Thursday, June 30, 2022

የአስራ አምስት ቀን ህፃን! - በላይነህ አባተ
ንፁህ የአማራ ደም ወለጋ ተንጣሎ፣

ጠራርጎ ሊወስደው ዓባይ መጣ ደሞ፣

የተከሉት ችግኝ ስላልዋጠው መጦ፡፡

የደም ጅረት ሲፈስ ፀጥና እረጭ ያሉ፣

የዓባይ ጎርፍ ሲባል መብረቅ ይሆናሉ፡፡

የአስከሬን ተራራን ተመጤፍ ያልጣፉ፣

ምሁር ተብዮዎች ግድብ ይዘክራሉ፡፡

የአስራ አምስት ቀን ህፃን ተደፍታ ስታለቅስ፣

ተናቶች ታያቶች የሬሳ ክምር ውስጥ፣

ምኑን ሰው ሆንና ቆመን የምንሄድ፡፡

ኧረ ተው የሰው ልጅ በሰውነት ቀጥል፣

ተበግ መንጋ አትውረድ በአባይ በመደለል፡፡

በላይነህ አባተ (abatebelai@yahoo.com)

ሰኔ ሁለት ሺ አስራ አራት ዓ.ም.
https://amharic-zehabesha.com/archives/173759

The Potential of Democratization in Ethiopia: The Welkait Question as a Litmus Test

The Potential of Democratization in Ethiopia: The Welkait Question as a Litmus Test
Sonja John First Published  August 2, 2021 Research Article

Abstract



Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his role in initiating peace talks in the Horn of Africa and his attempts to reform the Ethiopian democracy. Under the slogan medemer, he promised he would do everything possible to unite the multi-ethnic country, reconcile conflicts and bring brotherly peace to the country. This article treats the Welkait question as a litmus test to determine the potential of democratization in Ethiopia. The identity question of the indigenous Welkait Amhara was raised and suppressed since 1991. In April 2018, the then newly elected Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met with members of the Welkait Amhara Identity Question Committee and promised that this case would be solved within the federal system and in accordance with the constitution. Within the struggle for recognition paradigm, this article asks if government responses follow the medemer approach of reconciliation, cooperation, rule of law and democracy.

Introduction



Two weeks after Abiy Ahmed was appointed Prime Minister of Ethiopia in April 2018,2 he held a meeting with the recently released political prisoners from the Welkait Amhara Identity Question Committee3 in Gondar. After the meeting, all attendees were hopeful that the Welkait4 issue could be solved peacefully. They agreed that the government institutions would abstain from arrest and torture but use a peaceful and democratic approach in line with the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) and, in return, the Welkait Committee would keep the population calm (Atalay, 2020; Demeke, 2019). In 2016, the Welkait Committee members had been arrested and tortured for petitioning for identity recognition of the Welkait Amhara population (Keasegid, 2019; Teshager, 2018).

Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for his approach to resolving some conflicts in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. He had declared on numerous occasions that under his administration, the country would be united, democratized, and governed by rule of law (Abiy, 2018, 2019a, 2019b).5 This article uses the Welkait case as a litmus test to determine the potential of democratization under Ethiopia’s current governance. The fundamental question that this article wants to answer to assess possibilities of democratization in Ethiopia is: Are the constitution as well as democratic institutions and processes respected?

In the 1990s, the ruling party drew regional borders without consulting or obtaining the consent of the population concerned. Throughout Ethiopian history, allotment of land has always been an instrument for control—an instrument that was applied by force. Thus, attempts to allot land without consultation were oftentimes met with resistance (Bahru, 2017: 76, 90, 191, 212, 217). The Welkait question is not unique; similar land and identity conflicts exist throughout the country. Hence, how the Welkait case is handled signals nationwide the likeliness of policy change, the achievement of internal peace and reconciliation promised by Abiy Ahmed.

The clamor for recognition has emerged as a powerful paradigm. The theme of struggle for recognition is widely associated with the works of Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser. According to Honneth (1995: 127), at the core of any public sphere lies a struggle for recognition. Fraser (2009: 101f.) applies a recognition theoretical turn to describe the tendency to tackle many pressing real-life issues. Classic examples of issues that are tackled by applying a recognition theoretical turn include discrimination, exclusion, social justice, political or gender equality. The core of the struggle for recognition paradigm consists of questions regarding identity formation, self-realization and subjectification. Normally, those who are actively involved in a struggle for recognition make deliberate efforts to eliminate institutionalized patterns that sustain and reinforce various mechanisms of exclusion. They are also struggling against those institutionalized patterns of value because they strip them of their dignity and subordinate them out of existence. Therefore, struggles for recognition seek to redress injustices as much as to step out of invisibility and end the violation of fundamental rights. The struggle for recognition may take different forms, which can be classified into two categories: argumentation or violence. Some struggles for recognition seek reconciliation and a viable consensus, while others may refuse the idea of consensus and seek instead to perpetuate an agnostic confrontation. Some struggles for recognition are both argumentative and violent, while others may transform from argumentative to violent modes. This article hypothesizes that applying constitutional procedures to the Welkait case builds public trust in the institutions and helps consolidate democracy in Ethiopia. In turn, refusing democratic processes to legal political claims will most likely transform an argumentative recognition claim into a violent one and counteract the democratization process.

In this article, a descriptive research approach is applied by comparing the calls for the democratic procedure by the Prime Minister with the actual steps taken to solve the Welkait issue. First, the article lays out what the Welkait question is, how it was raised, and how the Ethiopian institutions reacted before Abiy Ahmed’s term of office. To a large extent, this part relies on oral history recorded through expert interviews and on formal letters by the Welkait Committee written to respective regional, state and federal offices, petitions, and signature lists.6 The interviews with Committee members were conducted before their arrests in 2016 and after their release in 2018. Follow-up interviews were conducted between September 2018 and February 2020.7 Field notes and observations were collected from 2015 to 2020. The Welkait issue has not yet been investigated by scholars inside of Ethiopia due to restrictions in academic freedom and remains a mere side note in the literature on Ethiopian contemporary history and politics (Muluken, 2018: 12).8 Ethiopians in the Diaspora have assembled a comprehensive body of literature, most prominently Prof. Asrat Woldeyes and other members of the All Amhara People’s Organization (Achamyeleh, 2016: 4ff., 2020; Muluken, 2018: 317ff.).

Additionally, this article delves deeper in describing the context in which this conflict is addressed, and the political system Abiy Ahmed set out to reform. Subsequently, the article lays out Abiy Ahmed’s understanding of democracy expressed in his inauguration speech as Prime Minister, in his book Medemer, and in his speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize (Abiy, 2018, 2019a, 2019b). This is followed by a reconstruction of recent developments through expert interviews (Atalay, 2020; Awol, 2019; Demeke, 2019). Finally, applying the basic principle of rule of law and the recognition paradigm as a framework, it will be possible to conclusively state whether Abiy Ahmed’s administration applied democratic procedures in addressing the question of the Welkait Committee.

Welkait



Welkait is an area located in the northwestern part of Ethiopia, at the border between the Amhara and Tigray regions (see Figure 1). The area borders Kafta Humera to the north and Tegede to the south. Today, Welkait is officially part of the Tigray region. However, as the Welkait Committee claims and documents, when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) gained control of the country in 1991 and restructured the regions under the TPLF-led party-coalition Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the indigenous, geographically and culturally Amhara territories of Welkait, Tegede, Tilimt, Humera and Raya were demarcated as part of the Tigray region. During the previous socialist Derg regime, Welkait was part of Semien Wogera Woraja, with its capital Dabat, in Amhara. Prior to the Derg, under the reconstituted Italian colonial empire, Welkait was within Begimder province (hence, within Amhara region), one of the six major regional divisions, with the city of Gondar as its capital (Achamyeleh, 2016, 2020; Keasegid, 2019: 2f., 58ff.; Muluken, 2018: 232ff.; Bahru, 2017: 162). The Tekeze River was recognized as a natural border between Tigray and Amhara. The river is considered one of the country’s four major river systems, flowing westwards into the Nile (Achamyeleh, 2016: 6; Human Rights Council , 2016: 3ff.; Bahru, 2017: 2). Achamyeleh (2016) collected geographical and anthropological evidence from European scholars studying Abyssinia in the 19th and early 20th centuries characterizing Amhara and Tigray as historically separate kingdoms, differing in language, dress and customs, and separated by the Tekeze River.

Figure 1. Map of Tigray region and contested areas.
Copyright: Danial E.

