An open letter to all who attempt to soil the name of Emperor Menelik II.

 

Let us begin with an extremely brief history of what happened in the 18th and 19th century European scramble for northeast Africa.  Many missionary priests and alien residents as well as British consuls were fomenting trouble to Ethiopia beginning with the Era of the Princes from 1769-1855. Even before the demise of Emperor Tewodros in 1868, Britain had caused the Khedive of Egypt to get permission from Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) to occupy Ethiopian territories by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.  This was based on a bogus claim that Turkey owned Ethiopia by reason that it had helped Ahmed Gragn (1529-1543).  Because of the demise of Emperor Tewodros, Egypt was emboldened and invaded Ethiopia by enlisting high ranking officers from the US and Europeans as commanders1.  They were soundly defeated under the leadership of Emperor Yohannis IV (1872-1889).  The unsuccessful invading army left a lot of cannons, guns and munitions to the victor, Yohannis IV.  Weakened Egypt became a British colony by 1882.  Britain, which already had colonized Aden in 1839, was effectively controlling most of the trade and commerce in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

 

Through an Italian missionary living in Ethiopia, who helped an Italian shipping company to buy Ethiopian coastal territory from a Sultan of Aseb, the Italian government had gained the port of Aseb as its colony by 1882.  Emperor Yohannis IV was given false promises by the British all along including by Rear Admiral Hewitt in the 1884 treaty at Adwa.  Also by 1884, France had colonized the Shoan port of Obok and called it Djibouti.  France bought lands from coastal sultans of Obok2.  By 1885, Britain helped Italy occupy Massawa.  Yohannis IV died on March 9, 1889, after the alleged slave trade3 took place in 1888.

 

I recounted a skeletal history of how Europeans performed in the mid and late 19th century - how missionaries and resident aliens of Ethiopia were used for furthering propaganda in order for Europeans powers to colonize the area4.  I inferred that any fair-minded observer couldnÕt speak against Ethiopia based on stories shared by missionaries and resident aliens.  The hearsay author6 Enid StarklieÕs long tale has no foundation5 even based on the telephone call that she had reportedly made from Cairo.  Whatever, her profession, she also likely was a propagandist or storyteller making juicy stories to sell her article and or to make herself important.   Such liars as Henry Salt, who became the British foreign office representative to Cairo 5 before her, provide the background of understanding Europeans that came to Africa. The rendition of historian Rubenson (1976 has correctly sets the role of resident aliens and missionaries in proper light. 

 

Unfortunately for Europeans the utter decimation of an invading Italian army in the battle at Adwa (March 1 & 2, 1896) had saved Ethiopia from being a colony.  The defeat of the invading army in a battle that lasted less than 24 hours has brought so much pleasure to blacks all over the worlds as equally as it has brought shame to many white supremacists.  The later would love to fight the Adwa war all over again, and they share stories to soil the star of that war, Emperor Menelik II. Some pretend-scholars present inconsistent and internally contradictory stories about Menelik regarding issues of slavery. Yet, there cannot be reliable documents that demonstrate Emperor MenelikÕs intentions and deeds better than his proclamations abolishing slavery6,7, respecting work7, and his letter admonishing an Oromo chieftain, Aba Jifar, from selling his brethren6,7. In light of all of this, except for lack of knowledge of Ethiopian history of the 19th century, insensitivity to labor relations and human developments in non-European countries, laced with a willingness to attack the memory of Menelik II, no less than poverty of scholarship can explain Mrs. ShellÕs effort3. The BBC and Wikipedia and some of their audience should back off from disseminating lies about the memory of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia.

 

References (mostly based on a discussion on ÒFriends allÕ network)

 

1.    Tekle Tsadiq Mekuria,  Atse Yohanis ena yeityopia andenet,  Addis Abeba, 1982.

 

2.    Tekle Tsadiq Mekuria,  Atse Menelik ena yeityopia andenet,  Addis Abeba, 1983.

 

3.    http://aboutethiopia.com/Menelik/MN3- to-Shell.htm. Open letter to Mrs. Shell

 

4.    Rubensson, S. The Survival of Ethiopian Independence. London, 1976.

 

5.    http://aboutethiopia.com/Menelik/MN5-hearsay.htm.   A brief email shared to Òfriends allÓ by Professor Getatchew on stories related by Enid Starklie.

 

6.     http://aboutethiopia.com/Menelik/MN6.pdf.   Copy from a book on Menelik II by Paulos Gnogno, scanned and shared to Òfriends allÕ by Commander Assefa Seifu

 

7.     http://aboutethiopia.com/Menelik/MN7-workers.htm.    English version of the proclamations from the Amharic book by Paulos Gnogno, and another on respecting services, shared to ÒFriends allÓ by Professor Mammo Muchie.

 

 

Habte Giorgis Churnet

 

9/11/2011