundred orphans and children from poor families [6].

The other relief for the East Guji people next to Makana Eyasus Church came from the Ethiopian Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC). For the first time the RRC tried to support the East Guji people in 1978 by distributing around one and half quintal of sorghum and wheat grain per family. But as informants and written documents stated that the donations of RRC for the East Guji communities was not fairly distributed and did not reach to the hands of poor people. Rather half of the grain remained among the hands of local state officials and their families. The second RRCs aid was robbed by the Somali insurgents [5,7]. During that time of hardship many East Guji people migrated to the stable and fertile Gedeo and Sidama Awraja, and generally the 1970s drought and famine claimed the lives of many people and livestock.

My East Guji informant Jarso Dhuka explains the severity of the 1970s drought as follows: -

My name is Jarso Dhuka and my birth place is Siminto village of southern Guji people. When the 1972/4 East Guji drought and famine occurred, my age would be around 18 or 19 but I don’t know my exact age. However, the harsh effects of those famine and silence governmental and NGOs response to drought and famines are recorded in my mind. The East Guji lowlanders were displaced from their village by the Somali bandits and their cattle were raided by those shiftas or robbers. And drought and famine claimed the lives of thousands of livestock. For instance, due to lack of water and pasture my family alone lost 76 cattle out of 83 and the same is true for our Siminto village and Liban societies in particular and East Guji in general. And my father sold seven of the remaining cattle with cheap price and he bought sorghum and other cheap cereals for our family. In the middle of 1974 due to lack health center in our district and Awraja my father died of Malarias infection (locally called “Boke Buussa”). Later our households’ burden was shouldered by my mother and she began to make charcoal with my elder brother and exchanged two sacks of charcoal for three kilograms of grain and she was doing that dangerous work for more than eight years. But, in 1975 through our traditional relief assistance mechanism of “Dabare”, we collected around 32 heads of cattle from our clans and other donors (locally called “Dureessa”). Again in 1976 another severe drought destroyed 17 of our cattle, and as a response to that famine and to save our life, we moved to Ganale River banks and we lived there for one decade and at the ends of 1986 we came back to our previous and present village of Siminto [5].

Six years later another catastrophic famine occurred in East Guji lands in particular and Ethiopia in general. The major causes of 1984/85 Ethiopian famine were the occurrence of unfavorable climatic condition, and crop failure. Numbers of famine victims and in need of relief assistance rose up from six million in 1984 to ten million in 1985. The 1984/85 famine was much more devastating than previous famines. It affected more than 90% of Ethiopian territories. Among these areas Sidamo was one of the provinces highly affected by the famine with more than 185,800 affected people. Among the awrajas of Sidamo, Wolayita, Nagale-Borana, Arero and Jamjam were severely affected by an extended famine [8].

As a response, ERCS, CRDA, EMEEC and OXFAM, distributed large amounts of maize, barley and pulses for famine victims in Wolayita, and camp was set up at Dollo-Odo where more than 8,500 famine victims were sheltered. There were also more than 23,000 famine victims who came to the camp monthly to take grain, palm oils and other food items. During that time the Dollo-Odo camp gave service for more than 16 months. The relief camp was closed in 1987 [5].

Later in the year 1992 the camp was reopened and still it shelters refuges from Somalia Republic and other needy people. The church of EMEEC also opened three distribution points at Shakiso, Nagale Borana and Kibra Mangest towns and starting from the ends of 1984 the church distributed more than 9,700 tons of grains (like:- Maize, Wheat, Pulses, Barley and other food items) for more than 6,836 (i.e. around two quintals were given for each family) affected peoples. Drought and famine affected the East Guji people until the beginnings of 1986 [5].

A relief camp was distributed wheat to Gedeo and maize, sorghum and wheat for the Jamjam drought affected people. In addition to the food, cloth, and medical care provided by those NGOs and church relief organizations, the Darg also allocated around $ 65,000,000 for grain purchase and $ 46,000,000 for internal transportation costs. And, between the two famine years, more than 1,050,208 metric tons of food and medical services were distributed for famine victims through RRC and other voluntary agents and channels [2]. According to the 1986 RRC’s report, in the year 1984/5 alone, more than 761,594 tons of grain was distributed for more than 167,600 Jamjamtu and Borana famine victims at Nagale-Borana military base distribution center and different awraja and warada police stations. However, it is difficult to ascertain that all the grain had reached the hands of affected people. Documents and informants stated that some state officials had misappropriated the grain and used relief food for their own benefit [8].

For instance, in the year 1985, the then Awassa police station captured large amount of grain from illegal merchants’ which was sold for them by the Borana Zone (i.e. Jamjamtu, Moyale and Liban awraja) officials. After Darg’s down fall in 1991, particularly in the pastoralist East Guji areas continuous droughts were occurred (i.e. 1992/97and 2000). During those drought years large numbers of livestock were affected by cattle diseases (like:-Anthrax, Foot and Mouth Disease and Blooding diseases) and shortage of pasture and water poles. International NGOs like: COPPI, SOS-Sahel, AFD, PCDP and others were involved in digging of deep hand pumped water points both for livestock and human beings. Animal fodder was distributed for drought affected East Guji zone cattle, particularly among Goro Dolla Warada, Liban Warada, Nagale town and Wadara Waradas [8,9].

Besides, large veterinary medicines were given for affected waradas. Animal health care centers were set up. Direct medical treatment was given for infected cattle by NGOs veterinary doctors and skilled personals [2]. Local NGOs like EMEEC and DUBAF also played a vital role through establishing warehouses and distribution stations(both to human and livestock) for donor organizations and through coordinating NGOs assistance and directing them which pastoralist areas was in need of emergency livestock and human food assistances. During both drought seasons the numbers of affected people was low because the northern parts of East Guji were receiving rain and the price of crops in local market was stable.

As soon as the drought season began and many people moved with their cattle to Kibra Mangest, Ganale and Bale areas. But peoples of northern East Guji were in conflict with Gedeo people both in 1995and 1997, that is why the southern drought affected people did not move to Gedeo areas [9]. According to the 1998 COPPIs annual reports, the cost of the total assistance given by four NGOs (COPPI, PCDP, and ERCS) for the East Guji pastoralists in the form of silage, hay and veterinary medicine was estimated to be around 1,876,106.48 ETB. This indicates that after 1991 the effects of famine for human beings were not as severe as the previous years and large numbers of NGOs were active to give support in the East Guji areas [5].

In 2000/2001, another drought and famine occurred in the East Guji zone. The 2000/2001 drought was more devastating than the earlier ones and a large number of livestock perished due to lack of rain both in East Guji and Borana areas. As the East Guji zone Agriculture and Pastorialism Bureau documents indicate, during the above two years drought and famine period large number of cattle perished. In an attempt to mitigate the effects of the drought in the area, local and international NGOs tried to support the local people by distributing wheat, maize, haricot beans and other grains for human beings, and grasses and fodder for affected livestock.

For instance, in the year 2000 drought/famine period more than 516 East Guji people from Liban, Shakiso and Goro-Dolla faced an acute shortage of food and as a response the then Borana Zone RRC office distributed more than 37 tons of wheat grain among affected peoples at Nagale Aid Distribution warehouse. Similarly, relief organizations like:- COPPI and SOS Sahel highly participated in digging underground water points to save the lives of livestock. Later due the collaboration efforts of NGOs and DPPC and the East Guji Zone Agriculture and Pastoralists Bureau the lives of large numbers of cattle could be saved. Another drought occurred in the year 2001 mainly in the three pastoral districts of East Guji Zone (namely, Goro Dolla, Liban, Wadara and Nagale) and a large number of livestock died but due to the collaborative efforts of more than sixteen NGOs and DPPC there was no human casualty.

For instance, during the 2001drought/famine, the RRC distributed more than 126 tons of wheat, barley and 3,158 K.G Oil for hundreds of famine victims in Liban warada. Local and international NGOs also tried to supply water for thirsty livestock using tanker trucks and distributing fodder [8].

Even then, a great number of cattle had already perished. The death of livestock came to an end after the beginning of rain. In 2009/10 another drought also affected pastoralists’ living in the same three waradas of East Guji Zone (i.e., Goro-Dolla, Wadara and Liban). Due to the failure of Ganna and Hagayya rainy seasons and more than 32,236 pastoralists and semi-pastorialists faced shortage of food. But many lives were saved due to the collaborative efforts of DPPC, ERCS and other humanitarian relief organizations. For instance, in the year 2010, ERCS distributed huge amounts of nutritional foods and grain for affected peoples. Especially, children, mothers with babies and elders were the targets of ERCS food distribution. However, livestock deaths were high in the three waradas of East Guji Zone.

In the East Guji Zone, local and international NGOs were highly involved in different developmental activities. For example, COPPI, Save the Children/US, PCDP, SOS-Sahel, PCAE, PLPRP, and IIRR have been in rural water integrated developments, livestock diversification, drought early warning system and risk management. DPPC is also involved in EWS besides relief aid. Other NGOs are involved in social service activities. These include Save the Children, DUBAF, AHEAD, PLWHA, General Bacha Dabele Pastorialist Girls Hostel and German Hostel, EMEEC and others). Among other things, they are involved in Women empowerment, education, human health care, STDS and female harmful practices and Child care program. Generally, in the East Guji pastoral areas, today NGOs have become one of the main food relief, development and public service providers [5].

Governmental and NGOs Joint Efforts in Drought Mitigation Program

Ethiopia has been dependent on rain feed agriculture for a long time. Similarly, plow agriculture remained unchanged for centuries in terms of equipment and productivity. As a result, there has been no meaningful development in the country’s economic development for a long time. The life of peasants remained subsistent. Inaddition, the expansion of tenancy in southern Ethiopia contributed to the sluggish development of the economy [10].

A considerable portion of the peasants’ production was consumed by the land lords (ballabats). As a result of this, the processes of land degradation were aggravated (mainly caused by high population density and traditional techniques of cultivation) in different parts of the two awrajas in particular and the province in general. That made the local people highly susceptible to various problems like drought, crop failure, chronic food shortage and hunger. During times of hardship government bodies made their own best to support the people. This support ranges from ordering people to hold mass prayers, and distributing food for affected people [8,9].

Although, in the second half of the twentieth century, the government response to the East Guji drought and famine was ineffective; and as a result, a large number of livestock and people lost their lives in different parts of Ethiopia. The same is true with the southern Ethiopia East Guji people. Like other peripheral areas of the country, East Guji pastoral people were also affected by various periodical droughts and its results for many years. And, there was no tangible governmental intervention to solve their periodical drought which claimed the lives of large number of livestock [8,5].

However after the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Ethiopian revolution, Comrade Mangestu said, “Thousands of our countrymen have possibly perished as a result of recurrent droughts and we shall control the forces of nature” and “We must mobilize our collective efforts to free agriculture from the effects of natural disaster, to expand irrigated agriculture and to increase production by constructing dams by re-routing surrounding rivers and by collecting annual rain water in reservoirs”[3].

Then, RRC and other NGOs began relief operation in famine affected areas including the pastoral areas of East Guji. In order to combat recurrent drought, the government also started reforestation program. For two decades (i.e. from 1970s--1990s) the assistance of RRC and NGOs among the East Guji peoples was relief based. But after 1991, RRC started to work on drought and crisis anticipation (early warning) program [5].

DPPC’s Crisis Anticipation and Early Warning System

After the downfall of Emperor Hayla Sellasse in 1974 the new military government took several measures to minimize the effects of the 1973/74 famine and the consequent droughts in different parts of the country. To solve those all-rounded problems of the country, the government established the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) in August 1974 E.C. Then, the RRC opened its office in various provinces of the country to help and assist peoples, who were affected by the results of natural factors, and to organize or coordinate both local and abroad humanitarian organizations donation.8Similarly in 1975 E.C. RRC opened its branch office at Nagale-Borana and Hagara Maryam (Bule Hora) Awraja towns of Sidamo administrative province. And many years these two RRC’s branch offices were coordinating various famine mitigation programs [3,11].

For instance, they coordinated the local people to plant trees, to construct check dams and other mechanisms to control soil erosion and deforestation which was the root causes for periodical droughts and acute food shortage. The RRC offices also distributed relief assistance for the 1984/85 drought and famine affected people. Later on, following a change of government the National Policy for Disaster Prevention Management (NPDPM) was set up in 1993.

The NPDPM took early warning and preparedness as a key element to respond to climate-related hazards. National Meteorological Services Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Ethiopian Mapping Agency, RRC or the latter DPPC were some of the members of NPDPM. On the other sides, of the coin, RRC continued its operation until it was renamed as DPPC in August 1995. DPPC worked as a secretariat of NPDPM and it assesses the status of weather, agricultural operations, crop prospects and subsequently recommended possible responses. DPPC’s early warning systems have various chains at every corner of Ethiopian areas starting from Federal level up to Regional and Zonal levels (Ibid).

For instance, in the year 1995 the previous Nagale-Borana RRC Office was renamed as Nagale Borana Zonal Disaster Prevention Preparedness Department and Bureau and fifteen Offices were opened among the fifteen waradas of East Guji Zone with a great priority of early warning system (EWS) [5]. EWS is a method of futuristic prediction of food security and early indication of disaster situation so as to develop preparedness to minimize risks, and avoid drastic and irreversible measures that the communities, may take to save their life and livestock. Starting from 1990s up to now those local DPPC offices are playing a great role in early warning system detection program through detecting and studying the climatic conditions or rain fall, crop availability in the local markets and buying and selling situations, human health, livestock, water and pasture conditions and field crops and after their harvesting results and other indicators. When things were/are not in good situation they told the local peoples to take various preventive measures and preparedness activities.