This article restricts its scope to the case of the Welkait Committee only. The first section is divided into three subsections. It presents the nature of the question, how it was raised by the Welkait Committee, and how state institutions responded.

What is the Welkait question?

The Welkait Amhara Identity Question Committee (የወልቃይት የአማራ ማንነት ጥያቄ ኮሚቴ) requested state institutions to recognize the identity of indigenous9 Amhara people from Welkait as Amhara. They claim that when the government demarcated the regional borders and placed Welkait within the Tigray region, they violated the FDRE’s article 46 (2) of the Constitution: “States shall be delimited on the basis of the settlement patterns, language, identity and consent of the peoples concerned.” This request was written in a letter and sent via fax and delivered in person to all relevant zonal, regional and federal offices of the government, ministries and EPRDF party bureaus on 17 December 2015.10 The request was printed on the letterhead of the Welkait Committee, and received and numbered by the receiving institutions (i.e. Office of the Prime Minister no. 034440).

The letter starts with a written authorization of the delegates to represent the Welkait Committee and the Welkait Amhara people. The centrality of the message in the letter is the “Welkait Amhara National Identity Question.” Further, the letter enumerates the key contributions of Welkait citizens to the culture and history of Ethiopia. It states that apart from their ancestors cultivating the Amhara identity, their land and property were acknowledged and respected. Welkait citizens were proud of their Ethiopian and their Amharic identities (Welkait Committee, 2016: 1). Oppression, violations of the law and other “unpleasant incidents” have forced them to justify their Amhara identity claim. The letter testifies that Welkait is geographically located in Amhara territory, that it has been administered by Amhara offices—within North Gondar (Auraja) under the administration of Wogera region—prior to the restructuring in the 1990s, and that cultural expressions through music, dance, ceremonies and language are distinctively Amharic. It is mentioned that many people also speak Arabic and Tigrinia due to the proximity to Sudan, Eritrea and Tigray. The letter attests to the national contributions of Welkait people through their cultivation of export products including sesame, cotton and millet (3). It also stresses that Welkait people have contributed politically to the country as patriots who fought the Derg regime, resisting the TPLF narrative that all Amhara were Derg supporters (4). The letter stresses that the question is not new but that it has been raised since 1991 based on the constitutional rights expressed in article 39, paragraphs 2 and 5, which suggests that the government, over the decades, repeatedly promised to answer this question democratically but failed to do so (4). Worse, Welkait people who kept their Amhara identity were harassed, dispossessed, killed, arrested, kidnapped and deported, and many are still missing to this day. In Ethiopia, it is a constitutional right for anyone to demand acknowledgment of identity, but the government breaks its laws (5).11 The letter goes further to mention oppression and discrimination. As described in the letter, oppression and discrimination are manifested through the tendency of denying children the right to learn the Amharic language. Children are forced to speak Tigrinia in school even though this is in total contravention of the constitution. Officials in state institutions speak Tigrinia only. Names of places, rivers, lakes, mountains, springs, cities and regions have been changed from Amharic to different Tigrean names. The discrimination becomes evident when 95% of government jobs are given to Tigreans and only 5% to Amhara. Amhara girls and women were abducted and raped; Amhara students were raped by Tigrean teachers (5). The letter mentions and lists Welkait Amhara people who were dispossessed for refusing to convert their Amhara identity to Tigrean. The dispossession involved confiscation of their land and belongings which were given to Tigreans (5). “Under the previous regimes, people lived peacefully in the area but the current government treats Welkait Amhara people like war enemies despite living under the same democratic constitution” (6). Every year new proclamations are passed that dispossess Amhara. More specifically, while Amhara people used to receive two hectares of land per household, Tigreans now receive 50–100 hectares that are taken from dispossessed and displaced Amhara (7). The letter ends with the request to be protected by the constitution while they politely, democratically and peacefully want to engage with the public and the institutions to finally get an answer to this question without being harmed in person or losing property (8). “We ask this because we have the experience of our people being abducted, killed and disappearing simply for asking this question” (8). The appendix to the letter provides a list of 116 names of Welkait Amhara people who have suffered this fate for raising this question. The attachment also lists some dispossessed and rape victims (8–11).

How was the question raised in 2016

Displaced Welkait Amhara discussed their concern in Gondar and formed a group to debate among the Welkait Amhara community if there was any justifiable reason to pursue the identity question and demand their civil rights. On 23 August 2015,12 they had convened their first meeting and formed the Welkait Amhara Identity Question Committee. On 19 September 2015,13 they conducted an inaugural conference at the Landmark Hotel in Gondar with approximately 450 Welkait Amhara in attendance (Keasegid, 2019; Muluken, 2018: 214f.). At this conference, a committee was formed with 20 members, including Colonel Demeke Zewdu as head of mobilization and Teshager Woldemicael as secretary. One of the resolutions of the meeting was that “From that day onward, we have contacted the Federation to regain our identity as Amhara,” said Teshager (2018). They have collected approximately 25,000 signatures of Welkait people who identify as Amhara and authorized the Committee to speak on their behalf.14

When members of the Welkait Committee started to petition and tried to deliver their request to the responsible government offices, they were denied and threatened. Demeke (2018) recalls:

First we applied to Tigray region and they rejected it; they said we were given Tigrean identity and do not need any other. They said: “You must stop this now. Otherwise we can take measures over you.” We answered that we asked legally according to the constitution. Then we went to the regional government but the same answer was given to us by Mrs. Kidusan Nega, the spokeswoman of the regional council. And then we went to Abay Woldo, president of the Tigray regional government. He announced on TV that we must return to our area, that we are “Enemies of Tigreans” who miss the old days. But nobody gave us their answers in writing.15

After the offices in Tigray region refused to accept and process the petition, on 3 February 2016,16 the Welkait Committee sent The Request for the Declaration of Welkait People of their Amharan Identity as per the Constitution to the House of Federations (HoF) for an appropriate remedy. Simultaneously, copies were sent via fax to the offices of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Council of Ministers, Ministry of Justice, EPRDF, Federal Police Commission, the Tigray Regional State President, the Federal Human Rights Commission, the Federal Office of Ombudsman, and the Tigray region’s TPLF. The HoF claimed that it was not responsible and referred the case back to the Tigray regional council (Atalay, 2018; Demeke, 2018). The Tigray regional council gave them an oral directive to present their case to the Western Zonal administration of the Tigray region. But the zonal and district (woreda) administrations were not willing to hear the question. Hence, the Committee approached the regional council again, to no avail. The district, zonal, regional and federal offices gave the Welkait Committee a run-around, each refusing to hear the case, claiming not to be responsible. Some argued that it is a matter of identity, others that it pertains to borders. The former should have been dealt with on the state or zonal level, the latter on the federal. Clearly, there was a lack of political will to hear the claim and address it.

Over these months, the Welkait Committee held regular meetings and consultations with the population in Gondar, Bahir Dar, Welkait, and other places with displaced Welkait Amhara people, to which everybody was invited to participate and the intentions and demands of the initiative were made public and transparent. In sum, the Welkait Amhara Identity Question was brought forward by the appointed committee in a peaceful, democratic and lawful way, based on the laws of the country. How did the government agencies react?

Government’s answer: Arrests, torture and killings

Months passed and no office reacted to the petition. On 28 January 2016,17 a delegation of 81 Welkait Amhara people traveled to Addis Ababa with the intention to submit their letter personally to the HoF. When they reached Entoto, the outskirt of the capital, federal police stopped them. They interrogated the Committee in Tigrinia, refusing to speak Amharic, the national working language of Ethiopia (Demeke, 2018). They told them to stop raising this question, denied them entrance into Addis Ababa and deported them to Chancho in Oromia region, 300 km from Entoto. The Committee informed the Oromia regional government about the incident and received their support in return. Two days later, they split up and went to Addis Ababa in different groups. On 3 February 2016,18 19 delegates reached the HoF, and four entered the office to make an appointment. However, when they left, they were taken into custody and treated like criminals—interrogated, intimidated, photos and fingerprints taken—at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Atalay, 2020; Demeke, 2018; Keasegid, 2019; Teshager, 2018). The following day, 4 February 2016,19 the delegation was held at HoF and given a letter to the Tigray region, stating that to raise the Welkait question is a constitutional right and that it has to be treated by the regional legal bodies properly.

