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