Through such mechanisms, waradas early warning offices create awareness by disseminating information among their warada communities. However, currently DPPC and NGOs are doing a good job among the East Guji people. For instance, DPPC was highly involved in the activities of crisis anticipation or drought early warning systems intensively in collaboration with the East Guji Zone governmental and NGOs Registration Office. DPPC also encouraged other local and international humanitarian organizations to participate in early warning system and to engage in livestock and people lifesaving activities.

Save the Children and Funds

Save the children Fund (SCF) of USA arrived in Ethiopia and opened its first office at the capital in late 1984, in front of Bisrate Gabriel Church. Its main target was to give relief assistance for the 1984/5 famine affected Ethiopians with due emphasis on children and mothers. Between 1984 and 1991, SCF/USA was distributing relief assistance (both in food and non-food items) mainly to mothers and children and other destitute families. The financial source of this organization is the government of United States of America. Currently; this organization is working almost in all regions of Ethiopia, and has more than twenty-seven branches in Ethiopia alone [1,11].

Since 1991 SCF/USA has changed its previous relief assistance operation and started participating in various developmental activities. It also works to reduce child mortality, to increase the literacy and decision-making level of females and to control malpractices, HIV/AIDS and other sexual transmitted diseases both in rural and urban areas. Regarding gender issues, the organization has been working with Ethiopia Women affairs. It has also been jointly working with Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Zonal and Warada Level Health Offices to solve health related problems. In addition to this, starting from 1991 the organization also expanded its offices into various remote areas of Ethiopia where health care facilities and education coverage were highly scarce [12].

Among these areas Southern Guji (East Guji Zone) was one of them. SCF/USA opened its offices at Nagale Borana the seat of East Guji zone administration in 2001. Until recently, the organization main focus was forming women’s groups in various villages of East Guji zone (mainly in Goro Dolla, Liban, Nagale and Wadara waradas) and giving seminar and life skill training for a week. The training included the difficulties of traditional mal practices, child birth through traditional midwifes, extravagance, illiteracy, gender-inequality, and STDs, HIV/Aids causes and preventive measures. In addition, the organization gave revolving funds for poor women households to help themselves and families. However, since 2004, SCF/USA was largely involved in various development activities like women empowerment programs, natural environment management and conservation, drought and early warning systems, agro-pastorialism, rural women’s literacy campaign and other child and women touch activities, and the organization achieved tangible life and thinking progress from the targeting groups’ project. Currently, SCF/USA is mainly engaged in three types of projects, namely, women empowerment, literacy class, and early warning system units [5,12].

For instance, in women empowerment unit, the organization is assisting them financially, technically and materially to generate their own incomes. In East Guji zone there are more than 8 women’s group who participated in different income generation works, such as petty trade, bee keeping, and fishery around Dawa-Ganale River, animal fattening, and cereal crop trade. In addition, starting from 1999 E.C, SCF/USA gave revolving funds (15,000 -25,000 ETB) under a binding agreement. Every year SCF/USA has been giving a total of 200,000ETB for eight groups as revolving fund. Each group included 18-25 women [12].

Informants stated that, at the initial stage each group was a combination of both sexes and most of those organized groups did not get enough profit from their group. Later all groups were rearranged and men were excluded from all groups. For example, cereal crop groups buy crops and other home consumption materials from Nagale and they sold them to rural communities far from markets with a small profit. This process saves time power and transportation costs of the rural people who are mostly far from towns. For those groups, SCF/USA constructed around seventeen containers or warehouses at the cost of 70,000ETB to easily store and distribute their cereal crops for consumers [5].

Even during bad times the groups continued to sell cereals to avoid food shortages both in market and rural distribution warehouses. To do that, SCF/USA always helps them by studying market places which have enough cereals at cheap prices and buy and bring for them within short periods of time. Women cereal groups only pay cereal and transportation costs for the vehicles which brought them cereals from far away markets. Due to this reason both rural people as well as women trading groups are beneficiaries. As a result, many women changed their living condition and economic status.

Side by side with this program there is literacy class. SCF/USA covered 50 percent of the costs and the communities paid the rest fifty percent for satellite class teachers who received a monthly salary of 3, 00 birr each in the four warada villages and qabales. There are more than ten literacy classes in every waradas and in this program SCF/USA allotted yearly more than 1,460,000 ETB. Those adult groups are learning up to grade three levels in those satellite schools. The main beneficiaries of this program are adult females and males, and this program enabled large numbers of people (including women cereal group uneducated peoples) to read and write [5,12].

For example, Guyatu Boro stated how her life is changed after she joined both the women’s income generation groups and literacy classes as follows; -

My name is Guyatuu Boro and I am 39 years old woman from Liban warada of Dhaka Kala qabale. I have a husband and 8 male and 3 female children. My livelihood activity is agro-pastorialism. Before I joined El-Sarite women’s group around 2009, I did not have any knowledge about money and I was economically dependent on my husband. Formerly, when my husband wanted to sell the cattle, he did not inform me how and how much he sold and I did not have a confidence to ask him. However, after I became a member of El-Sarite cooperative I have a right to participate on meeting cereal marketing or trainings which concerned me and I have got a right to make decisions equally with my husband. Once, I received trained by Save the Children and I was given 350 birr. I used 50 for tea and I bought female goat by 300 birr. After 8 months the goat gave birth and I sold them for 700 birr and bought two mobile apparatus for my children. Generally, I got advantage being the member of ElSarite cereal marketing co-operative, I can now read and write (because now I am grade two) thanks to this adult literacy program. Now I am better off economically and socially and that built my confidence.

Similarly, another woman informant stated her current situation five years after she joined the Goro Dolla women’s cereal marketing as cashier and adult literacy group member. She compared her previous life with the present as follows: My name is Edatu Girja and I am a 27 years old woman. And I am a mother of six children (5 boys and 1 girl) and joined the Goro Dolla Warada women cereal marketing group in the year 2008. When I joined this group I know nothing about business and I had never been to school. There was no school around our village. Besides, our culture discouraged girls’ education. At the age of 20, I could not read and write. After I joined this group and side by side with other activities, I started literacy and numeracy class in 2009 E.C. Then, I began to read and write, and now when I compare and contrast my seven years progress from my previous life, ‘I can say I was in the darkness of ignorance for 20 years. But now my eyes are open because of my exposure to education. Now I can write and read confidentially without any problem. I have even started taking notes of my house hold issues, and now I am inspired to continue my education. Really, I thank my association as well as SCF/US that enabled us to stand by our selves and solve our all-rounded problems partially.

Other east Guji females are also involved in fishing activities in Ganale-Dawa Rivers using the revolving funds of SCF/USA. Besides financial aid SCF/USA also supports those groups by giving them modern British made fishery materials like, hooks, tapes and webs. In order to avoid their market problems, SCF/USA also created awareness about the importance of fresh-fish meat and its nutritional value for the Nagale-Borana town dwellers and surrounding communities by distributing pamphlets and posting flyers on various poles and walls [5].

According to my informants Aynalam, Wario and Wande, SCF/USA has been helping the local people in various ways to bring about a meaningful change in their lives. The organization has also been working to ensure gender equality. This indicates currently the Guji peripheral area women have got a special consideration from the organization to enable them and to change their lives staring from decision making, economic empowerment up to reading and writing.

As those informants told me, the organization is also actively working on drought and crisis anticipation system in collaboration with the East Guji Zone DPPC, mainly on four selected waradas (i.e., Goro Dolla, Liban, Wadara and Nagale) of East Guji Zone. SCF/USA is actively engaged in this activity to minimize the risks of disaster and consequential problems in the East Guji zone. The organization uses various indicators to forecast the occurrences of drought and food insecurity. For instance, it uses livestock related indicators (unusual shortage of pasture and water), crop and market related indicators (like erratic rain fall and scarcities of cereal crops in the market and increments of their prices).

When SCF/USA found those signs of drought and food insecurity, it alerted the communities through various mechanisms by calling a seminar of the four waradas local village representatives and Abba Gadas and informing them about the impending crisis and the tackling mechanisms they should use as an early preparedness and timely action, and to disseminate the warning in their respective villages and localities.

In this regard the organization was successful during the times the 2001, 2009 and 2010 drought and famines.

DUBAF/a Local NGO and its Funds

Dubaf was established on June 2, 1994 at Goro Dolla Warada of East Guji Zone by the joint efforts of local communities, educated youth groups and another devoted humanitarian personal (particularly, Duba Gololcha). After its establishment the organization of Dubaf was legally registered with the Federal Ministry of Justice as an indigenous humanitarian development organization to operate in Oromia, Somali and SNNP Regions. According to my informants Messa Kilta, Jamjam Udesa and Haro Badhu, among the East Guji Oromo local communities’ language Dubaf means “for future, for the next and for the forthcoming” However as an organization Dubaf means “Development by Unity and Brotherly Action for the Futures”.

In addition to this, Dubaf is a non-political, nonracial, non-profit making, non-religious and non-partisan humanitarian organization, dedicated to help the marginalized communities and to enable them to make their social and economic life better, through supporting self-help initiatives and promoting indigenous skills, and to create community participation green environment and protection, and to improve primary health care and enhance literacy level (mainly female students through supporting materially, financially, psychologically and even through hostelling service). In 1996 Dubaf signed an operational agreement with the NPDPM and get a certificate of legal identity to work with DPPC in relief operation and early warning systems. Currently, this organization is working in Goro Dolla, Wadara, Adola and Libn Waradas of East Guji Zone, Yabello and Liban areas of Borana Zone, Bale Zone of Oromia, and in Worabi Waradas of Silti Zone and AlataWondo Waradas of Sidama Zone.

The organization has also a plan to start its humanitarian operation in Somali Region and in other parts of East Guji and Borana Zones. The main financial sources of the organization are members’ monthly contribution, annual fundraising programs, and project partners (PCAE, Cordiad/ Netherlands, Save the children/USAID, AED/USAID, IIRR, Rotary club/Canada, AHEAD/UK and other international NGOs and Governmental agencies). Starting from its establishment until now, through the funds of those voluntary and partnership donors. Dubaf implemented various projects.

Now it is carrying out different developmental activities, like, women empowerment, girls’ education, and sponsoring students from poor family to pursue their higher education, early warning, and livestock diversification and restocking programs (Ibid). For instance, from the year 1995--2002, Dubaf has sponsored more than fifteen students from East Guji, and Borana zones of extremely poor families (who were incapable to follow their studies through economic problems) and assisted them to finish their higher education programs by covering their stationary costs, transportation expenses and providing essential materials for their education.

Dubaf has also constructed one Girls’ Hostel at Goro Dolla Warada of East Guji zone and it gives a hostelling services (with free bed and bed room clothes like blanket, pillow and others, cosmetic materials and sanitation materials like soap, foam, educational materials like pen, pencil, exercise book, reference books, school uniforms),… for fifty female students. Those students were screened from extremely poor pastoralist families. In addition, clever female students who came from remote areas and those students who have completed their eighth grade were also selected by the organization for assistance. For example, in 2003, 2004 and 2005, around 57, 51 and 42 female students respectively, joined Dubaf’s Goro Dolla Warada Girls Hostel (Ibid).

Even those students who joined preparatory programs received full support. Currently; Dubaf is supporting both financially and technically rural as well as urban East Guji women households to empower themselves and their families by giving cash for working capital, and to participate in animal fattening, petty trade and other livestock diversification programs. The organization also helps the drought affected marginalized poor women and sometimes severely affected men households through restocking programs (buying cattle, goats and other livestock, and distributing them among drought affected cattle loser men and women households and other poor families).

The organization is engaged in giving technical advices for those pure pastoralist peoples (to sell some of their livestock and put their money in a bank and other micro finances, and to diversify their livestock (from cattle, to drought resistant goats, sheep and camels). More than this Dubaf is also working in drought or crisis early warning system with East Guji zone DPPC office. Since the organization is set up and led by the local people, it has a good communal knowledge and experience, and it is so effective (than other governmental and non-governmental agencies) in this program. Such people are using the local people’s traditional crisis anticipation mechanism jointly with the scientific method to easily predict the occurrences of drought and hardship.

And when drought occurring signs were observed they give warning for the local people to take good preventive mechanisms like to use water points wisely, to store enough food for livestock and themselves, to settle around river banks and to sell their cattle before the decline of cattle prices in the market and to buy drought resistant livestock like goats and sheep. In addition, the organization also preserves or protected some grassing and rich pasturing areas for difficult times with local communities’ participation. In the years of 2000/2001 and 2009/10 East Guji droughts period, Dubaf predicted about the occurrences of drought and advised the local peoples to make preparation and other preconditions before the coming of those bad times.

Later, it carried out a relief operation by distributing water for humans and livestock in highly affected areas. Besides, the organization also informed federal and regional disaster prevention and protector agencies about the impending drought in the area, and advised them to be on standby position for relief and intervention activities. Still now the organization is participating in many of the above-mentioned activities like, girls’ education, women empowerment, livestock diversification, restocking, in inter-ethnic conflicts reconciliation process, in community based environmental protection programs, primary health care and provision of medical services and first aid materials, in drought and early warning systems and other developmental activities).

The organization Executive Director, Jamjam Udasa stated that, for the future the aims of Dubaf is to expand in various zones, waradas and villages of the three region (Oromia, Somali and Southern Nations and Nationalities and peoples) and focusing on natural resource management and conservation programs, infrastructural programs, girls education through constructing girls hostel, women households empowerment through petty trade and other small business organizations, promotion of micro finances and enterprises in various remote desert and semi desert areas of East Guji, drought and early warning system and in other developmental operations.