Half a year later, the Tigray region still refused to deal with the question but sent the military to arrest all committee members.
https://zehabesha.com/the-potential-of-democratization-in-ethiopia-the-welkait-question-as-a-litmus-test/

Prosecutors indict Journalist Temesgen with three criminal counts

Prosecutors indict Journalist Temesgen with three criminal counts
By Mahlet Fasil @MahletFasil

Federal Prosecutors indicted journalist Temesgen Desalegn, owner and managing director of the Amharic weekly, “Fitih” magazine, this morning with three separate criminal counts. The charges were formally read to the defendant at the Federal High Court Lideta Branch, First Constitutional and Anti-Terrorism Bench.

Accordingly, the prosecutor indicted Temesgen with the first count of violating Articles 44 (1), (2) and 336 (1) of the 2003 Penal Code, and “revealing national defense forces’ secretes”; the second count accused him of violating Article 44 (1), (2) of the Penal Code of 2003 for allegedly “disseminating false or misleading information about the national defense forces”; while the third count accused him of violating Articles 44 (1), (2) and 257 (e) of the Penal Code of 2003, under allegations of “inciting and encouraging crimes.”

Temesgen was first detained on 26 May after the police accused him of “inciting riots and creating public mistrust on the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and the government.” He was admitted to hospital for treatment after the police physically assaulted him during family visit on 03 June.

Temesgen, who has been appearing in court since, was arraigned on Tuesday 28 June at the Federal High Court Lideta Division, but prosecutors couldn’t read the charges against him in the court due ti absence of presiding judges. The prosecutors however submitted the written lawsuit, but the charges were not formally read to Temesgen.

The defense team, led by defense lawyer Henok Aklilu, had to return home without receiving the written copies of the lawsuit and returned to the court this morning.

At today’s hearing, Temesgen’s defense attorney asked the court to grant his client bail as the charges were broad and the defense needed with the client.

The defense also asked the court that Temesgen, had been released on previous occasion, and that he had never posed a flight risk as he respects the rule of law.

However, the prosecutor objected to the bail request and told the court that the charges were multiple with the first charge carrying up to 10 years, the second up to 12 years, and the third up to 10 years sentences, therefore posing flight risk.

After listening to both sides arguments, the court adjourned the next hearing until Friday 01 July to rule on the bail request.

AS
https://zehabesha.com/prosecutors-indict-journalist-temesgen-with-three-criminal-counts/

The Oromo Land of Blood and Gore Only PM Abiy and the Silent Majority Amhara Can Stop It

The Oromo Land of Blood and Gore Only PM Abiy and the Silent Majority Amhara Can Stop It
Yonas Biru, PhD



OLF-Shene has sucked the oxygen out of the Oromo tribal kingdom, using Wellega’s dense forests, mountains, and caves as its outdoor palace. Four years ago, TPLF had its hopes hung on Jawar Mohammed when Jaal was no more than a nuisance in Wellega, focusing on bank robbery. Today, Debretsion is in camp Jaal, lock stock and barrel. Jaal Marroo, OLF-Shene’s leader, has dethroned and marginalized Jawar, leaving him with no viable path other than waving and screaming for attention in distant lands.

There is a notable difference between Jawar’s and Jaal’s tribal kingdoms. During Jawar’s heydays, his Qerro garrison killed not only Amharas but also Gamos, Gurages and other non-Oromo ethnic groups. Jaal’s atrocities are exclusively targeted at the Amharas, and his atrocities are elevated to an industrial scale. The question is what are the lead-up and sustaining factors. This requires understanding the driving factors of Jaal’s and Debretsion’s political and military calculus.

Government controlled media outlets have saturated the air and cyber waves with a narrative blaming Egypt and TPLF as co-sponsors of Jaal’s emerging kingdom whose soil is wet with Amhara blood and fertilized with a human gore. The Abiy administration needs to come to the realization that tickling the people’s emotions using “እናት ኢትዮጵያ” and “አባቶቻችን ደማቸውን አፈሰው አጥንታቸውን ከስከሰው ያቆዩልንን አገር ሊያፈርሷት ነው” is not a fit-all crisis management strategy. The nation’s emotional reservoir is being increasingly depleted with every successive crisis. There is not much there to tap into.

It is important to come to grips that the most relevant factors in OLF-Shene’s ascension lurk along the contour where Prime Minister (PM) Abiy’s and PP-Oromo’s failings and Amhara extremists’ fervent fanaticism meet. Only the PM can fix the poor performance of his administration and the high-octane tribalist tendencies of PP-Oromo. On the Amhara front, the silent majority shoulders moral and historical obligations to rein in the fervent fanaticism of tribal extremists in its midst.

 

Let Us Look at the Obvious First

Financed and armed by Egypt and supported by TPLF, OLF-Shene continues to hunt and murder defenseless civilian Amharas in the Oromo tribal land and beyond. TPLF that has found it hard to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Tigray is taking the war out of its tribal homeland, providing OLF-Shene with technical and personnel support. OLF-Shene’s penetration of the Oromo community in Wellega, TPLF’s technical support, and Egypt’s military equipment that is smuggled through Wellega and Benishangul potentially represent more existential threat to Ethiopia than TPLF’s war.

OLF-Shene’s danger comes from its mass murder’s scalability because of the millions of Amhara people living in the Oromo tribal land, and its ability to provide Amhara extremists irresistible fodder to flame their tribal impulses. The massive Amhara people living in the Oromo tribal land will be subjected to unimaginable atrocities that can quickly rise to genocide. There is no doubt that ሕዋሃት አማራ ላይ አወራርደዋልሁ ያለውን ወለጋ ላይ ከሸኔ ጋር በተግባር እያዋለው ነው:: Do not forget that once civil war starts, the Amhara in the Oromo tribal land will not go down without a fight. Similarly, the sizable Oromo people in the Amhara tribal land will not perish in silence. The clash between Amhara and Oromo can ignite a civil war that will make the TPLF war look like a child’s play.

 

OLF-Shenes Political and Military Calculus

OLF-Shene is an extremist gang that wants to implement Jawar Mohammed’s “Ethiopia out of Oromia” rallying cry. Jawar used the slogan to propel himself to the apex of the Oromo political landscape through a crafty political shenanigan that alternated conflict-peddling and peace-making. Jaal turned the slogan into action, using matchets, guns, gasoline, and fire without any pretense of peace. The focus on the Amhara is strategic as are the diabolical savagery and their frequency of delivery.

Jaal’s focus on the Amhara has three reasons. First, he sees the Amhara as the architect and custodian of the Ethiopian project. Second, the frequency and savage atrocity is gamed to create a sense of existential chaos to get international attention. This is TPLF’s staple. Third, and most importantly, Jaal understands that the coalition between PP-Oromo and PP-Amhara is what is holding the pan Ethiopian center. If he manages to break the coalition, the center will no longer hold. In this regard, Jaal and Debretsion rely more on Amhara extremists who see the PP-Oromo and PP-Amhara coalition as the primary enemy of the Amhara than they rely on Egyptian weapons.

It is easy to understand the strategy behind Oromo and Tigray extremism. They have an end game whether we like it or not and their actions and strategies are consistent with their end goal. It is hard to tease out the strategy of Amhara extremists, much less to figure out the link between their actions and their respective end games.

One month, Eskinder is touted as the savior of Amhara with the nick name of ታላቁ እስክንደር. The next month Shaleka Dawit is the Knight in a Shining Armor. Yet in another month Christian Tadele inherits the throne with the nick name of ገብርየ. When political actors run off their steam, Amhara religious activists take over the podium and the mantle. They seem to crawl out of the Ethiopian episode of “Theater of the Absurd” that in the 1950s portrayed an irrational and illogical human experiment that lacks purpose.

There are two potential consequences that can result if OLF-Shene and TPLF succeed in their attempt to break the PP-Oromo and PP-Amhara coalition. First, tribal extremism will soar in the

Amhara tribal land, fearing existential threat from OLF-Shene and TPLF coalition. Second, the political center of gravity will shift from pan Ethiopian toward several extremist autonomous tribal movements. This is what I have called in the past “a race to the bottom” between extremist forces.

The race to the bottom will be fueled by what physicists call entropy of the second law of thermodynamics. In politics, the entropy dynamics propels societies into a self-destructive state of random chaos. This happens as a systemic social order splinters into smaller components that spin out of control in a way that is not predictable. Experts in the field tell us that the only solution is to introduce new energy to defuse and douse the negative energy that is turboing the random chaos.

Together with entropy dynamics, game theory helps us understand the political chaos our country is in. Game theory is a model that was developed by mathematicians and adopted and finally abducted by economists. It is valuable to understand the choice that political or economic actors make to optimize their benefits in a strategic setting when confronted with competitions or conflicts. Each group’s success depends on its ability to anticipate its adversaries’ next moves and overall strategies.