Cooperazione Internazionale /COOPI/ and Funds

COOPI is an international NGO that opened its office in 1993 in East Guji Zone. Currently, Coopi has more than three branches and works in eight waradas of East Guji. This organization is funded mainly by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHA) and Italian Development Cooperation (IDC) to work on rural water sanitation and integrated developments, livestock diversification, drought early warning system and risk management. Between, 1996 and 2000; the organization has implemented various relief and pastoral livelihood intervention programs both in East Guji and Borana zones. During the last East Guji-Borana drought, the organization played an irreplaceable role in pastoral livelihood intervention and in digging water points or water supply emergency projects [5].

However, since 2000, COOPI has been engaged intensively in various developmental and drought prevention activities. As informants Shukriya, Edatu and Wario stated, between 2000 and 2004, COOPI has constructed over seventy-three water harvesting installation (each with a capacity of carrying 20,000 liters) for fifty seven governmental junior, high school and four non-governmental primary schools and twelve governmental organizations at the cost of 978,000 ETB. In addition, COOPI also constructed more than 187 hand pumped deep-water points both for human and livestock population in different pastoral areas as a response to the Guji periodical droughts and famine. As a result, the lives of thousands of livestock were saved. Besides, mainly during the 1999, 2000/2001 and 2009/10 drought years, COOPI distributed huge amount of animal fodder and veterinary and human medicines to treat human and animal disease in East Guji zone.

More than this COOPI also constructed more than four gravel roads (more than 26 kilometers) two of them connected rural areas with urban centers through modern transportation and the other two linked rural areas with medical care centers. Currently, COOPI is trying to change the drought susceptible pastoralist livelihood system of East Guji communities into agro-pastorialism and pure agrarian economic system by constructing irrigation canals at various pastoral areas [5]. COOPI also supplied best seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and other modern agricultural systems at subsidized prices. Every year, the organization has been awarding effective farmers who gained more production using COOPI’s material, moral and technical support. Similarly, COOPI also expanded best and model practices to warada and qabales. The organization encouraged women participation in development activities. As informants stated, COOPI has more than seven agro-pastoral groups, which each of them with 23 female and 38 male members. These groups are mainly practicing cattle beefing, livestock diversification (rearing of various types of animals than mono species) and modern agricultural practices. Besides, COOPI has also been working on drought and early warning systems in collaboration with Guji Zone DPPC. It played a significant role in creating awareness among communities to prepare and equip themselves during times of drought and food insecurity. This activity brought various polio economical and socio-cultural changes among the pastoral communities [5,12].

In addition to COOPI, Dubaf and Save the Children, there are various local and international NGOs, and humanitarian groups, which are playing a vital role in alleviating the East Guji communities’ periodical drought, in increasing the literacy rate of pastoral-female students and reducing other socio-cultural, polio-economic and environmental problems in the area. For instance, as part of the female empowerment and literacy program, there are two hostels (i.e. General Bacha Dabale female students’ hostel and German hostel). These hostels are funded by the General Bacha Dabale women and Childs aid, and Germany Makana Eyasus followers’ humanitarian and civil societies’ group respectively [5].

As my informant Zarihun Bakala and Fatiya Umar stated,

General Bacha Dabale female students’ hostel was set up in 2006 at Nagale town to help the East Guji girls from poor pastoralist families. There are three groups or committees who are responsible for selecting female students who are in need of hostel service.41 Members of the committee are composed of the hostel administration support staff, students and family association. This girls’ hostel has more than four criteria during a times of registration. The main criteria were loss of mother or father or both, extreme poverty, absence of high school in their pastoralist area, distance from Nagale town, and health problems. Accordingly, the hostel accepts yearly more than 160 female students from pastoralist families. For instance, between 2003 and 2005E.C. more than 390 female students were admitted to the hostel.

According to informants, girls from poverty affected families received a monthly stipend of 250 ETB each and the hostel allocated 1200 ETB at the beginning of each year (i.e. September) for each girl in order to cover various expenses. The same is true for the MEEC Nagale-Borana Girls Hostel (Germany Hostel). Since 1970s, this hostel has been playing a vital role among the East Guji marginalized and drought affected pastoral peoples. The hostel has been accepting yearly more than 425 girls from the poor East Guji pastoralist communities and giving them free educational service [5].

Students received free dormitory, bed room, clothes, café or feeding room, educational materials and other spiritual and non-spiritual materials and services. For the services of the hostel, the organization yearly allotted a budget of more than 330,000ETB. Students from poor families are now getting such types of educational opportunity. However, the local community members are not satisfied with the selection process. Members of the selection committee usually selected students from their clan. Anyhow, the hostel plays its own role in helping children from poor pastoralist families to get free educational service, which would help them to fight droughts and to take themselves and their families out of drought susceptible economic activity of livestock rearing to engage in other types of economic fields [5].

Generally, besides the above mentioned local and international NGOs, there are also other humanitarian organizations which are playing their own irreplaceable role for the mitigations of periodical droughts in the East Guji zone. Currently they are operating in several community projects throughout the East Guji zone. For instance some of them participate in the fields of education, infrastructural and developmental activities, health, and gender related issues and on other types of humanitarian programs [13-18].

Community Perceptions of the Response

The East Guji communities strongly blamed the regimes of Emperor Hayla Sellasse, Darg and somehow the current government, because the responses of those governments to the droughts and famines that broke out between 1970s, and 2000s were ineffective. And due to this reason, a large number of livestock and human population died. However, the East Guji people have a good outlook or perception towards local and international NGOs (like, ERCS, CRDA, EMEEC, OXFAM and others) for their irreplaceable support, aid and drought interventions. But, according to East Guji elders that the emergency assistance provided by those humanitarian organizations was relatively low compared to the magnitude of the drought and famine that affected East Guji people. Especially in remote areas of East Guji, many people and livestock died during the 1984/85 famine [5,8].

As all informants argued that, previously food aid was always considered as the ultimate target for various local and international NGOs and humanitarian relief organizations. But food aid alone did not solve the problem of the East Guji people. Rather it makes them dependent. That means food aid solves only their short-term problem but in the long run it brought nothing to them and did not avoid their periodical droughts. However, after 1991, various NGOs are trying to shift more than 95% of their project to developmental and service-related activities, and due to this reason, the life of East Guji pastoral peoples is showing some progress, and communities who have gained this chance are somehow happy. But, some conservative East Guji people opposed those humanitarian organizations for various reasons. For example, they oppose the expansion of westernization and civilization at the expense of age-old East Guji culture. As a result, they are against the large influx of relief organizations to their area [18-23].

In addition, they blamed them for not supporting people living in remote areas. Some of the NGOs also failed to implement their projects like asset diversification programs, destocking and restocking systems, hay and silage preparation, income source diversifications, establishing various and large member inclusive cooperatives, strengthened their transformation from pastorialism to agro-pastorialism and agriculture developing saving traditions in modern banks and community owned savings and other significant economical livelihood activities. The above-mentioned problems are the real causes for the persisting East Guji drought and famines or food insecurity problem of the area [24-27].

Conclusion

Starting from, 1970s until this contemporary period more than ten recognized or local droughts occurred in the lands of Guji. So to save their lives as well as livestock, Guji peoples practiced various local copying mechanisms (early warning system, survival mechanisms like eating fruits, and recovery methods) which they adopted from their predeccessors. Due to the scarcity of governmental and other relief organizations intervention, in that hardship time, women were highly vunnerable (especially widow and divorce women’s). Of course, in the 1980s Guji drought and famine period few numbers of relief organizations (EMEEC, CRDA, OXFAM and others) and also RRCs intervened and distributed food and non-food item aids to affected peoples at Dolo-odo camp and Nägälė town relief center. And due to that collaboration effort large numbers affected peoples were saved from distraction. From those famine periods, (1970s and 1980s) large number of cattle were perished. And, due to this reason Guji peoples have not a good perception for the previous government drought and famine responses.

However, after 1990s, various NGOs opened their office in Guji Zone and their project is mainly focused on development activities than relief service. Some of them are participating in social service, agriculture, women empowerment and other beneficiary activities. In the year 1990s and 2000s Guji famine and drought, they (NGOs like DUBAF, COOPI, Save the Children/US, and others) also participated in relief service activities and played an irreplaceable role through saving human and livestocks live from distruction. Currently, both Guji Zone DPPC and other humanitarian organizations are jointly working in drought and famine mitigation program using early warning system as pillar to their work.

In connection with this, relief organizations are working on enabling local peoples to confront hardships through designing and operating various development-based projects. Their work on women empowerment and related activity is also so attractive. Because, unlike the previous time, currently Guji women are relatively getting various support and assistance, starting from informing their constitutional rights and duties up to empowering them economically and politically and educating them through giving hosteling services. This has been possible through the support of local and international NGOs. And such support enables females to equally decide with their husbands on livestock, land to participate in development activities. Generally, the Guji peoples’ periodical drought and famine catastrophic effect are reduced from to time and this is due to the collaborative efforts of both governmental and non-governmental organization hard work.

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coffeerambler · 7 years ago

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Snobbery in Specialty Coffee

Snobbery in Specialty CoffeThere is a perceived snobbery in Specialty Coffee. Many of us have entered a coffee shop and felt either a little out of our depth, the staff are rude or that we’re amongst a bunch of pretentious bum heads. Adverts like the one created by McDonald’s appeal to this sensibility, with the depiction of specialty coffee being elitist, over-priced and the preserve of pretentious bum heads. But this story is unhelpful and although there isn't smoke without fire (dry ice), attempts to ridicule specialty coffee for snobbery could close people out and lead to missed opportunities for those who would enjoy the positive community, environmental and self-learning aspects.

A matter of taste

In any walk of life snobbery exists. There are certainly coffee shops I’ve visited from London to Kunming and experienced exactly the kind of atmosphere that repels potential newcomers. There are also some who don't work in specialty coffee but drink it, never missing an opportunity to tell their friends how bad Starbucks, Costa or Lavazza is. They revel in telling people they should change their coffee habits to match theirs. This too is not only unhelpful, but illogical.

Ultimately, coffee is subjective and what I might think is a deliciously fruity Kenyan, my brother might say it’s a weak vegetable piss. I could say “that’s because your taste buds aren’t developed”, but to what avail? Who am I to make such a claim? What if I have a shop and I turn away anyone who doesn't agree with me? I’ll likely go bust.

And so this happens anyway and there’s a push back. McDonald’s make their advert and lots of potential specialty coffee admirers laugh and now think it’s silly. Specialty coffee people think the advert smells of desperation as the specialty sector grabs greater market share. It may be a light-hearted joke but a distinction is made, and not a very accurate one.

Reverse Snobbery

So snobbery all round. Pointing the finger and laughing at something you’re yet to experience, like specialty coffee, is no less snobbish than the uppity barista who has no time for high street coffee drinkers. A bit of understanding is needed on both sides. The complexity of specialty coffee is certainly a barrier which promotes this kind of reaction and where a barista has grown familiar with this complexity, they become detached from how big the gulf is between commercial and gourmet for newcomers. The ritual involved in brewing and the different flavour profiles make them completely different drinks, particularly if the former is in a massive cup with milk and syrup. Grinding, the brewing equipment and flavour notes can all be quite daunting but patience overcomes these issues.

Familiarity also plays a part. At first I couldn’t understand why anyone would drink a sour espresso and generally thought it was a mistake. My early experience of coffee was completely shaped by instant and commercial coffee, ‘Italian’ blends and Starbucks’ incredible creation which has defined coffee for many of us (but not in Italy, Australia and New Zealand). So naturally, when speaking to someone about coffee origins and processes I was out of my depth. Perhaps this lack of understanding in one results in disregarding the other as a snob.

I remember one introductory tasting event I held in particular. Of the 20 or so people there, one person reacted how I imagined many more would. She tasted a washed Ethiopian Sidamo and blurted out, “If I wanted tea I would order it!” Her favourite coffee was one I put in as a control, a very dark roast which I would not choose for myself. While others were pleasantly surprised and spoke about what they could taste, she appeared to close down and reject the lighter roasts considered to be specialty grade. What this told me, and other tastings, was that in the right environment the majority of people want to broaden their experience of coffee.

And like the majority at these events, my own curiosity drew me in further and I quickly came to appreciate the acidity, brightness and flavours of non-commercial coffee. For some though, the lack of bitterness is a problem and many do not care about coffee as long as they taste the strength they are looking for, mistakenly identifying strength as bitterness. Even within the commercial market now, packaging is shifting away from using strength to refer to bitterness and switching to roast levels instead. Supermarkets are adapting to our increased knowledge of coffee.

A solution to snobbery

There’s probably no solution to snobbery in coffee, just as in life generally. However, I’ve found that most people working in specialty coffee enjoy sharing their experience of the drink. In many shops, like Prufrock in London, staff are attentive and providing they have the time, are willing to talk for as long as you are. Many top players make time for others too. Steve Leighton of Has Bean coffee gives everyone and anyone time at the end of events, no matter their level. My experience is also that most people want to discover more. It comes down to those within the industry having the patience for others and their choices. This will result in converting those who want to expand their appreciation, and hopefully reduce the perception of barriers and snobbery.

#snobbery #snob #specialtycoffee #coffee #prufrock #hasbean #london #china #ethiopia

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kemetic-dreams · 4 years ago

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Ethiopia is considered to be the birthplace of the coffee plant and of coffee culture. It is thought that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia as long ago as the ninth century. Today, over 12 million people in Ethiopia are involved in the cultivation and picking of coffee, and coffee remains a central part of Ethiopian culture.

The Ethiopian Coffee Legend

The most popular legend of coffee in Ethiopia usually goes something like this: Kaldi, an Abyssinian goat herder from Kaffa, was herding his goats through a highland area near a monastery. He noticed that they were behaving very strangely that day, and had begun to jump around in an excited manner, bleating loudly and practically dancing on their hind legs. He found that the source of the excitement was a small shrub (or, in some legends, a small cluster of shrubs) with bright red berries. Curiosity took hold and he tried the berries for himself.

Like his goats, Kaldi felt the energizing effects of the coffee cherries. After filling his pockets with the red berries, he rushed home to his wife, and she advised him to go to the nearby monastery in order to share these "heaven-sent" berries with the monks there.

Upon arrival at the monastery, Kaldi's coffee beans were not greeted with elation, but with disdain. One monk called Kaldi's bounty "the Devil's work" and tossed it into a fire. However, according to legend, the aroma of the roasting beans was enough to make the monks give this novelty a second chance. They removed the coffee beans from the fire, crushed them to put out the glowing embers, and covered them with hot water in an ewer in order to preserve them (or so the story goes).

All the monks in the monastery smelled the aroma of the coffee and came to try it out. Much like the tea-drinking Buddhist monks of China and Japan, these monks found that coffee's uplifting effects were beneficial in keeping them awake during their spiritual practice (in this case, prayer and holy devotions). They vowed that from then on they would drink this newfound beverage each day as an aid to their religious devotions.

There is an alternate coffee origin myth, which attributes the discovery of coffee to a very devout Muslim man named Sheikh Omar who was living as a recluse in Mocha, Yemen.

Ethiopian Coffee History

It is thought that the legendary character of Kaldi would have existed around 850 A.D. This account coincides with the commonly held belief that coffee cultivation began in Ethiopia around the ninth century. However, some believe that coffee was cultivated as early as 575 A.D. in Yemen.

Although the legend of Kaldi, his goats, and the monks say that coffee was discovered as a stimulant and as a beverage on the same day, it is far more likely that coffee beans were chewed as a stimulant for centuries before they were made into a beverage. It is likely that the beans were ground and mixed with ghee (clarified butter) or with animal fat to form a thick paste, which was rolled into small balls then consumed as needed for energy on long journeys. Some historians believe that this custom of chewing coffee beans was brought (along with coffee itself) from Kaffa to Harrar and Arabia by enslaved Sudanese who chewed coffee to help survive the arduous journeys of the Muslim slave trade routes. Supposedly, enslaved Sudanese picked up this custom of chewing coffee from the Galla nation of Ethiopia. Today, the tradition of consuming ground coffee in ghee remains in some areas of Kaffa and Sidamo. Similarly, in Kaffa, some people add a little melted clarified butter to their brewed coffee to make it more nutritionally dense and to add flavor (a bit like the butter pu-erh tea of Tibet).

According to some sources, there was also a way of eating coffee as a porridge, and this method of consuming coffee could be seen amongst several other indigenous nations of Ethiopia around the tenth century.

Gradually, coffee became known as a beverage in Ethiopia and beyond. In some populations, coffee cherries were crushed and then fermented into a kind of wine. In others, coffee beans were roasted, ground, and then boiled into a decoction. Gradually, the custom of brewing coffee took hold and spread elsewhere. Around the 13th century, coffee spread to the Islamic world, where it was revered as potent medicine and powerful prayer aid and was boiled much like medicinal herbal decoctions are boiled—for intensity and strength. You can still find traditions of boiling coffee in Ethiopia, Turkey, and much of the rest of the Mediterranean, where they are known as Ethiopian coffee, Turkish coffee, Greek coffee and other, similar names.

One common Ethiopian coffee saying is "Buna dabo naw". This literally translates to "Coffee is our bread". It demonstrates the central role that coffee plays in terms of diet and illustrates the level of importance placed on it as a source of sustenance.

Another common saying is "Buna Tetu". This is an Amharic phrase that literally means "Drink coffee". It applies not only to the act of drinking coffee but also to socialize with others, much like the way people use the phrase "meet for coffee" in English.

If one says, "I don't have anyone to have coffee with," it is not taken literally, but assumed to mean that the person does not have good friends in whom they can confide. This relates closely to the enormous social role that coffee consumption plays in Ethiopia and the fact that people often gather over coffee for conversations that cover daily life, gossip, and deeper issues alike. Similarly, if someone says, "Don't let your name get noticed at coffee time," they mean that you should watch out for your reputation and avoid becoming the topic of negative gossip.

#buna #bunna #kemetic dreams #ethiopia #punt #land of gods #land of coffee #ta netjer #oromo #oromia #african culture #east africa #northeast africa #birthplace #birthplace of coffee #brown #habesha

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nprinterns · 7 years ago

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Holly Herzfeld

1. Internship position: Arts Desk Intern

2. Hometown/university: DC/Bard College

3. Favorite DC spot: Sidamo or anywhere in Rock Creek Park (I have my favorite nooks and crannies!)

4. Favorite NPR show, blog or podcast: Code Switch, Hidden Brain, All Songs Considered

5. No. 1 song you’re jamming to right now: Dance This Mess Around by The B-52's

6. Coolest thing you’ve done while at NPR: I got to be a part of the Hidden Brain podcast and was recorded playing the piano and it was used in an episode! (It's called The "Swiss Army Knife" Of Health: A Good Night's Sleep) I also got a really sweet shout out at the end. I also got to go on a field trip with Susan Stamberg to record an interview at a gallery in DC. Hanging out with Susan was definitely the coolest thing I've probably ever done. I also tracked, mixed, edited, and worked on a lot of pieces for Susan! This was great for me to practice and also learning how Susan works is just magical.

7. Top #NPRLife moment(s): Being in the NPR elevator with Susan Stamberg, talking with her, hearing her voice on the radio, AND hearing her voice announce each floor. The "Trifecta".

8. If you could have @NPR tweet the entirety of one document/work, what would it be? The entire Cocteau Twins discography- no explanation. I wonder how they would spell all of the glossolalia.

9. Who is your dream Tiny Desk artist? Bonnie Raitt... I mean come on!

10. What’s next for you? I'm sticking around in DC for a while. You can find me working at Black Cat or eating Ethiopian food on H Street.

11. Advice for future interns? Bring your personal flavor to everything you do! Bring your quirks and fold them into how you work. It's important to bring strange people together (creativity explosion!) and your quirks are most likely very valuable and will set you apart from the crowd. But they will also allow your work to remain as true a part of you as your eccentricities are.

#intern #interns #internship #internships #Fall 2017 Exit Interviews

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delfinamaggiousa · 5 years ago

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A Beginner’s Guide to African Coffee Varieties and Flavors

When winemakers wax poetic about the places that turned them on to grapes, they often cite regions in France. African coffees, like a perfumed Charmes-Chambertin from Burgundy or a haunting Chenin Blanc from Savennières in the Loire Valley, have the same indelible sway over coffee pros. Indeed, Africa may be the most exciting coffee-producing continent in the world, boasting incredible variety, history, and high quality. Although nearly a dozen African countries produce coffee, accounting for 12 percent of global production, most is bulk supply. Specialty-grade coffee, the focus here, is concentrated in East Africa.

Ethiopia

The birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia is home to stunning diversity in coffee varieties, perhaps thousands, many wild and uncataloged. Coffee roasters sometimes label coffee bags for consumers as “heirloom,” indicating the unknown genetic provenance. (Interestingly, Counter Culture took up a project to catalog many of the varieties that Western exporters label as “heirloom.”)

Unlike the rest of Africa, most of which has barely a century of history in coffee production, Ethiopia has been growing, brewing, and exporting coffee for over a millennium. Ethiopia is the fifth-largest coffee producer globally, accounting for 3 percent of the world’s supply and employing 15 million people in the country — amounting to more than a quarter of the working-age population and 60 percent of foreign income.

While most African countries rely on wet (washed) processing, Ethiopia also produces substantial volumes of dry-processed coffees known as “natural” coffees. Dry processing is labor-intensive, but can impart heavy, fruity flavors – blueberry is a common descriptor – braced with citrus-like acidity.

In contrast, Ethiopian washed coffees evoke a cup of tea due to their delicate, floral flavor profile (think bergamot oil in Earl Grey). The differences are not all due to processing, however, as regions such as Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, and Harrar have become storied for their terroir and the individual flavors of their coffees.

Kenya

Ethiopia’s southern neighbor, Kenya, employs 6 million in the coffee industry. Unlike Ethiopia, it has a relatively short coffee-production history, dating back to the late 19th century. Nevertheless, the country, whose population is 47.6 million, has developed a reputation for the quality of its specialty-grade coffee, much of which is grown at high elevation around Mount Kenya.

Kenya has traditionally sold production through a relatively transparent auction system that rewards higher- quality lots with higher prices, an unusual but effective platform for the African industry.

Specialty Kenyan coffees tend to have a medium-to-full body, dazzling acidity, and characteristics that have been likened to black currant (think Cabernet Sauvignon), plus tropical flavors, berry notes, and citrus undertones. Its famous cultivars read like codes — SL28 and SL34 (SL denoting Scott Laboratories, the progenitor of the National Agricultural Lab) — that were found to be tolerant of drought, some diseases, and many pests.

Tanzania

Grown on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania specialty coffee has developed a reputation for bright, clean, medium-bodied, and complex cups. Though the Haya tribe is thought to have brought coffee to Tanzania from Ethiopia, commercial coffee cultivation was introduced by German colonists nearly a century ago and today accounts for approximately 20 percent of the country’s export value.

In the U.S., Tanzania has become known for its peaberry. This moniker refers to a coffee cherry that has only one seed instead of the normal two. Occurring in 5 to 10 percent of coffee cherries, peaberry beans are smaller and rounder than regular coffee beans, which have a flat side.

Rwanda

For a country with less than a 20-year history of producing specialty coffee, Rwanda has developed an outsized reputation. Nearly 80 percent of its total production is specialty-grade. Rwandan coffees, typically based on mutations of Bourbon, a coffee variety, tend toward a sweet and full-bodied experience boasting a wide range of flavor profiles, from red fruit notes (apples, grapes) to a distinct floral character. The country’s high elevation (all of Rwanda is 3,000 feet above sea level) produces dense beans. Roasters with experience know to employ sufficiently high temperatures to avoid an overly acidic profile, as well as roast beans long enough to develop a rich mouthfeel.

Burundi

Like its northern neighbor Rwanda, tiny Burundi (the size of Maryland) farms the Bourbon variety on mountainous terrain. Farmers often fully wash seeds, soaking both during fermentation and afterward. The practice promotes a clean taste as the protective mucilage is thoroughly removed. Burundi coffees are known for their sweet fig and berry flavors and juicy acidity.

In the 1990s, civil war devastated Burundi’s coffee industry. Drawing inspiration from Rwanda’s post-conflict coffee success, however, Burundi has made strides and lifted the quality of its coffees — the best examples astonish buyers, earning high scores from specialty coffee graders around the globe.

The article A Beginner’s Guide to African Coffee Varieties and Flavors appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/african-coffee-varieties-guide/

source https://vinology1.wordpress.com/2020/04/07/a-beginners-guide-to-african-coffee-varieties-and-flavors/

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schlagger · 5 years ago

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another benefit of this ecq - people have more time to work on some non-essential (but satisfying) skills... in my case, espresso-making and milk frothing. 😊 thanks to @candidcoffeeph for keeping us caffeine addicts sane this lockdown. coffee notes: while i can manage to pick up flavors in manually-brewed coffee, i must admit that my espresso tasting skills is dismal, at best. so i'll get back to you one this. 😅 in any case, i'll just take lanz' words - frosted corn cereal, citrus honey, & dried cranberry. This Week's Espresso Beans: Honey Cereal Blend (40% Ethiopia Sidamo, 30% Brazil Santos, 30% Vietnam SC-18) from @candidcoffeeph https://www.instagram.com/p/B-YQuwxHlUp/?igshid=5dcve3280rgy

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sylvia0138-blog · 5 years ago

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[強豆來襲] 2018 衣索比亞日曬桃子甜心/桃可可 G1 SLD 特別版 2018 Ethiopia Sidamo Natural Twakok G1 SLD 特別版　國家　　衣索比亞 (Ethiopia) 產區　　歐若米亞 (Oromia Region) 　　　　西達摩 (Sidama Zone) 海拔　　2,000+公尺品種　　衣索比亞古優品種(Heirloom) 年雨量　約 1,650 - 1,900 mm 處理法　非洲式棚架日曬處理法，紅櫻桃單層慢速乾燥　 (30KG　特別版繽紛小麻袋附塑膠內袋) 　桃子甜心/桃可可(Twakok) 是另一個我們自豪且鍾情的豆款，今年第一次推出就受到大家的喜愛，另外也以94分的成績入選Coffee Review八月的日曬濃縮咖啡專題，也是該次主題專文的第二高分*。桃子甜心/桃可可(Twakok)在我們日曬衣索比亞的產品線中獨樹一幟，除了日曬衣索比亞迷人的莓果、熱帶水果調性及花香之外，甜蜜濃膩但又清新的水蜜桃風味是那絕對又唯一的必要！　　 Twakok在衣索比亞的原文為 Tafac Kok。Tafac是甜蜜的意思，Kok則是水蜜桃，合起來就是甜蜜的水蜜桃，我們在杯測到這支豆子的樣品時，被其甜蜜的桃子風味所深深吸引，因此將其命名為桃子甜心，並請教衣索比亞的朋友，將桃子甜心以衣索比亞的原文詮釋，略加轉換後命名為 Twakok，中文譯名為桃可可，恰如其分的表現其甜蜜感十足的蜜桃可人風味。　本次到貨的是2018產季我們所引進的一款小量的批次，這個批次取自我們造訪的一個高海拔處理廠，處理廠所在海拔就超過2000公尺，實地探訪確認其使用紅櫻桃單層慢速乾燥的批次。我們在到貨的取樣測試，覺得其潛力尚未完全發揮，由於批次量非常小，我們大膽的將其押後上架，風味果然扶搖直上，我們的風味敘述也不斷修改。俗話說的話，Patient people eat ripe fruits. 等待是值得的。這款可說是2018產季的最後極小量批次，千萬不要錯過囉。　 🍑 風味短評 🍑 研磨開可感受到葡萄、莓果、水蜜桃及玫瑰花氣息。啜吸時以草莓、桃子、杏桃、葡萄等豐富的水果風味為主調，伴隨著馥郁的紫羅蘭花香及玫瑰氣息，口感飽滿滑順、香甜多汁。　　 * https://www.coffeereview.com/revi…/natural-sidamo-twakok-g1/ ，由台灣業者Kakalove Cafe於2018年8月送評取得之高分，並入選當月日曬濃縮咖啡主題，為該次主題專文的第二高分。該次送評所選用之生豆為本公司此品項2018第一次到貨的191批次。 -- 圓石咖啡粉絲專頁發文之文字內容或圖片，歡迎於販售推廣經本公司所販售之咖啡引用，其他任何方式之引用須註明文字出處及連結網址。（在花巷咖啡） https://www.instagram.com/p/B8vvJXtn64XSyBa4hEPLN55C-kUhSZuVcpgJ5M0/?igshid=1p1yzipa4xdrp

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blackkudos · 7 years ago

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Haile Selassie

Haile Selassie I (23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and emperor from 1930 to 1974. He also served as Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 25 May 1963 to 17 July 1964 and 5 November 1966 to 11 September 1967. He was a member of the Solomonic Dynasty.