In recent weeks and months, OLF-Shene has been scaling up its atrocities. Sadly, this is likely to increase both in intensity and frequency. Jaal understands that every mass murder in the Oromo tribal land takes Amhara extremists to the next level as more and more people join them. In short, OLF-Shene’s political calculus to scale up the brutality and increase the frequency of its mass murder is calibrated on the Amhara reaction against the Abiy administration, PP-Oromo, and PP-Amhara. The stronger the reaction the more frequent and bestial the mass murder gets.

There are two factors that have given Jaal the upper hand. First is the PM’s refusal to listen to the public outcry about the dismal way that he has been governing the nation. Second is the Amhara extremists’ unmitigated hate of the PM that has led them to do OLF-Shene’s, TPLF’s, and through them Egypt’s bidding.

 

The PM is the Dominant Half of The Problem

First, the Prime Minister has failed to win the trust and confidence of the Amhara people. His lack of transparency, his utterly poor (if not nonexistent) public relations ecosystem, and the absence of a well-developed political strategy have weakened the PP-Oromo and PP-Amhara coalition that was wobbly to begin with.

When I say public relations ecosystem, I am not talking about government propaganda. Rather, I am referring to a participatory government system where the government explains and promotes its agenda and seeks public support for it. This means involving the public, independent think tanks,

and expert groups outside of the government structure. It also means building consensus and securing public ownership of the reform. This requires keeping the public abreast of the progress the government is achieving and making them aware of the challenges ahead. This is critical to build consensus, foster public ownership of the agenda, and nurture an Ethiopian creed mindset. Under such circumstances, when crisis emerges, the people will rise as owners and custodians of the government agenda.

It is just as important for the government to show humility and take accountability when its leaders err. The PM never takes accountability. Every time there is a crisis, he comes with a plethora of people to accuse, including Shene Oromo, TPLF, the West, his own judges, the police, the people who want cooking oil rather than eating cabbage with salt and those who want gasoline for their car, rather than walking as a form of healthy exercise.

The fact that, for over three years, he had refused to have a PR unit is evidence that he has no interest in shaping public opinion and building consensus. The fact that he attends ribbon cutting ceremonies and inauguration celebrations often the same day or within a day or two after 100s of people are slaughtered shows his lack of understanding of rudimentary public relations or lack of empathy to the dead and their aggrieved family members.

When he finally agreed to establish a PR unit, he chose a political appointee rather than an experienced PR expert. A capable PR expert would have sent him to Wellega the same day the mass murder happened to console the people and show leadership. It has been eight months since the PR unit has been established. It has no pulse. No life, not even a sign of existence. Only the government’s budget office knows their existence when it cuts them a check for their salaries.

Amid the most dangerous development is that moderate Amharas have gone from supporting the PM with enthusiasm to withdrawing their support to him and ultimately to sympathizing (if not joining) the extremist Amhara camp. On top of it, no matter what the reason may be, the recent purging of Gedu Andargachew and Yohannes Buayalew from PP leadership and Yohannes’ termination and Gedu’s resignation from their respective government positions have moved the Amhara sentiment towards the PM from suspicion to hostility. Even those who saw them as sellouts in the past are now championing them as Amhara heroes.

I am one of the people who have supported the PM since he came to office. I continue to support him resisting the temptation to cut loose because I believe he is a visionary leader who can transform the nation if he changes his governance style and recognizes he is neither King nor God. There are two areas of management he is lacking: (1) reform management; and (2) political management to mitigate conflicts and address unexpected crises. He has failed both his supporters and the nation at large miserably on both fronts.

On the reform management front, his vision could have transformed Ethiopia beyond anybody’s imagination. But his policy of alienating capable Ethiopians and surrounding himself with sub-mediocre “yes, sir” appointees is undermining his own vision. One example would suffice to bring this point home.

The Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), Ethiopia’s first sovereign fund, was established without consulting the CEOs of the 27 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) that are placed under its command. At the first meeting of the EIH Board, Frehiwot Tamiru, CEO of Ethio Telecom and one of the eight EIH board members, “confronted the basic decision of blanketing SOEs as subsidiaries of the EIH.” She added: “EIH cannot guarantee success. SOEs will become efficient, only when each are led professionally in their respective sectors.” She rightly expressed bewilderment that the decision was made without consulting the SOEs affected by the creation of EIH.

Abe Sano, the president of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) echoed Frehiwot’s points, stating “There is a dilemma in the way the EIH is structured.” The Director General of the Information Network Security Service (INSS), Shumete Gizaw (PhD) joined Frehiwot and Abe in the chorus of protest against (and soft rejection of) EIH: “What are the criteria for SOEs to become an EIH subsidiary or not? Did the government assess existing SOEs, before establishing the EIH?”

Frehiwot, Abe and Shumete are among the most senior officials in terms of the size of SOEs they manage. If the government did not seek their input when creating NIH, who did it consult? Evidently, the reform process is managed by cadres, not professionals and stakeholders even within the government structure. Ethiopia has several economic think tanks, including the Ethiopian Development Research Institute, the Ethiopian Economic Association, and the PM’s Independent Economic Advisory Council. I know for sure his Economic Advisory Council was not consulted. It is exceedingly unlikely that the others were advised.

The PM is running the country at his whim with no input from national stakeholders. This includes in areas of State Security and defense. In the past I have written enough about his administration’s failure in public diplomacy. Suffice it to say, his administration is the worst Ethiopia has witnessed in recent memory. We have Ambassadors with no background in diplomacy and poor command of the English language, to put it generously. The gap they left was filled by a cacophonous street diplomacy of #NoMore that only God, the cacophonous diaspora, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our oblivious ambassadors know the wisdom of the #NoMore አሲዮ ቤሌማ.

The failure in the political crisis management is the same. The stakeholders are not consulted. Even when members of the Parliament show a sign of discontent, the PM lectures them with a condescending tone and tenor. They are often dismissed with utter disregard for their oversight role in the way the nation is run. When the PM consolidated some 20 or 30 key institutions under

his office, some parliamentarians put a fight that lasted a few seconds. It seemed as though their questions and critics represented agonal breathing to show a sign of life - አልሞትኩም ብየ አልዋሽም.

This is partly the fault of the parliamentarians. Read my article titled “የጠቅላይ ሚኒስቴሩ እንደ ስላሴዎች አንድም ሶስተም እየሆኑ የመምጣት አደጋዎች” in which I wrote:

Parliamentarian sessions with the PM manifest a disturbing display of a lopsided power dynamics akin to one between an imperious kindergarten teacher and his awed and coyed kindergartners. The Parliamentarians’ body language lexicon of discomfort spoke louder than the timid questions that some of them mustered the courage to utter.

The only two members who showed courage to challenge the PM in one session were the Amhara representatives - the Honorable Christian Tadele and the Honorable Desalegn Chanie. Their questions proved to be utterly stupid in the most elastic sense of the term stupid. The PM run circles around them. I felt embarrassed for them. The Honorable Christian showed a sense of credulity in the “Whodunit” state of confusion.

That is not all, in the after math of the most horrific mass murder, the Speaker of the House refused to modify the agenda to pay respect and prayers to the hundreds of Amhara victims in Wellega. This was a display of political stupidity from a distant underdeveloped galaxy. It was beyond the realm of propensity for obedience to the executive branch.

Ethiopia cannot continue to jump from one crisis to another that is attributable to the PM’s single-handed governance where the legislative branch has all but abrogated its oath and duty. Their constituencies did not send them to Addis as their representatives with crayons and coloring books to pass time. Their oath requires them to fulfill their duty. They should live up to their duty that they accepted under the weight of oath or resign and go back home.

 

The Shimeles Abdissa Factor

The failure of Shimeles Abdissa to control his tribal domain is beyond comprehension. One wonders the purpose of recruiting and training tens of thousands of Oromo militia and special force every year if it is not to keep peace and security.

Furthermore, his continuous polarization of non-Oromos in Addis Ababa, calling the Amhara “Neftegna” and announcing that his Party intends to shove the antiquated Geda system down the throat of 21st century Ethiopians has made it difficult for moderate Amhara’s to trust the PM.

It is incomprehensible why Shimeles has not resigned or forced out or at the very least required to compensate the victims’ families, whether his failings are caused by lack of experience and ability, or recklessness fueled by tribal impulses. The people are losing confidence and trust in the PM, who is the custodian of PP-Oromo and all but a Godfather of Shimeles.