At the League of Nations in 1936, the emperor condemned the use of chemical weapons by Italy against his people during the Second Italo–Ethiopian War. His internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the League of Nations, and his political thought and experience in promoting multilateralism and collective security have proved seminal and enduring. His suppression of rebellions among the landed aristocracy (the mesafint), which consistently opposed his reforms, as well as what some critics perceived to be Ethiopia's failure to modernize rapidly enough, earned him criticism among some contemporaries and historians. His regime was also criticized by human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, as autocratic and illiberal.

Among the Rastafari movement, whose followers are estimated at between two and four million, Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate. Beginning in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafari movement perceives Haile Selassie as a messianic figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity. Haile Selassie was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian throughout his life. He is a defining figure in Ethiopian history.

Haile Selassie died on 27 August 1975 at the age of 83, following a coup d'état.

Name

Haile Selassie was known as a child as Lij Tafari Makonnen (Amharic ልጅ ተፈሪ መኮንን; lij teferī mekōnnin). Lij is translated as "child", and serves to indicate that a youth is of noble blood. His given name, Tafari, means "one who is respected or feared". Like most Ethiopians, his personal name Tafari is followed by that of his father Makonnen and rarely that of his grandfather Woldemikael. His Ge'ez name Haile Selassie was given to him at his infant baptism and adopted again as part of his regnal name in 1930.

As Governor of Harer, he became known as Ras Teferi Makonnen listen . Ras is translated as "head" and is a rank of nobility equivalent to Duke; though it is often rendered in translation as "prince". In 1916, Empress Zewditu I appointed him to the position of Balemulu Silt'an Enderase (Regent Plenipotentiary). In 1928, she granted him the throne of Shoa, elevating his title to Negus or "King".

On 2 November 1930, after the death of Empress Zewditu, Ras Tafari was crowned Negusa Nagast, literally King of Kings, rendered in English as "Emperor". Upon his ascension, he took as his regnal name Haile Selassie I. Haile means in Ge'ez "Power of" and Selassiemeans trinity—therefore Haile Selassie roughly translates to "Power of the Trinity". Haile Selassie's full title in office was "By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Elect of God". This title reflects Ethiopian dynastic traditions, which hold that all monarchs must trace their lineage to Menelik I, who was the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

To Ethiopians, Haile Selassie has been known by many names, including Janhoy, Talaqu Meri, and Abba Tekel. The Rastafari movement employs many of these appellations, also referring to him as Jah, Jah Jah, Jah Rastafari, and HIM (the abbreviation of "His Imperial Majesty").

Biography

Early life

Haile Selassie's royal line (through his father's mother) originated from the Amhara people, He was born on 23 July 1892, in the village of Ejersa Goro, in the Harar province of Ethiopia. His mother was Woizero ("Lady") Yeshimebet Ali Abba Jifar, daughter of the renowned Oromo ruler of Wollo province Dejazmach Ali Abba Jifar. His maternal grandmother was of Gurage heritage. Tafari's father was Ras Makonnen Woldemikael Gudessa, the governor of Harar. Ras Makonnen served as a general in the First Italo–Ethiopian War, playing a key role at the Battle of Adwa; he too was paternally Oromo but maternally Amhara. Haile Selassie was thus able to ascend to the imperial throne through his paternal grandmother, Woizero Tenagnework Sahle Selassie, who was an aunt of Emperor Menelik II and daughter of Negus Sahle Selassie of Shewa. As such, Haile Selassie claimed direct descent from Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of ancient Israel.

Ras Makonnen arranged for Tafari as well as his first cousin, Imru Haile Selassie, to receive instruction in Harar from Abba Samuel Wolde Kahin, an Ethiopian capuchin monk, and from Dr. Vitalien, a surgeon from Guadeloupe. Tafari was named Dejazmach (literally "commander of the gate", roughly equivalent to "count") at the age of 13, on 1 November 1905. Shortly thereafter, his father Ras Makonnen died at Kulibi, in 1906.

Governorship

Tafari assumed the titular governorship of Selale in 1906, a realm of marginal importance, but one that enabled him to continue his studies. In 1907, he was appointed governor over part of the province of Sidamo. It is alleged that during his late teens, Haile Selassie was married to Woizero Altayech, and that from this union, his daughter Princess Romanework was born.

Following the death of his brother Yelma in 1907, the governorate of Harar was left vacant, and its administration was left to Menelik's loyal general, Dejazmach Balcha Safo. Balcha Safo's administration of Harar was ineffective, and so during the last illness of Menelik II, and the brief reign of Empress Taitu Bitul, Tafari was made governor of Harar in 1910 or 1911.

On 3 August, he married Menen Asfaw of Ambassel, niece of heir to the throne Lij Iyasu.

Regency

The extent to which Tafari Makonnen contributed to the movement that would come to depose Iyasu V has been discussed extensively, particularly in Haile Selassie's own detailed account of the matter. Iyasu V, or Lij Iyasu, was the designated but uncrowned emperor of Ethiopia from 1913 to 1916. Iyasu's reputation for scandalous behavior and a disrespectful attitude towards the nobles at the court of his grandfather, Menelik II, damaged his reputation. Iyasu's flirtation with Islam was considered treasonous among the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian leadership of the empire. On 27 September 1916, Iyasu was deposed.

Contributing to the movement that deposed Iyasu were conservatives such as Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, Menelik II's longtime Minister of War. The movement to depose Iyasu preferred Tafari, as he attracted support from both progressive and conservative factions. Ultimately, Iyasu was deposed on the grounds of conversion to Islam. In his place, the daughter of Menelik II (the aunt of Iyasu) was named Empress Zewditu, while Tafari was elevated to the rank of Ras and was made heir apparent and Crown Prince. In the power arrangement that followed, Tafari accepted the role of Regent Plenipotentiary (Balemulu 'Inderase) and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire (Mangista Ityop'p'ya). Zewditu would govern while Tafari would administer.

While Iyasu had been deposed on 27 September 1916, on 8 October he managed to escape into the Ogaden Desert and his father, Negus Mikael of Wollo, had time to come to his aid. On 27 October, Negus Mikael and his army met an army under Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis loyal to Zewditu and Tafari. During the Battle of Segale, Negus Mikael was defeated and captured. Any chance that Iyasu would regain the throne was ended and he went into hiding. On 11 January 1921, after avoiding capture for about five years, Iyasu was taken into custody by Gugsa Araya Selassie.

On 11 February 1917, the coronation for Zewditu took place. She pledged to rule justly through her Regent, Tafari. While Tafari was the more visible of the two, Zewditu was far from an honorary ruler. Her position required that she arbitrate the claims of competing factions. In other words, she had the last word. Tafari carried the burden of daily administration but, because his position was relatively weak, this was often an exercise in futility for him. Initially his personal army was poorly equipped, his finances were limited, and he had little leverage to withstand the combined influence of the Empress, the Minister of War, or the provincial governors.

During his Regency, the new Crown Prince developed the policy of cautious modernization initiated by Menelik II. Also, during this time, he survived the 1918 flu pandemic, having come down with the illness. He secured Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923 by promising to eradicate slavery; each emperor since Tewodros II had issued proclamations to halt slavery, but without effect: the internationally scorned practice persisted well into Haile Selassie's reign with an estimated 2 million slaves in Ethiopia in the early 1930s.

Travel abroad

In 1924, Ras Tafari toured Europe and the Middle East visiting Jerusalem, Alexandria, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Geneva, and Athens. With him on his tour was a group that included Ras Seyum Mangasha of western Tigray Province; Ras Hailu Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam province; Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu of Illubabor Province; Ras Makonnen Endelkachew; and Blattengeta Heruy Welde Sellase. The primary goal of the trip to Europe was for Ethiopia to gain access to the sea. In Paris, Tafari was to find out from the French Foreign Ministry (Quai d'Orsay) that this goal would not be realized. However, failing this, he and his retinue inspected schools, hospitals, factories, and churches. Although patterning many reforms after European models, Tafari remained wary of European pressure. To guard against economic imperialism, Tafari required that all enterprises have at least partial local ownership. Of his modernization campaign, he remarked, "We need European progress only because we are surrounded by it. That is at once a benefit and a misfortune."

Throughout Ras Tafari's travels in Europe, the Levant, and Egypt, he and his entourage were greeted with enthusiasm and fascination. He was accompanied by Seyum Mangasha and Hailu Tekle Haymanot who, like Tafari, were sons of generals who contributed to the victorious war against Italy a quarter century earlier at the Battle of Adwa. Another member of his entourage, Mulugeta Yeggazu, actually fought at Adwa as a young man. The "Oriental Dignity" of the Ethiopians and their "rich, picturesque court dress" were sensationalized in the media; among his entourage he even included a pride of lions, which he distributed as gifts to President Alexandre Millerand and Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré of France, to King George V of the United Kingdom, and to the Zoological Garden (Jardin Zoologique) of Paris. As one historian noted, "Rarely can a tour have inspired so many anecdotes". In return for two lions, the United Kingdom presented Ras Tafari with the imperial crown of Emperor Tewodros II for its safe return to Empress Zewditu. The crown had been taken by Robert Napier during the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia.

In this period, the Crown Prince visited the Armenian monastery of Jerusalem. There, he adopted 40 Armenian orphans (አርባ ልጆች Arba Lijoch, "forty children"), who had lost their parents in Ottoman massacres. Ras Tafari arranged for the musical education of the youths, and they came to form the imperial brass band.

King and emperor

In 1928, the authority of Ras Tafari Makonnen was challenged when Dejazmatch Balcha Safo went to Addis Ababa with a sizeable armed force. When Tafari consolidated his hold over the provinces, many of Menelik's appointees refused to abide by the new regulations. Balcha Safo, the governor (Shum) of coffee-rich Sidamo Province, was particularly troublesome. The revenues he remitted to the central government did not reflect the accrued profits and Tafari recalled him to Addis Ababa. The old man came in high dudgeon and, insultingly, with a large army. The Dejazmatch paid homage to Empress Zewditu, but snubbed Ras Tafari. On 18 February, while Balcha Safo and his personal bodyguard were in Addis Ababa, Ras Tafari had Ras Kassa Haile Darge buy off his army and arranged to have him displaced as the Shum of Sidamo Province by Birru Wolde Gabriel who himself was replaced by Desta Damtew.

Even so, the gesture of Balcha Safo empowered Empress Zewditu politically and she attempted to have Tafari tried for treason. He was tried for his benevolent dealings with Italy including a 20-year peace accord which was signed on 2 August. In September, a group of palace reactionaries including some courtiers of the empress, made a final bid to get rid of Tafari. The attempted coup d'état was tragic in its origins and comic in its end. When confronted by Tafari and a company of his troops, the ringleaders of the coup took refuge on the palace grounds in Menelik's mausoleum. Tafari and his men surrounded them only to be surrounded themselves by the personal guard of Zewditu. More of Tafari's khaki clad soldiers arrived and, with superiority of arms, decided the outcome in his favor. Popular support, as well as the support of the police, remained with Tafari. Ultimately, the Empress relented and, on 7 October 1928, she crowned Tafari as Negus (Amharic: "King").

The crowning of Tafari as King was controversial. He occupied the same territory as the empress rather than going off to a regional kingdom of the empire. Two monarchs, even with one being the vassal and the other the emperor (in this case empress), had never occupied the same location as their seat in Ethiopian history. Conservatives agitated to redress this perceived insult to the dignity of the crown, leading to the rebellion of Ras Gugsa Welle. Gugsa Welle was the husband of the empress and the Shum of Begemder Province. In early 1930, he raised an army and marched it from his governorate at Gondar towards Addis Ababa. On 31 March 1930, Gugsa Welle was met by forces loyal to Negus Tafari and was defeated at the Battle of Anchem. Gugsa Welle was killed in action. News of Gugsa Welle's defeat and death had hardly spread through Addis Ababa when the empress died suddenly on 2 April 1930. Although it was long rumored that the empress was poisoned upon the defeat of her husband, or alternately that she died from shock upon hearing of the death of her estranged yet beloved husband, it has since been documented that the Empress succumbed to a flu-like fever and complications from diabetes.

With the passing of Zewditu, Tafari himself rose to emperor and was proclaimed Neguse Negest ze-'Ityopp'ya, "King of Kings of Ethiopia". He was crowned on 2 November 1930, at Addis Ababa's Cathedral of St. George. The coronation was by all accounts "a most splendid affair", and it was attended by royals and dignitaries from all over the world. Among those in attendance were George V's son the Duke of Gloucester, Marshal Franchet d'Esperey of France, and the Prince of Udine representing the King of Italy. Emissaries from the United States, Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, and Japan were also present. British author Evelyn Waugh was also present, penning a contemporary report on the event, and American travel lecturer Burton Holmes shot the only known film footage of the event. One newspaper report suggested that the celebration may have incurred a cost in excess of $3,000,000. Many of those in attendance received lavish gifts; in one instance, the Christian emperor even sent a gold-encased Bible to an American bishop who had not attended the coronation, but who had dedicated a prayer to the emperor on the day of the coronation.

Haile Selassie introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution on 16 July 1931, providing for a bicameral legislature. The constitution kept power in the hands of the nobility, but it did establish democratic standards among the nobility, envisaging a transition to democratic rule: it would prevail "until the people are in a position to elect themselves." The constitution limited the succession to the throne to the descendants of Haile Selassie, a point that met with the disapprobation of other dynastic princes, including the princes of Tigrai and even the emperor's loyal cousin, Ras Kassa Haile Darge.

In 1932, the Sultanate of Jimma was formally absorbed into Ethiopia following the death of Sultan Abba Jifar II of Jimma.

Conflict with Italy

Ethiopia became the target of renewed Italian imperialist designs in the 1930s. Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime was keen to avenge the military defeats Italy had suffered to Ethiopia in the First Italo-Abyssinian War, and to efface the failed attempt by "liberal" Italy to conquer the country, as epitomised by the defeat at Adwa. A conquest of Ethiopia could also empower the cause of fascism and embolden its rhetoric of empire. Ethiopia would also provide a bridge between Italy's Eritrean and Italian Somaliland possessions. Ethiopia's position in the League of Nations did not dissuade the Italians from invading in 1935; the "collective security" envisaged by the League proved useless, and a scandal erupted when the Hoare-Laval Pact revealed that Ethiopia's League allies were scheming to appease Italy.

Mobilization

Following the 5 December 1934 Italian invasion of Ethiopia at Walwal, Ogeden Province, Haile Selassie joined his northern armies and set up headquarters at Desse in Wollo province. He issued his mobilization order on 3 October 1935:

If you withhold from your country Ethiopia the death from cough or head-cold of which you would otherwise die, refusing to resist (in your district, in your patrimony, and in your home) our enemy who is coming from a distant country to attack us, and if you persist in not shedding your blood, you will be rebuked for it by your Creator and will be cursed by your offspring. Hence, without cooling your heart of accustomed valour, there emerges your decision to fight fiercely, mindful of your history that will last far into the future… If on your march you touch any property inside houses or cattle and crops outside, not even grass, straw, and dung excluded, it is like killing your brother who is dying with you… You, countryman, living at the various access routes, set up a market for the army at the places where it is camping and on the day your district-governor will indicate to you, lest the soldiers campaigning for Ethiopia's liberty should experience difficulty. You will not be charged excise duty, until the end of the campaign, for anything you are marketing at the military camps: I have granted you remission… After you have been ordered to go to war, but are then idly missing from the campaign, and when you are seized by the local chief or by an accuser, you will have punishment inflicted upon your inherited land, your property, and your body; to the accuser I shall grant a third of your property…

On 19 October 1935, Haile Selassie gave more precise orders for his army to his Commander-in-Chief, Ras Kassa:

When you set up tents, it is to be in caves and by trees and in a wood, if the place happens to be adjoining to these―and separated in the various platoons. Tents are to be set up at a distance of 30 cubits from each other.

When an aeroplane is sighted, one should leave large open roads and wide meadows and march in valleys and trenches and by zigzag routes, along places which have trees and woods.

When an aeroplane comes to drop bombs, it will not suit it to do so unless it comes down to about 100 metres; hence when it flies low for such action, one should fire a volley with a good and very long gun and then quickly disperse. When three or four bullets have hit it, the aeroplane is bound to fall down. But let only those fire who have been ordered to shoot with a weapon that has been selected for such firing, for if everyone shoots who possesses a gun, there is no advantage in this except to waste bullets and to disclose the men's whereabouts.

Lest the aeroplane, when rising again, should detect the whereabouts of those who are dispersed, it is well to remain cautiously scattered as long as it is still fairly close. In time of war it suits the enemy to aim his guns at adorned shields, ornaments, silver and gold cloaks, silk shirts and all similar things. Whether one possesses a jacket or not, it is best to wear a narrow-sleeved shirt with faded colours. When we return, with God's help, you can wear your gold and silver decorations then. Now it is time to go and fight. We offer you all these words of advice in the hope that no great harm should befall you through lack of caution. At the same time, We are glad to assure you that in time of war We are ready to shed Our blood in your midst for the sake of Ethiopia's freedom…"

Compared to the Ethiopians, the Italians had an advanced, modern military which included a large air force. The Italians would also come to employ chemical weapons extensively throughout the conflict, even targeting Red Cross field hospitals in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Progress of the war

Starting in early October 1935, the Italians invaded Ethiopia. But, by November, the pace of invasion had slowed appreciably and Haile Selassie's northern armies were able to launch what was known as the "Christmas Offensive". During this offensive, the Italians were forced back in places and put on the defensive. In early 1936, the First Battle of Tembien stopped the progress of the Ethiopian offensive and the Italians were ready to continue their offensive. Following the defeat and destruction of the northern Ethiopian armies at the Battle of Amba Aradam, the Second Battle of Tembien, and the Battle of Shire, Haile Selassie took the field with the last Ethiopian army on the northern front. On 31 March 1936, he launched a counterattack against the Italians himself at the Battle of Maychew in southern Tigray. The emperor's army was defeated and retreated in disarray. As Haile Selassie's army withdrew, the Italians attacked from the air along with rebellious Raya and Azebo tribesmen on the ground, who were armed and paid by the Italians.

Haile Selassie made a solitary pilgrimage to the churches at Lalibela, at considerable risk of capture, before returning to his capital. After a stormy session of the council of state, it was agreed that because Addis Ababa could not be defended, the government would relocate to the southern town of Gore, and that in the interest of preserving the Imperial house, the emperor's wife Menen Asfaw and the rest of the imperial family should immediately depart for French Somaliland, and from there continue on to Jerusalem.

Exile debate

After further debate as to whether Haile Selassie should go to Gore or accompany his family into exile, it was agreed that he should leave Ethiopia with his family and present the case of Ethiopia to the League of Nations at Geneva. The decision was not unanimous and several participants, including the nobleman Blatta Tekle Wolde Hawariat, strenuously objected to the idea of an Ethiopian monarch fleeing before an invading force. Haile Selassie appointed his cousin Ras Imru Haile Selassie as Prince Regent in his absence, departing with his family for French Somaliland on 2 May 1936.

On 5 May, Marshal Pietro Badoglio led Italian troops into Addis Ababa, and Mussolini declared Ethiopia an Italian province. Victor Emanuel III was proclaimed as the new Emperor of Ethiopia. On the previous day, the Ethiopian exiles had left French Somaliland aboard the British cruiser HMS Enterprise. They were bound for Jerusalem in the British Mandate of Palestine, where the Ethiopian royal family maintained a residence. The Imperial family disembarked at Haifa and then went on to Jerusalem. Once there, Haile Selassie and his retinue prepared to make their case at Geneva. The choice of Jerusalem was highly symbolic, since the Solomonic Dynasty claimed descent from the House of David. Leaving the Holy Land, Haile Selassie and his entourage sailed aboard the British cruiser HMS Capetown for Gibraltar, where he stayed at the Rock Hotel. From Gibraltar, the exiles were transferred to an ordinary liner. By doing this, the government of the United Kingdom was spared the expense of a state reception.

Collective security and the League of Nations, 1936

Mussolini, upon invading Ethiopia, had promptly declared his own "Italian Empire"; because the League of Nations afforded Haile Selassie the opportunity to address the assembly, Italy even withdrew its League delegation, on 12 May 1936. It was in this context that Haile Selassie walked into the hall of the League of Nations, introduced by the President of the Assembly as "His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Ethiopia" (Sa Majesté Imperiale, l'Empereur d'Ethiopie). The introduction caused a great many Italian journalists in the galleries to erupt into jeering, heckling, and whistling. As it turned out, they had earlier been issued whistles by Mussolini's son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano. The Romanian delegate, Nicolae Titulescu, famously jumped to his feet in response and cried "Show the savages the door!", and they were cleared out. Haile Selassie waited calmly for the hall to be cleared, and responded "majestically" with a speech sometimes considered among the most stirring of the 20th century.

Although fluent in French, the working language of the League, Haile Selassie chose to deliver his historic speech in his native Amharic. He asserted that, because his "confidence in the League was absolute", his people were now being slaughtered. He pointed out that the same European states that found in Ethiopia's favor at the League of Nations were refusing Ethiopia credit and matériel while aiding Italy, which was employing chemical weapons on military and civilian targets alike.

It was at the time when the operations for the encircling of Makale were taking place that the Italian command, fearing a rout, followed the procedure which it is now my duty to denounce to the world. Special sprayers were installed on board aircraft so that they could vaporize, over vast areas of territory, a fine, death-dealing rain. Groups of nine, fifteen, eighteen aircraft followed one another so that the fog issuing from them formed a continuous sheet. It was thus that, as from the end of January 1936, soldiers, women, children, cattle, rivers, lakes, and pastures were drenched continually with this deadly rain. In order to kill off systematically all living creatures, in order to more surely poison waters and pastures, the Italian command made its aircraft pass over and over again. That was its chief method of warfare.

Noting that his own "small people of 12 million inhabitants, without arms, without resources" could never withstand an attack by a large power such as Italy, with its 42 million people and "unlimited quantities of the most death-dealing weapons", he contended that all small states were threatened by the aggression, and that all small states were in effect reduced to vassal states in the absence of collective action. He admonished the League that "God and history will remember your judgment."

It is collective security: it is the very existence of the League of Nations. It is the confidence that each State is to place in international treaties… In a word, it is international morality that is at stake. Have the signatures appended to a Treaty value only in so far as the signatory Powers have a personal, direct and immediate interest involved?

The speech made the emperor an icon for anti-fascists around the world, and Time named him "Man of the Year". He failed, however, to get what he most needed: the League agreed to only partial and ineffective sanctions on Italy. Only six nations in 1937 did not recognize Italy's occupation; they were China, New Zealand, the Soviet Union, the Republic of Spain, Mexico and the United States.

Exile

Haile Selassie spent his exile years (1936–41) in Bath, England, in Fairfield House, which he bought. The emperor and Kassa Haile Darge took morning walks together behind the high walls of the 14-room Georgian house. Haile Selassie's favorite reading was "diplomatic history." But most of his serious hours were occupied with the 90,000-word story of his life that he was laboriously writing in Amharic.

Prior to Fairfield House, he briefly stayed at Warne's Hotel in Worthing and in Parkside, Wimbledon. A bust of Haile Selassie is in nearby Cannizaro Park to commemorate this time and is a popular place of pilgrimage for London's Rastafari community. Haile Selassie stayed at the Abbey Hotel in Malvern in the 1930s and his granddaughters and daughters of court officials were educated at Clarendon School in North Malvern. During his time in Malvern he attended services at Holy Trinity Church, in Link Top. A blue plaque, commemorating his stay in Malvern, was unveiled on Saturday, 25 June 2011. As part of the ceremony, a delegation from the Rastafari movement gave a short address and a drum recital.

Haile Selassie's activity in this period was focused on countering Italian propaganda as to the state of Ethiopian resistance and the legality of the occupation. He spoke out against the desecration of houses of worship and historical artifacts (including the theft of a 1,600-year-old imperial obelisk), and condemned the atrocities suffered by the Ethiopian civilian population. He continued to plead for League intervention and to voice his certainty that "God's judgment will eventually visit the weak and the mighty alike", though his attempts to gain support for the struggle against Italy were largely unsuccessful until Italy entered World War II on the German side in June 1940.

The emperor's pleas for international support did take root in the United States, particularly among African-American organizations sympathetic to the Ethiopian cause. In 1937, Haile Selassie was to give a Christmas Day radio address to the American people to thank his supporters when his taxi was involved in a traffic accident, leaving him with a fractured knee. Rather than canceling the radio appearance, he proceeded in much pain to complete the address, in which he linked Christianity and goodwill with the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asserted that "War is not the only means to stop war":

With the birth of the Son of God, an unprecedented, an unrepeatable, and a long-anticipated phenomenon occurred. He was born in a stable instead of a palace, in a manger instead of a crib. The hearts of the Wise men were struck by fear and wonder due to His Majestic Humbleness. The kings prostrated themselves before Him and worshipped Him. 'Peace be to those who have good will'. This became the first message.

...Although the toils of wise people may earn them respect, it is a fact of life that the spirit of the wicked continues to cast its shadow on this world. The arrogant are seen visibly leading their people into crime and destruction. The laws of the League of Nations are constantly violated and wars and acts of aggression repeatedly take place… So that the spirit of the cursed will not gain predominance over the human race whom Christ redeemed with his blood, all peace-loving people should cooperate to stand firm in order to preserve and promote lawfulness and peace.