Amhara Extremists are the Second Half of the Problem

TPLF, OLF-Shene and Egypt have friends from
https://zehabesha.com/the-oromo-land-of-blood-and-gore-only-pm-abiy-and-the-silent-majority-amhara-can-stop-it/

The Oromo Land of Blood and Gore Only PM Abiy and the Silent Majority Amhara Can Stop It

The Oromo Land of Blood and Gore Only PM Abiy and the Silent Majority Amhara Can Stop It
Yonas Biru, PhD



OLF-Shene has sucked the oxygen out of the Oromo tribal kingdom, using Wellega’s dense forests, mountains, and caves as its outdoor palace. Four years ago, TPLF had its hopes hung on Jawar Mohammed when Jaal was no more than a nuisance in Wellega, focusing on bank robbery. Today, Debretsion is in camp Jaal, lock stock and barrel. Jaal Marroo, OLF-Shene’s leader, has dethroned and marginalized Jawar, leaving him with no viable path other than waving and screaming for attention in distant lands.

There is a notable difference between Jawar’s and Jaal’s tribal kingdoms. During Jawar’s heydays, his Qerro garrison killed not only Amharas but also Gamos, Gurages and other non-Oromo ethnic groups. Jaal’s atrocities are exclusively targeted at the Amharas, and his atrocities are elevated to an industrial scale. The question is what are the lead-up and sustaining factors. This requires understanding the driving factors of Jaal’s and Debretsion’s political and military calculus.

Government controlled media outlets have saturated the air and cyber waves with a narrative blaming Egypt and TPLF as co-sponsors of Jaal’s emerging kingdom whose soil is wet with Amhara blood and fertilized with a human gore. The Abiy administration needs to come to the realization that tickling the people’s emotions using “እናት ኢትዮጵያ” and “አባቶቻችን ደማቸውን አፈሰው አጥንታቸውን ከስከሰው ያቆዩልንን አገር ሊያፈርሷት ነው” is not a fit-all crisis management strategy. The nation’s emotional reservoir is being increasingly depleted with every successive crisis. There is not much there to tap into.

It is important to come to grips that the most relevant factors in OLF-Shene’s ascension lurk along the contour where Prime Minister (PM) Abiy’s and PP-Oromo’s failings and Amhara extremists’ fervent fanaticism meet. Only the PM can fix the poor performance of his administration and the high-octane tribalist tendencies of PP-Oromo. On the Amhara front, the silent majority shoulders moral and historical obligations to rein in the fervent fanaticism of tribal extremists in its midst.

 

Let Us Look at the Obvious First

Financed and armed by Egypt and supported by TPLF, OLF-Shene continues to hunt and murder defenseless civilian Amharas in the Oromo tribal land and beyond. TPLF that has found it hard to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Tigray is taking the war out of its tribal homeland, providing OLF-Shene with technical and personnel support. OLF-Shene’s penetration of the Oromo community in Wellega, TPLF’s technical support, and Egypt’s military equipment that is smuggled through Wellega and Benishangul potentially represent more existential threat to Ethiopia than TPLF’s war.

OLF-Shene’s danger comes from its mass murder’s scalability because of the millions of Amhara people living in the Oromo tribal land, and its ability to provide Amhara extremists irresistible fodder to flame their tribal impulses. The massive Amhara people living in the Oromo tribal land will be subjected to unimaginable atrocities that can quickly rise to genocide. There is no doubt that ሕዋሃት አማራ ላይ አወራርደዋልሁ ያለውን ወለጋ ላይ ከሸኔ ጋር በተግባር እያዋለው ነው:: Do not forget that once civil war starts, the Amhara in the Oromo tribal land will not go down without a fight. Similarly, the sizable Oromo people in the Amhara tribal land will not perish in silence. The clash between Amhara and Oromo can ignite a civil war that will make the TPLF war look like a child’s play.

 

OLF-Shenes Political and Military Calculus

OLF-Shene is an extremist gang that wants to implement Jawar Mohammed’s “Ethiopia out of Oromia” rallying cry. Jawar used the slogan to propel himself to the apex of the Oromo political landscape through a crafty political shenanigan that alternated conflict-peddling and peace-making. Jaal turned the slogan into action, using matchets, guns, gasoline, and fire without any pretense of peace. The focus on the Amhara is strategic as are the diabolical savagery and their frequency of delivery.

Jaal’s focus on the Amhara has three reasons. First, he sees the Amhara as the architect and custodian of the Ethiopian project. Second, the frequency and savage atrocity is gamed to create a sense of existential chaos to get international attention. This is TPLF’s staple. Third, and most importantly, Jaal understands that the coalition between PP-Oromo and PP-Amhara is what is holding the pan Ethiopian center. If he manages to break the coalition, the center will no longer hold. In this regard, Jaal and Debretsion rely more on Amhara extremists who see the PP-Oromo and PP-Amhara coalition as the primary enemy of the Amhara than they rely on Egyptian weapons.

It is easy to understand the strategy behind Oromo and Tigray extremism. They have an end game whether we like it or not and their actions and strategies are consistent with their end goal. It is hard to tease out the strategy of Amhara extremists, much less to figure out the link between their actions and their respective end games.

One month, Eskinder is touted as the savior of Amhara with the nick name of ታላቁ እስክንደር. The next month Shaleka Dawit is the Knight in a Shining Armor. Yet in another month Christian Tadele inherits the throne with the nick name of ገብርየ. When political actors run off their steam, Amhara religious activists take over the podium and the mantle. They seem to crawl out of the Ethiopian episode of “Theater of the Absurd” that in the 1950s portrayed an irrational and illogical human experiment that lacks purpose.

There are two potential consequences that can result if OLF-Shene and TPLF succeed in their attempt to break the PP-Oromo and PP-Amhara coalition. First, tribal extremism will soar in the

Amhara tribal land, fearing existential threat from OLF-Shene and TPLF coalition. Second, the political center of gravity will shift from pan Ethiopian toward several extremist autonomous tribal movements. This is what I have called in the past “a race to the bottom” between extremist forces.

The race to the bottom will be fueled by what physicists call entropy of the second law of thermodynamics. In politics, the entropy dynamics propels societies into a self-destructive state of random chaos. This happens as a systemic social order splinters into smaller components that spin out of control in a way that is not predictable. Experts in the field tell us that the only solution is to introduce new energy to defuse and douse the negative energy that is turboing the random chaos.

Together with entropy dynamics, game theory helps us understand the political chaos our country is in. Game theory is a model that was developed by mathematicians and adopted and finally abducted by economists. It is valuable to understand the choice that political or economic actors make to optimize their benefits in a strategic setting when confronted with competitions or conflicts. Each group’s success depends on its ability to anticipate its adversaries’ next moves and overall strategies.

In recent weeks and months, OLF-Shene has been scaling up its atrocities. Sadly, this is likely to increase both in intensity and frequency. Jaal understands that every mass murder in the Oromo tribal land takes Amhara extremists to the next level as more and more people join them. In short, OLF-Shene’s political calculus to scale up the brutality and increase the frequency of its mass murder is calibrated on the Amhara reaction against the Abiy administration, PP-Oromo, and PP-Amhara. The stronger the reaction the more frequent and bestial the mass murder gets.

There are two factors that have given Jaal the upper hand. First is the PM’s refusal to listen to the public outcry about the dismal way that he has been governing the nation. Second is the Amhara extremists’ unmitigated hate of the PM that has led them to do OLF-Shene’s, TPLF’s, and through them Egypt’s bidding.

 

The PM is the Dominant Half of The Problem

First, the Prime Minister has failed to win the trust and confidence of the Amhara people. His lack of transparency, his utterly poor (if not nonexistent) public relations ecosystem, and the absence of a well-developed political strategy have weakened the PP-Oromo and PP-Amhara coalition that was wobbly to begin with.

When I say public relations ecosystem, I am not talking about government propaganda. Rather, I am referring to a participatory government system where the government explains and promotes its agenda and seeks public support for it. This means involving the public, independent think tanks,

and expert groups outside of the government structure. It also means building consensus and securing public ownership of the reform. This requires keeping the public abreast of the progress the government is achieving and making them aware of the challenges ahead. This is critical to build consensus, foster public ownership of the agenda, and nurture an Ethiopian creed mindset. Under such circumstances, when crisis emerges, the people will rise as owners and custodians of the government agenda.