During this period, Haile Selassie suffered several personal tragedies. His two sons-in-law, Ras Desta Damtew and Dejazmach Beyene Merid, were both executed by the Italians. The emperor's daughter, Princess Romanework, wife of Dejazmach Beyene Merid, was herself taken into captivity with her children, and she died in Italy in 1941. His daughter Tsehai died during childbirth shortly after the restoration in 1942.

After his return to Ethiopia, he donated Fairfield House to the city of Bath as a residence for the aged, until modified in the 1990s where it is now used as a day care centre. Advanced negotiations are progressing for a community group to run the House to preserve and develop the House.

1940s and 1950s

British forces, which consisted primarily of Ethiopian-backed African and South African colonial troops under the "Gideon Force" of Colonel Orde Wingate, coordinated the military effort to liberate Ethiopia. The emperor himself issued several imperial proclamations in this period, demonstrating that, while authority was not divided up in any formal way, British military might and the emperor's populist appeal could be joined in the concerted effort to liberate Ethiopia.

On 18 January 1941, during the East African Campaign, Haile Selassie crossed the border between Sudan and Ethiopia near the village of Um Iddla. The standard of the Lion of Judah was raised again. Two days later, he and a force of Ethiopian patriots joined Gideon Force which was already in Ethiopia and preparing the way. Italy was defeated by a force of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, Free France, Free Belgium, and Ethiopian patriots. On 5 May 1941, Haile Selassie entered Addis Ababa and personally addressed the Ethiopian people, five years to the day since his 1936 exile:

Today is the day on which we defeated our enemy. Therefore, when we say let us rejoice with our hearts, let not our rejoicing be in any other way but in the spirit of Christ. Do not return evil for evil. Do not indulge in the atrocities which the enemy has been practicing in his usual way, even to the last.

Take care not to spoil the good name of Ethiopia by acts which are worthy of the enemy. We shall see that our enemies are disarmed and sent out the same way they came. As Saint George who killed the dragon is the Patron Saint of our army as well as of our allies, let us unite with our allies in everlasting friendship and amity in order to be able to stand against the godless and cruel dragon which has newly risen and which is oppressing mankind.

On 27 August 1942, Haile Selassie abolished the legal basis of slavery throughout the empire and imposed severe penalties, including death, for slave trading. After World War II, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. In 1948, the Ogaden, a region disputed with Somalia, was granted to Ethiopia. On 2 December 1950, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 390 (V), establishing the federation of Eritrea (the former Italian colony) into Ethiopia. Eritrea was to have its own constitution, which would provide for ethnic, linguistic, and cultural balance, while Ethiopia was to manage its finances, defense, and foreign policy.

Despite his centralization policies that had been made before World War II, Haile Selassie still found himself unable to push for all the programs he wanted. In 1942, he attempted to institute a progressive tax scheme, but this failed due to opposition from the nobility, and only a flat tax was passed; in 1951, he agreed to reduce this as well. Ethiopia was still "semi-feudal", and the emperor's attempts to alter its social and economic form by reforming its modes of taxation met with resistance from the nobility and clergy, which were eager to resume their privileges in the postwar era. Where Haile Selassie actually did succeed in effecting new land taxes, the burdens were often passed by the landowners to the peasants. Despite his wishes, the tax burden remained primarily on the peasants.

Between 1941 and 1959, Haile Selassie worked to establish the autocephaly of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church had been headed by the abuna, a bishop who answered to the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. In 1942 and 1945 Haile Selassie applied to the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church to establish the independence of Ethiopian bishops, and when his appeals were denied he threatened to sever relations with the Coptic Church of Alexandria. Finally, in 1959, Pope Kyrillos VI elevated the Abuna to Patriarch-Catholicos. The Ethiopian Church remained affiliated with the Alexandrian Church. In addition to these efforts, Haile Selassie changed the Ethiopian church-state relationship by introducing taxation of church lands, and by restricting the legal privileges of the clergy, who had formerly been tried in their own courts for civil offenses.

In keeping with the principle of collective security, for which he was an outspoken proponent, he sent a contingent under General Mulugueta Bulli, known as the Kagnew Battalion, to take part in the Korean War by supporting the United Nations Command. It was attached to the American 7th Infantry Division, and fought in a number of engagements including the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. In a 1954 speech, the emperor spoke of Ethiopian participation in the Korean War as a redemption of the principles of collective security:

Nearly two decades ago, I personally assumed before history the responsibility of placing the fate of my beloved people on the issue of collective security, for surely, at that time and for the first time in world history, that issue was posed in all its clarity. My searching of conscience convinced me of the rightness of my course and if, after untold sufferings and, indeed, unaided resistance at the time of aggression, we now see the final vindication of that principle in our joint action in Korea, I can only be thankful that God gave me strength to persist in our faith until the moment of its recent glorious vindication.

During the celebrations of his Silver Jubilee in November 1955, Haile Selassie introduced a revised constitution, whereby he retained effective power, while extending political participation to the people by allowing the lower house of parliament to become an elected body. Party politics were not provided for. Modern educational methods were more widely spread throughout the Empire, and the country embarked on a development scheme and plans for modernization, tempered by Ethiopian traditions, and within the framework of the ancient monarchical structure of the state.

Haile Selassie compromised when practical with the traditionalists in the nobility and church. He also tried to improve relations between the state and ethnic groups, and granted autonomy to Afar lands that were difficult to control. Still, his reforms to end feudalism were slow and weakened by the compromises he made with the entrenched aristocracy. The Revised Constitution of 1955 has been criticized for reasserting "the indisputable power of the monarch" and maintaining the relative powerlessness of the peasants.

Charitable gesture

He sent aid to the British government in 1947 when Britain was affected by heavy flooding. His letter to Lord Meork, National Distress Fund, London said, "even though We are busy of helping our people who didn't recover from the crises of the war, We heard that your fertile and beautiful country is devastated by the unusually heavy rain, and your request for aid. Therefore, We are sending small amount of money, about one thousand pounds through our embassy to show our sympathy and cooperation."

He also left his home in exile, Fairfield House, Bath, to the City of Bath for the use of the Aged in 1959.

1960s

Haile Selassie contributed Ethiopian troops to the United Nations Operation in the Congo peacekeeping force during the 1960 Congo Crisis, to preserve Congolese integrity, per United Nations Security Council Resolution 143. On 13 December 1960, while Haile Selassie was on a state visit to Brazil, his Imperial Guard forces staged an unsuccessful coup, briefly proclaiming Haile Selassie's eldest son Asfa Wossen as emperor. The coup d'état was crushed by the regular army and police forces. The coup attempt lacked broad popular support, was denounced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and was unpopular with the army, air force and police. Nonetheless, the effort to depose the emperor had support among students and the educated classes. The coup attempt has been characterized as a pivotal moment in Ethiopian history, the point at which Ethiopians "for the first time questioned the power of the king to rule without the people's consent". Student populations began to empathize with the peasantry and poor, and to advocate on their behalf. The coup spurred Haile Selassie to accelerate reform, which was manifested in the form of land grants to military and police officials.

The emperor continued to be a staunch ally of the West, while pursuing a firm policy of decolonization in Africa, which was still largely under European colonial rule. The United Nations conducted a lengthy inquiry regarding the status of Eritrea, with the superpowers each vying for a stake in the state's future. Britain, the administrator at the time, suggested the partition of Eritrea between Sudan and Ethiopia, separating Christians and Muslims. The idea was instantly rejected by Eritrean political parties, as well as the UN.

A UN plebiscite voted 46 to 10 to have Eritrea be federated with Ethiopia, which was later stipulated on 2 December 1950 in resolution 390 (V). Eritrea would have its own parliament and administration and would be represented in what had been the Ethiopian parliament and would become the federal parliament. Haile Selassie would have none of European attempts to draft a separate Constitution under which Eritrea would be governed, and wanted his own 1955 Constitution protecting families to apply in both Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 1961 the 30-year Eritrean Struggle for Independence began, followed by Haile Selassie's dissolution of the federation and shutting down of Eritrea's parliament.

In September 1961, Haile Selassie attended the Conference of Heads of State of Government of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia. This is considered to be the founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement.

In 1961, tensions between independence-minded Eritreans and Ethiopian forces culminated in the Eritrean War of Independence. The emperor declared Eritrea the fourteenth province of Ethiopia in 1962. The war would continue for 30 years, as first Haile Selassie, then the Soviet-backed junta that succeeded him, attempted to retain Eritrea by force.

In 1963, Haile Selassie presided over the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor of the continent-wide African Union (AU). The new organization would establish its headquarters in Addis Ababa. In May of that year, Haile Selassie was elected as the OAU's first official chairperson, a rotating seat. Along with Modibo Keïta of Mali, the Ethiopian leader would later help successfully negotiate the Bamako Accords, which brought an end to the border conflict between Morocco and Algeria. In 1964, Haile Selassie would initiate the concept of the United States of Africa, a proposition later taken up by Muammar Gaddafi.

On 4 October 1963, Haile Selassie addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations referring in his address to his earlier speech to the League of Nations:

Twenty-seven years ago, as Emperor of Ethiopia, I mounted the rostrum in Geneva, Switzerland, to address the League of Nations and to appeal for relief from the destruction which had been unleashed against my defenceless nation, by the fascist invader. I spoke then both to and for the conscience of the world. My words went unheeded, but history testifies to the accuracy of the warning that I gave in 1936. Today, I stand before the world organization which has succeeded to the mantle discarded by its discredited predecessor. In this body is enshrined the principle of collective security which I unsuccessfully invoked at Geneva. Here, in this Assembly, reposes the best – perhaps the last – hope for the peaceful survival of mankind.

On 25 November 1963, the emperor was among other heads of state, including France's President Charles de Gaulle, who traveled to Washington D.C. and attended the funeral of assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

In 1966, Haile Selassie attempted to create a modern, progressive tax that included registration of land, which would significantly weaken the nobility. Even with alterations, this law led to a revolt in Gojjam, which was repressed although enforcement of the tax was abandoned. The revolt, having achieved its design in undermining the tax, encouraged other landowners to defy Haile Selassie.

While he had fully approved of, and assured Ethiopia's participation in, UN-approved collective security operations, including Korea and Congo, Haile Selassie drew a distinction with the non-UN approved foreign intervention in Indochina, and consistently deplored it as needless suffering, calling for the Vietnam War to end on several occasions. At the same time he remained open toward the United States and commended it for making progress with African Americans' Civil Rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s, while visiting the US several times during these years.

In 1967, He visited Montreal, Canada to open the Ethiopian Pavilion at the Expo '67 World's Fair where he received great acclaim amongst other World leaders there for the occasion.

Student unrest became a regular feature of Ethiopian life in the 1960s and 1970s. Marxism took root in large segments of the Ethiopian intelligentsia, particularly among those who had studied abroad and had thus been exposed to radical and left-wing sentiments that were becoming popular in other parts of the globe. Resistance by conservative elements at the Imperial Court and Parliament, and by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, made Haile Selassie's land reform proposals difficult to implement, and also damaged the standing of the government, costing Haile Selassie much of the goodwill he had once enjoyed. This bred resentment among the peasant population. Efforts to weaken unions also hurt his image. As these issues began to pile up, Haile Selassie left much of domestic governance to his Prime Minister, Aklilu Habte Wold, and concentrated more on foreign affairs.

1970s

Outside of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie continued to enjoy enormous prestige and respect. As the longest-serving head of state in power, he was often given precedence over other leaders at state events, such as the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle, the summits of the Non-Aligned Movement, and the 1971 celebration of the 2,500 years of the Persian Empire. In 1970 he visited Italy as a guest of President Giuseppe Saragat, and in Milan he met Giordano Dell'Amore, President of Italian Savings Banks Association. He visited China in October 1971, and was the first foreign head of state to meet Mao Zedong following the death of Mao's designated successor Lin Biao in a plane crash in Mongolia.

Human rights in Ethiopia under Selassie's regime were poor. Civil liberties and political rights were low with Freedom House giving Ethiopia a "Not Free" score for both civil liberties and political rights in the last years of Selassie's rule. Common human right abuses included imprisonment and torture of political prisoners and very poor prison conditions. The Ethiopian army also carried out a number of these atrocities while fighting the Eritrean separatists. This was due to a policy of destroying Eritrean villages that supported the rebels. There were a number of mass killings of hundreds of civilians during the war in the late 1960s and early '70s.

Wollo famine

Famine—mostly in Wollo, north-eastern Ethiopia, as well as in some parts of Tigray—is estimated to have killed 40,000 to 80,000 Ethiopians between 1972 and 1974. A BBC News report has cited a 1973 estimate that 200,000 deaths occurred, based on a contemporaneous estimate from the Ethiopian Nutrition Institute. While this figure is still repeated in some texts and media sources, it was an estimate that was later found to be "over-pessimistic". Although the region is infamous for recurrent crop failures and continuous food shortage and starvation risk, this episode was remarkably severe. A 1973 production of the ITV programme The Unknown Famineby Jonathan Dimbleby. relied on the unverified estimate of 200,000 dead, stimulating a massive influx of aid while at the same time destabilizing Haile Selassie's regime. Against that background, a group of dissident army officers instigated a creeping coup against the emperor's faltering regime. To guard against a public backlash in favour of Haile Selassie (who was still widely revered), they contrived to obtain a copy of The Unknown Famine which they intercut with images of Africa's grand old man presiding at a wedding feast in the grounds of his palace. Retitled The Hidden Hunger, it was shown round the clock on Ethiopian television to coincide with the day that they finally summoned the nerve to seize the emperor himself.

Some reports suggest that the emperor was unaware of the extent of the famine, while others assert that he was well aware of it. In addition to the exposure of attempts by corrupt local officials to cover up the famine from the imperial government, the Kremlin's depiction of Haile Selassie's Ethiopia as backwards and inept (relative to the purported utopia of Marxism-Leninism) contributed to the popular uprising that led to its downfall and the rise of Mengistu Haile Mariam. The famine and its image in the media undermined popular support of the government, and Haile Selassie's once unassailable personal popularity fell.

The crisis was exacerbated by military mutinies and high oil prices, the latter a result of the 1973 oil crisis. The international economic crisis triggered by the oil crisis caused the costs of imported goods, gasoline, and food to skyrocket, while unemployment spiked.

Revolution

In February 1974, four days of serious riots in Addis Ababa against a sudden economic inflation left five dead. The emperor responded by announcing on national television a reduction in petrol prices and a freeze on the cost of basic commodities. This calmed the public, but the promised 33% military wage hike was not substantial enough to pacify the army, which then mutinied, beginning in Asmara and spreading throughout the empire. This mutiny led to the resignation of Prime Minister Aklilu Habte-Wold on 27 February 1974. Haile Selassie again went on television to agree to the army's demands for still greater pay, and named Endelkachew Makonnen as his new Prime Minister. Despite Endalkatchew's many concessions, discontent continued in March with a four-day general strike that paralyzed the nation.

Imprisonment

The Derg, a committee of low-ranking military officers and enlisted men, set up in June to investigate the military's demands, took advantage of the government's disarray to depose Haile Selassie on 12 September 1974. General Aman Mikael Andom, a Protestant of Eritrean origin, served briefly as provisional head of state pending the return of Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, who was then receiving medical treatment abroad. Haile Selassie was placed under house arrest briefly at the 4th Army Division in Addis Ababa, while most of his family was detained at the late Duke of Harar's residence in the north of the capital. The last months of the emperor's life were spent in imprisonment, in the Grand Palace. Reportedly, his mental condition was such that he believed he was still Emperor of Ethiopia.

Later, most of the imperial family was imprisoned in the Addis Ababa prison Kerchele, also known as "Alem Bekagne", or "I've had Enough of This World". On 23 November 1974, sixty former high officials of the imperial government were executed without trial. The executed included Haile Selassie's grandson and two former Prime Ministers. These killings, known to Ethiopians as "Bloody Saturday", were condemned by Crown Prince Asfa Wossen; the Derg responded to his rebuke by revoking its acknowledgment of his imperial legitimacy, and announcing the end of the Solomonic dynasty.

Death and interment

On 28 August 1975, the state media reported that the "ex-monarch" Haile Selassie had died on 27 August of "respiratory failure" following complications from a prostate examination followed up by a prostate operation. His doctor, Asrat Woldeyes, denied that complications had occurred and rejected the government version of his death. Some imperial loyalists believed that the emperor had in fact been assassinated, and this belief remains widely held to this day. One western correspondent in Ethiopia at the time commented, "While it is not known what actually happened, there are strong indications that no efforts were made to save him. It is unlikely that he was actually killed. Such rumors were bound to arise no matter what happened, given the atmosphere of suspicion and distrust prevailing in Addis Ababa at the time."

The Soviet-backed Derg fell in 1991. In 1992, the emperor's bones were found under a concrete slab on the palace grounds; some reports suggest that his remains were discovered beneath a latrine. For almost a decade thereafter, as Ethiopian courts attempted to sort out the circumstances of his death, his coffin rested in Bhata Church, near his great-uncle Menelik II's resting place. On 5 November 2000, Haile Selassie was given an imperial-style funeral by the Ethiopian Orthodox church. The post-communist government refused calls to declare the ceremony an official imperial funeral.

Although such prominent Rastafari figures as Rita Marley and others participated in the grand funeral, most Rastafari rejected the event and refused to accept that the bones were the remains of Haile Selassie. There remains some debate within the Rastafari movement whether Haile Selassie actually died in 1975.

Descendants

By Menen Asfaw, Haile Selassie had six children: Princess Tenagnework, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen, Princess Tsehai, Princess Zenebework, Prince Makonnen, and Prince Sahle Selassie.

There is some controversy as to the motherhood of Haile Selassie's eldest daughter, Princess Romanework. While the living members of the royal family state that Romanework is the eldest daughter of Empress Menen, it has been asserted that Princess Romanework is actually the daughter of a previous union of the emperor with Woizero Altayech. This may be a nickname she used, as nobleman Blata Merse Hazen Wolde Kirkos, a contemporary source prominent in both the Imperial Court and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church names her as Woizero Woinetu Amede. The emperor's own autobiography makes no mention of this previous marriage or having fathered children with anyone other than Empress Menen, although he mentions the death of this daughter in captivity at Turin. Other sources such as Blata Merse Hazen Wolde Kirkos mentions Princess Romanework's mother Woizero Woinetu Amede as attending the wedding of her daughter to Dejazmatch Beyene Merid in a first hand account in his book about the years before the Italian occupation.

Prince Asfaw Wossen was first married to Princess Wolete Israel Seyoum and then following their divorce to Princess Medferiashwork Abebe. Prince Makonnen was married to Princess Sara Gizaw. Prince Sahle Selassie was married to Princess Mahisente Habte Mariam. Princess Romanework married Dejazmatch Beyene Merid. Princess Tenagnework first married Ras Desta Damtew, and after she was widowed later married Ras Andargachew Messai. Princess Zenebework married Dejazmatch Haile Selassie Gugsa. Princess Tsehai married Lt. General Abiye Abebe.

Rastafari messiah

Today, Haile Selassie is worshipped as God incarnate among followers of the Rastafari movement (taken from Haile Selassie's pre-imperial name Ras—meaning Head, a title equivalent to Duke—Tafari Makonnen), which emerged in Jamaica during the 1930s under the influence of Marcus Garvey's "Pan Africanism" movement. He is viewed as the messiah who will lead the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora to freedom. His official titles are Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God, and his traditional lineage is thought to be from Solomon and Sheba. These notions are perceived by Rastafari as confirmation of the return of the messiah in the prophetic Book of Revelation in the New Testament: King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and Root of David. Rastafari faith in the incarnate divinity of Haile Selassie began after news reports of his coronation reached Jamaica, particularly via the two Time magazine articles on the coronation the week before and the week after the event. Haile Selassie's own perspectives permeate the philosophy of the movement.

In 1961, the Jamaican government sent a delegation composed of both Rastafari and non-Rastafari leaders to Ethiopia to discuss the matter of repatriation, among other issues, with the emperor. He reportedly told the Rastafari delegation (which included Mortimer Planno), "Tell the Brethren to be not dismayed, I personally will give my assistance in the matter of repatriation."

Haile Selassie visited Jamaica on 21 April 1966, and approximately one hundred thousand Rastafari from all over Jamaica descended on Palisadoes Airport in Kingston, having heard that the man whom they considered to be their messiah was coming to visit them. Spliffs and chalices were openly smoked, causing "a haze of ganja smoke" to drift through the air. Haile Selassie arrived at the airport but was unable to come down the mobile steps of the airplane, as the crowd rushed the tarmac. He then returned into the plane, disappearing for several more minutes. Finally, Jamaican authorities were obliged to request Ras Mortimer Planno, a well-known Rasta leader, to climb the steps, enter the plane, and negotiate the emperor's descent. Planno re-emerged and announced to the crowd: "The Emperor has instructed me to tell you to be calm. Step back and let the Emperor land". This day is widely held by scholars to be a major turning point for the movement, and it is still commemorated by Rastafari as Grounation Day, the anniversary of which is celebrated as the second holiest holiday after 2 November, the emperor's Coronation Day.

From then on, as a result of Planno's actions, the Jamaican authorities were asked to ensure that Rastafari representatives were present at all state functions attended by the emperor, and Rastafari elders also ensured that they obtained a private audience with the emperor, where he reportedly told them that they should not emigrate to Ethiopia until they had first liberated the people of Jamaica. This dictum came to be known as "liberation before repatriation".

Haile Selassie defied expectations of the Jamaican authorities and never rebuked the Rastafari for their belief in him as the returned Jesus. Instead, he presented the movement's faithful elders with gold medallions – the only recipients of such an honor on this visit. During PNP leader (later Jamaican Prime Minister) Michael Manley's visit to Ethiopia in October 1969, the emperor allegedly still recalled his 1966 reception with amazement, and stated that he felt that he had to be respectful of their beliefs. This was the visit when Manley received the Rod of Correction or Rod of Joshua as a present from the emperor, which is thought to have helped him to win the 1972 election in Jamaica.

Rita Marley, Bob Marley's wife, converted to the Rastafari faith after seeing Haile Selassie on his Jamaican trip. She claimed in interviews (and in her book No Woman, No Cry) that she saw a stigmata print on the palm of Haile Selassie's hand as he waved to the crowd which resembled the markings on Christ's hands from being nailed to the cross—a claim that was not supported by other sources, but was used as evidence for her and other Rastafari to suggest that Haile Selassie I was indeed their messiah. She was also influential in the conversion of Bob Marley, who then became internationally recognized. As a result, Rastafari became much better known throughout much of the world. Bob Marley's posthumously released song "Iron Lion Zion" refers to Haile Selassie.

Question of his divinity

In a 1967 recorded interview Haile Selassie appeared to deny his alleged divinity. In the interview Bill McNeil says: "there are millions of Christians throughout the world, your Imperial Majesty, who regard you as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ." Selassie replied in his native language:

I have heard of that idea. I also met certain Rastafarians. I told them clearly that I am a man, that I am mortal, and that I will be replaced by the oncoming generation, and that they should never make a mistake in assuming or pretending that a human being is emanated from a deity.

For many Rastafari the CBC interview is not interpreted as a denial of his divinity, and according to Robert Earl Hood, Haile Selassie neither denied nor affirmed his divinity either way. In Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music, Kevin Chang and Wayne Chen note

It's often said, though no definite date is ever cited, that Haile Selassie himself denied his divinity. Former senator and Gleaner editor, Hector Wynter, tells of asking him, during his visit to Jamaica in 1966, when he was going to tell Rastafari he was not God. "Who am I to disturb their belief?" replied the emperor.

After his return to Ethiopia, he dispatched Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq Mandefro to the Caribbean to help draw Rastafari and other West Indians to the Ethiopian church and, according to some sources, denied his divinity.

In 1948, Haile Selassie donated a piece of land at Shashamane, 250 km south of Addis Ababa, for the use of people of African descent from the West Indies. Numerous Rastafari families settled there and still live as a community to this day.

Biographical film

In 2008 a full-length feature film, Man of the Millennium, was produced by an Ethiopian film-maker Tikher Teferra Kidane of Exodus Films, in collaboration with an Alaskan TV station Tanana Valley TV and 4th Avenue Films.

Quotations

A house built on granite and strong foundations, not even the onslaught of pouring rain, gushing torrents and strong winds will be able to pull down. Some people have written the story of my life representing as truth what in fact derives from ignorance, error or envy; but they cannot shake the truth from its place, even if they attempt to make others believe it.

That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained and until the ignoble but unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique, and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and goodwill; until all Africans stand and speak as free human beings, equal in the eyes of the Almighty; until that day, the African continent shall not know peace. We Africans will fight if necessary and we know that we shall win as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.

Our attitude to the Somalis who belong to the same race as the Ethiopian people and share with them a common history, has always been crystal clear.

Apart from the Kingdom of the Lord there is not on this earth any nation that is superior to any other. Should it happen that a strong Government finds it may with impunity destroy a weak people, then the hour strikes for that weak people to appeal to the League of Nations to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment.

We have finished the job. What shall we do with the tools?

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

Today I stand before the world organization which has succeeded to the mantle discarded by its discredited predecessor.

Misguided people sometimes create misguided ideas. Some of my ancestors were Oromo. How can I colonize myself?

I have heard of that idea [i.e., of Haile Selassie being the reincarnation of Jesus Christ]. I also met certain Rastafarians. I told them clearly that I am a man, that I am mortal, and that I would be replaced by the oncoming generation, and that they should never make a mistake in assuming or pretending that the human being is emanated from a deity."

A qualified man with vision, unmoved by daily selfish interests, will be led to right decisions by his conscience. In general, a man who knows from whence he comes and where he is going will co-operate with his fellow human beings. He will not be satisfied with merely doing his ordinary duties but will inspire others by his good example. You are being watched by the nation and you should realize that you will satisfy it if you do good; but if, on the contrary, you do evil, it will lose its hope and its confidence in you."

Title as emperor

2 November 1930 – 12 September 1974: His Imperial Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God.

Honours

National orders

Chief Commander of the Order of the Star of Ethiopia (1909)

Grand Cordon of the Order of Solomon (1930)

Grand Collar of the Order of the Seal of Solomon

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Queen of Sheba

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia)

Grand Cordon of the Order of Menelik II

Foreign orders

Ancestry

Military ranks

Haile Selassie held the following ranks:

Field Marshal, Imperial Ethiopian Army

Admiral of the Fleet, Imperial Ethiopian Navy

Marshal of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force

Field Marshal, British Army, 20 January 1965

Popular culture

William Saroyan wrote a short story about him entitled The Lion of Judah in his 1971 book, Letters from 74 rue Taitbout or Don't Go But If You Must Say Hello To Everybody.

His name is often called out in vain by Hermes Conrad, a Rastafarian Accountant from the show Futurama

Featured as a playable leader in the computer strategy game Civilization V: Brave New World

Rex Stewart, a jazz cornetist, thought about Haile Selassie when he was creating a tune named Menelik (The Lion of Juda) which was recorded in 1941.

Wikipedia

#Haile Selassie #07-23 #08-27

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