It is just as important for the government to show humility and take accountability when its leaders err. The PM never takes accountability. Every time there is a crisis, he comes with a plethora of people to accuse, including Shene Oromo, TPLF, the West, his own judges, the police, the people who want cooking oil rather than eating cabbage with salt and those who want gasoline for their car, rather than walking as a form of healthy exercise.

The fact that, for over three years, he had refused to have a PR unit is evidence that he has no interest in shaping public opinion and building consensus. The fact that he attends ribbon cutting ceremonies and inauguration celebrations often the same day or within a day or two after 100s of people are slaughtered shows his lack of understanding of rudimentary public relations or lack of empathy to the dead and their aggrieved family members.

When he finally agreed to establish a PR unit, he chose a political appointee rather than an experienced PR expert. A capable PR expert would have sent him to Wellega the same day the mass murder happened to console the people and show leadership. It has been eight months since the PR unit has been established. It has no pulse. No life, not even a sign of existence. Only the government’s budget office knows their existence when it cuts them a check for their salaries.

Amid the most dangerous development is that moderate Amharas have gone from supporting the PM with enthusiasm to withdrawing their support to him and ultimately to sympathizing (if not joining) the extremist Amhara camp. On top of it, no matter what the reason may be, the recent purging of Gedu Andargachew and Yohannes Buayalew from PP leadership and Yohannes’ termination and Gedu’s resignation from their respective government positions have moved the Amhara sentiment towards the PM from suspicion to hostility. Even those who saw them as sellouts in the past are now championing them as Amhara heroes.

I am one of the people who have supported the PM since he came to office. I continue to support him resisting the temptation to cut loose because I believe he is a visionary leader who can transform the nation if he changes his governance style and recognizes he is neither King nor God. There are two areas of management he is lacking: (1) reform management; and (2) political management to mitigate conflicts and address unexpected crises. He has failed both his supporters and the nation at large miserably on both fronts.

On the reform management front, his vision could have transformed Ethiopia beyond anybody’s imagination. But his policy of alienating capable Ethiopians and surrounding himself with sub-mediocre “yes, sir” appointees is undermining his own vision. One example would suffice to bring this point home.

The Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), Ethiopia’s first sovereign fund, was established without consulting the CEOs of the 27 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) that are placed under its command. At the first meeting of the EIH Board, Frehiwot Tamiru, CEO of Ethio Telecom and one of the eight EIH board members, “confronted the basic decision of blanketing SOEs as subsidiaries of the EIH.” She added: “EIH cannot guarantee success. SOEs will become efficient, only when each are led professionally in their respective sectors.” She rightly expressed bewilderment that the decision was made without consulting the SOEs affected by the creation of EIH.

Abe Sano, the president of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) echoed Frehiwot’s points, stating “There is a dilemma in the way the EIH is structured.” The Director General of the Information Network Security Service (INSS), Shumete Gizaw (PhD) joined Frehiwot and Abe in the chorus of protest against (and soft rejection of) EIH: “What are the criteria for SOEs to become an EIH subsidiary or not? Did the government assess existing SOEs, before establishing the EIH?”

Frehiwot, Abe and Shumete are among the most senior officials in terms of the size of SOEs they manage. If the government did not seek their input when creating NIH, who did it consult? Evidently, the reform process is managed by cadres, not professionals and stakeholders even within the government structure. Ethiopia has several economic think tanks, including the Ethiopian Development Research Institute, the Ethiopian Economic Association, and the PM’s Independent Economic Advisory Council. I know for sure his Economic Advisory Council was not consulted. It is exceedingly unlikely that the others were advised.

The PM is running the country at his whim with no input from national stakeholders. This includes in areas of State Security and defense. In the past I have written enough about his administration’s failure in public diplomacy. Suffice it to say, his administration is the worst Ethiopia has witnessed in recent memory. We have Ambassadors with no background in diplomacy and poor command of the English language, to put it generously. The gap they left was filled by a cacophonous street diplomacy of #NoMore that only God, the cacophonous diaspora, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our oblivious ambassadors know the wisdom of the #NoMore አሲዮ ቤሌማ.

The failure in the political crisis management is the same. The stakeholders are not consulted. Even when members of the Parliament show a sign of discontent, the PM lectures them with a condescending tone and tenor. They are often dismissed with utter disregard for their oversight role in the way the nation is run. When the PM consolidated some 20 or 30 key institutions under

his office, some parliamentarians put a fight that lasted a few seconds. It seemed as though their questions and critics represented agonal breathing to show a sign of life - አልሞትኩም ብየ አልዋሽም.

This is partly the fault of the parliamentarians. Read my article titled “የጠቅላይ ሚኒስቴሩ እንደ ስላሴዎች አንድም ሶስተም እየሆኑ የመምጣት አደጋዎች” in which I wrote:

Parliamentarian sessions with the PM manifest a disturbing display of a lopsided power dynamics akin to one between an imperious kindergarten teacher and his awed and coyed kindergartners. The Parliamentarians’ body language lexicon of discomfort spoke louder than the timid questions that some of them mustered the courage to utter.

The only two members who showed courage to challenge the PM in one session were the Amhara representatives - the Honorable Christian Tadele and the Honorable Desalegn Chanie. Their questions proved to be utterly stupid in the most elastic sense of the term stupid. The PM run circles around them. I felt embarrassed for them. The Honorable Christian showed a sense of credulity in the “Whodunit” state of confusion.

That is not all, in the after math of the most horrific mass murder, the Speaker of the House refused to modify the agenda to pay respect and prayers to the hundreds of Amhara victims in Wellega. This was a display of political stupidity from a distant underdeveloped galaxy. It was beyond the realm of propensity for obedience to the executive branch.

Ethiopia cannot continue to jump from one crisis to another that is attributable to the PM’s single-handed governance where the legislative branch has all but abrogated its oath and duty. Their constituencies did not send them to Addis as their representatives with crayons and coloring books to pass time. Their oath requires them to fulfill their duty. They should live up to their duty that they accepted under the weight of oath or resign and go back home.

 

The Shimeles Abdissa Factor

The failure of Shimeles Abdissa to control his tribal domain is beyond comprehension. One wonders the purpose of recruiting and training tens of thousands of Oromo militia and special force every year if it is not to keep peace and security.

Furthermore, his continuous polarization of non-Oromos in Addis Ababa, calling the Amhara “Neftegna” and announcing that his Party intends to shove the antiquated Geda system down the throat of 21st century Ethiopians has made it difficult for moderate Amhara’s to trust the PM.

It is incomprehensible why Shimeles has not resigned or forced out or at the very least required to compensate the victims’ families, whether his failings are caused by lack of experience and ability, or recklessness fueled by tribal impulses. The people are losing confidence and trust in the PM, who is the custodian of PP-Oromo and all but a Godfather of Shimeles.

Amhara Extremists are the Second Half of the Problem

TPLF, OLF-Shene and Egypt have friends from
https://zehabesha.com/the-oromo-land-of-blood-and-gore-only-pm-abiy-and-the-silent-majority-amhara-can-stop-it/

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

የወልቃይት ጠገዴ እና ጠለምት እውነታዎች (ከታሪክ፣ ከህግ እና ከስነ ሕዝብ ምህንድስና አንጻር)

የወልቃይት ጠገዴ እና ጠለምት እውነታዎች  (ከታሪክ፣ ከህግ እና ከስነ ሕዝብ ምህንድስና አንጻር)
ቴዎድሮስ ታደሰ በለይ (ጥናታዊ ጽ)

- ሥነ-ዘዴ

ይህ ጥናታዊ ጽሁፍ በመረጃ መሰብሰቢያ ስነ ዘዴነት ጥቅም ላይ ያዋለው የተለያዩ ጽሁፎችን፣  ታሪካዊ ማስረጃዎችን፣  አለም አቀፍ እና የሀገር ውስጥ ህጎችን፣ ጥናታዊ ጽሁፎችን፣ መጽሐፎችን፣ መጽሄቶችን፣  የሰብዓዊ መብት ጥሰት የሚመለከቱ ሪፖርቶችን ሌሎች ሰነዶችን በጥልቀት በመዳሰስ በመመርመር እና በመተንተን የተጠናከረ ነው። በዚህም አዘጋጁ ጥቅም ላይ ያዋላቸውን ስራዎች በሙሉ በምንጭ፣ በማጣቀሻነት እና በዋቢ መጽሐፍት ዝርዝር ተገቢውን እውቅና ሰጥቷል።

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የወልቃይት ጠገዴ መልከዓ ምድር በሰሜን ተከዜ (ኤርትራ)፣ በደቡብ ስሜን አርማጭሆ፣ በምስራቅ በኩል ተከዜ ወንዝ (ትግራይ)፣ በምዕራብ በኩል ደሞ ከሱዳን ጋር ይዋሰናል። ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት በውል በሚታወቀው የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ በበጌምድርና ጎንደር ክፍለ ሀገር፣ ስሜን እና ወገራ አውራጃ ሲተዳደር ቆይቷል። የትግራይ እና የበጌምድር (ጎንደር) ወሰን ተከዜ ስለመሆኑ አያሌ የታሪክ ማስረጃዎች አሉ፡፡ ከ1983 እስከ ጥቅምት/2013 ዓ.ም. የወያኔ ኃይል ቀጠናውን በግዳጅ ይዞ ወደትግራይ ክልል በማጠቃለል የተለያዮ ግፍ፣ በደል፣ የሥነ-ሕዝብ ምህንድስና እና አለም አቀፍ ወንጀሎች እየፈጸመ ሲያስተዳድረው ቆይቷል።

የወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት አካባቢ የወያኔ ኃይል ጥቅምት 24/2013 ዓ.ም. የሰሜን ዕዝን በማጥቃት በከፈተው ጦርነት የሀገር መከላከያ ሰራዊት እና የዐማራ የጸጥታ ኃይሎች በከፈሉት መስዋዕትነት ነጻ ሊወጣ ችሏል። አካባቢው የግዙፍ የእርሻ ልማት ማዕከል መሆኑን ተከትሎ፣ የተለያዩ የኢትዮጵያ ብሄር ብሄረሰቦችም የሚኖሩበት አካባቢ ነው። ዞኑ ወፍ አርግፍ፣ ቃብትያ፣ ባዕከር፣ ወይናት፣ ማይካድራ፣ ዳንሻ፣ አውራ፣ ማክሰኞ ገበያ፣ ቆራሪትና ቤት ሞሎ የተሰኙ ከተሞችንም በመያዝ በ 4 የገጠር ወረዳዎችና በ 5 የከተማ መስተደድር እየተዳደረ የሚገኝ ሰፊ አካባቢ ነው።

- አስተዳደራዊታሪክ

በአስተዳደራዊ ታሪክ ደረጃ የወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴ፣ ጠለምት (ስሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር) ታሪክ ከበጌምድር (ጎንደር  ዐማራ) ታሪክ የማይነጠል የተጋመደ ታሪክ አለው። ይህን የአስተዳደራዊ ታሪክ በማስረጃ ህግ መመዘኛ መስፈርቶች ማለትም ገለልተኝነት፣ ተዓማኝነት፣ የእውነታ ይዞታ እና አግባብነትን መሰረት በማድረግ የተለያዩ የአገር ውስጥ እና የውጭ ጸሐፊዎች፣ አሳሾች፣ የመንግስታት ቆንስሎች ዲፕሎማቶች፣ የሀይማኖት ሰባኪዎች ሚስዮናዊያን እና የነገሥታት ዜና መዋዕል ጸሐፊዎች ከአክሱም ዘመነ መንግሥት እስከ 1983 ዓ.ም. ድረስ ያሉትን ታሪካዊ ማስረጃዎችን መሰረት በማድረግ እንመልከት።

በዚህ ጽሁፍ ወልቃይት የሚለው ቃል ከተከዜ ወንዝ ምላሽ እስከ አንገረብ ወንዝ እና የሰሜን ተራራ ተፋሰስ ድረስ ያለውን የሰሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር ግዛቶችን (ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴ፣ ጠለምት፣  እና ሰቲት ሁመራ) አጠቃሎ የሚወክል ነው። አላማው የቃላት ድግግሞሽን ለማስቀረት እንደሆነ ግንዛቤ ይወሰድ።

- ወልቃይት በአክሱም ዘመነ መንግ

 

 

- የካርል በተር ጥናት ምስክርነት

ካርል በተር የተባለ የጀርመን ምሁር በአርክዮሎጅ ጥናት ላይ በተመሰረተ “The rise and fall of Axum, Ethiopia: A Geo-Archaeological interpretation” በተሰኘ ስራው የአክሱም ግዛትን  የሽሬ አምባ የመረብ እና ተከዜ ተፋሰሶች ምላሽ እንደሚገኝ ጅኦ አርክዮሎጅ ጥናትን መሰረት በማድረግ ገልጿል። “The Axum country side forms part of the plateau of Shire (Troll 1970), a rolling upland at 2,100 - 2,400 m elevation, rising 500 m or so above the rugged valley system of the Mareb and Tekeze rivers.” Karl W. Butzer, p.471-495

- የአክሱም ነገሥታት የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፎች

 

ቀደምት የአክሱም ነገሥታት የብራና ጽሁፍ ከመጀመሩ በፊት የንግሥና ዘመናቸውን፣ ታሪካቸውን፣ ሲያስተዳድሩት የነበሩ ግዛቶችን የገጠሟቸውን የጦርነት አውደ ውጊያዎች ሌሎች ታሪኮችን በድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ የመከተብ ልምምድ ነበራቸው። ከዚህ ጉዳይ ጋር በሚያያዝ ሁኔታ የሦስት ነገሥታት የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ በተለያየ ጊዜ በምዕራባዊያን የአርክዮሎች አጥኝዎች ተተርጉመው የተጻፉትን እንመልከት።

- 1.የዳግማዊ አጼ ኢዛና የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ “የወልቃይት ነገድ ጦርነት ሳይገጥም ገበረልኝ” ይላል። (ዩሪ ኤም ኬ አክሱም)


- 2.የአጼ ካሌብ የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ “የተከዜን ወንዝ ከተሻገርሁ በኋላ የስሜን ነገድን አስገበርሁ” ይላል። (ኮስሞስ 517 እኤአ)


- የአጼ ሐጻኒ ዳንኤል የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ “የወልቃይት ሰዎች ወደ አክሱም ሐስላን ወደሚባለው አገር ወጥተው አገር ስላጠፉ ተዋግቸ መለስኳቸው 10ሽህ በግ እና 3ሽህ ፍየል ዘርፌያቸው ሰዎቼም አገሩን ዘርፈውት ወደ አገራችን ተመለስን።” በማለት ከትቧል። (ፕሮፌሰር ሊትማን፣ ጀርመን 1903)

እነዚህ ከላይ የተመለከቱት የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፎች በአክሱም ዘመነ መንግሥት የአገዛዝ ዘመን የትግራይ መሳፍቶች (ገዥዎች) ወልቃይትን የትግራይ አካል አድርገው ያላስተዳደሩት መሆኑን፣ ይልቁንም በስሜን እና በጌምድር ግዛት ውስጥ ሲተዳደሩ እንደነበር በማያጠራጥር ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

- ወልቃይትበዛግዌ ስርወ መንግሥት

ከ1150 እስከ 1270 በቆየው የዛጉየ ዘመነ መንግሥት ክርስትና በተስፋፋበት ጊዜ የትግራይ ወሰን የተከዜ ወንዝ ነው። ለዚህም ማስረጃው የንጉስ ነአኩቶ ለአብ ገደልና ድርሳናት ናቸው። በዘመንፈስ ቅዱስ እልፍዮስ የተዘጋጀው ድርሳን “ከተከዜ ወንዝ በምዕራብ በኩል የሚኖሩ የበጌምድር ሰዎች ለንጉሥ አንገብርም በማለት በማመፃቸው ንጉሡ በፀሎት ቀጣቸው።” በማለት ዘግበዋል። ይህም ወልቃይት በጥንቱ በጌ ምድር ስር ይተዳደር እንደነበር ያሳያል።

ከዚህ ባሻገር ሀሪስ የተባለ የጀርመን ምሁር “The Highlands of Aethiopia” በተሰኘ መጽሐፉ የሰጠውን ምስክርነት ስንመለከት “ከዛግዌ ስርዎ መንግሥት መውደቅ በኋላ ቀደም ሲል ከሥልጣን የተወገዱ የሰለሞን ተወላጆች ወደ ሥልጣን መምጣታቸውን ተከትሎ አማርኛ ቋንቋ ከዚህያ በፊት ጥቅም ላይ ሲውል የነበረው የግዕዝ ቋንቋ ሙሉ በሙሉ በመተካት አማረኛ የቤተመንግሥት ቋንቋ ሆነ። በዚህም ሽዋን ጭምሮ ከተከዜ እስከ አባይ በሚኖሩ የጎንደር፣ የጎጃም እና ወሎ ሕዝብ ላይ የበላይነት ያለው የመግባቢያ ቋንቋ በመሆን በአብዛኛው የአቢሲኒያ ሕዝብ ዘንድ የሚነገር ብሄራዊ ቋንቋ ለመሆን ችሏል።” (Harris, “The Highlands of Aethiopia: In Three Volumes, Volume 3” 1843,) የሚል እናገኛለን። ይህም ከተከዜ ወንዝ ምላሽ ያለው ቀጠና በዛግዌ ዘመነ መንግሥት የበጌምድር ግዛት መሆኑን ያስረዳል።

- ወልቃይት በሰለሞናዊ ስርዎ-መንግሥት

 

- መጽሐፈ አክሱም

በአስራ አራተኛው ክፍለ ዘመን በአክሱም ንቡረ-ዕድ የተፃፈው ‹‹መፅሐፍ አክሱም›› የተሰኘው የትግራይ ገዥ ራስ ስሁል ሚካኤል ለጀምስ ብሩክ ያበረከቱት በጀምስ ብሩስና አርኖል ዲአባዲ አማካኝነት ወደ አውሮፓ የተወሰደው ዶክመንት እንደሚገለፀው በዚያን ግዜ የትግራይ አስተዳደር ስር አክሱምን አማክለው በተዋቀሩት 12ቱ ጠቅላይ ግዛት ማለትም፤ ተንቤን፣ ሽሬ፣ አጋሜ፣ ሀማሴን፣ ቡር፣ ሳማ፣ ስርዐይ፣ አምባ ሰናይት፣ ገራልታ እና ሳህራት ዝርዝር ውስጥ ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ሆነ ጠለምት ተካትተው አይገኙም። (Carlo Conti Rossini. Liber Axumae. Book of Axum) ይህም በአጼ ዘርዓ ያቆብ ዘመነ መንግሥት በ14ተኛው ክፍለ ዘመን የተጻፈው መጽሐፈ አክሱም ወልቃይት የትግራይ አስተዳደር አካል አለመሆኑን በማያሻማ ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

- የ15ኛው ክፍለ ዘመን ሚስዮናዊያን ምስክርነት

በአስራ አምስተኛው ክፍለ ዘመን የካቶሊክ እምነትን ለመስበክ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የመጡ ሚስዮናዊያን የነበራቸውን ተልኮ እና በወቅቱ የሰፈሩባቸውን ቀጠናዎች የሚያትት የቪክቶር ፈርናንዴዝ “Enlivening the dying ruins: history and archaeology of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia, 1557–1632 የተሰኘ ታሪክ እና አርክዮሎጅን አጣምሮ የያዘ በጥናት ላይ የተመሰረተ ካርታ ወልቃይት እና ዋልድባ (ጠለምት) ከትግራይ አስተዳደር ውጭ መሆናቸውን በግልጽ ያሳያል።

በ15ኛው ክፍለ ዘመን የፖርቱጋል ጦር ተከትለው በክሪስታቮ ደጋማ መሪነት ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የመጡ ሚስዮናዊያን አንድሬስ ዲ አቬይዶ፣ ፍራንሲስኮ አልባሬዝ፣ ፔድሮ ፒያዝ እና ሌሎች በሰጡት ምስክርነት ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት በበጌምድር ጎንደር  (ዐማራ) ክፍል መሆናቸውን ያስረግጣል።

ለአብነት ፍራንሲስኮ አልባሬዝ የተባለ ፖሪቱጋላዊ የካቶሊክ እምነት ሰባኪ ቄስ በኢትዮጵያ በተለይ በኤርትራ ትግሬና በጌምድር ለ7 ዓመት 1520-1527 እንደቆዩ ይታወቃል፡፡ አልባሬዝ የመጣበት ዋናው ተልኮ የካቶሊክ እምነትን በድብቅ ለመስባክ ቢሆንም የአካባቢውን መልክዓ ምድራዊ ሁኔታ፤ የግዛት አስተዳደርና የሕዝብ አሰፋፈርን በጉዞ ማስታዋሻው ከትቧል፡፡ በጊዜው የነበረውን የግዛት አስተዳደር ሲገልጽ ‹‹ቤጌምድር በኢትዮጵያ ከሚገኙት የአስተዳደር ግዛቶች ውስጥ በጣም ትልቁ ነው›› ይላል፡፡ የቤጌምድር ግዛት በኤርትራና የቤጌምድር ግዛት ከጎጃም ቀጥሎ የሚገኝ ሲሆን እስከ ባህር ነጋሽ (ኤርትራ) ድረስ 3.2 ማይል ርቀት ይዘልቃል›› ሲል ገልፆታል:: (Francisco Alvarze, Narratives f the Portugues Embassy to Abysnnia during the years 1520-1527, Portugal: Haklutee Society, 1881), p. 351)

- ወልቃይትጠገዴ በጎንደ ዘመን (Gonderian Period)

 

- የታሪካዊ ቅርስ ማስረጃ

የጎንደር ስልጣኔ በተጠነሰሰበት እና የአብያተ መንግሥታት ግንባታ በሚከወንበት ጊዜ በአጼ በካፋ ዘመነ መንግሥት በደጋው ወልቃይት (ወፍ አርግፍ) ተወላጅ የሆኑ ደጃዝማች አያናዝጊ የተባሉ የወልቃይት ባላባት በአጼ በካፋ ዘመነ መንግሥት ከንጉሡ ያገኙትን ድጋፍ መሰረት በማድረግ የስሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር ቀጠናን የሚያስተዳድሩበት ቤተ-መንግሥት፣ ወልቃይት ውስጥ ‹‹ቤት ሙሉ›› በተባለ ቦታ በጎንደር አብያተ-መንግሥታት አሰራር ጥበብ እና ምህንድስና መገንባት ችለዋል።

ይህም በታሪክ ትምህርት ‹የጎንደር ዘመን› ተብሎ በሚገለጸው በሰሎሞናዊ ስርዎ መንግሥት ኢትዮጵያን ሲያስተዳድሩ የነበሩ የጎንደር ነገሥታት፣ አያተ-መንግሥታትን ሲገነቡ የነበሩት በበጌምድር ግዛት ተወስነው ስለነበር ወልቃይት በዚያን ጊዜ የበጌምድር ጎንደር አካል እንደሆነ በማያጠራጥ ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

ምስል 1፦ ቪክቶር ፈርናንዴዝ የ15ኛዊ ክፍለ ሚስዮናዊያን የሰፈሩባቸውን፣ የካቶሊክ እምነት ያስተማሩበትን ግዛት እና አስተዳደር የሚያሳይ ካርታ (“Enlivening the dying ruins: history and archaeology of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia, 1557–1632 P-28)



ምስል 2፦ ደጃዝማች አያናዝጊ ሁለተኛ በአጼ በካፋ ዘመነ መንግሥት ያሰሩት ቤተ መንግሥት



 

- የጀምስ ብሩስ ምስክርነት

በጎንደሪያን ዘመን ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የመጣው ስኮትላንዳዊ ተጓዥ ጀምስ ብሩስ (James Brues) የዓባይ ወንዝን መነሻ ለማሰስ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ በቆየበት ጊዜ በሚመለከት በጻፈው “travels to discover the source of Nile” በተሰኘው ስራው የትግራይን ግዛት በዚህ መንገድ ገልፆታል፡-

“Tigre is bounded by the territory of the Bahire Negash (Eritrea) that is by the River Mereb on the East and Tekezze up on the west. It is about one hundred and twenty miles broad from east to west and two hundred from north to south”

ተዛማጅ ትርጉም፡- 

የትግራይ ምድር በባህረነጋሽ ኤርትራ የተከበበ ሲሆን፣ በምስራቅ መረብ ወንዝ እና በምዕራብ ተከዜ ወንዝ ያዋስነዋል። ከምስራቅ ወደ ምዕራብ አንድ መቶ ሃያ ማይል ሲያካልል፣ ከሰሜን ወደ ደቡብ ያለው ደግሞ 2 መቶ ማይል ነው። 

ጀምስ ብሩስ በዚሁ መጽሐፉ ላይ “Tekezze is the natural boundary between Tigre and Amhara” Travells to. ‹‹ተከዜ የ ዐማራ እና የትግራይ የተፈጥሮ ድንበር ነው።›› (V.3, P. 582) በማለት ቅልብጭ ያለ ምስክርነቱን ሰጥቷል።

 

3.5. ወልቃይት በዘመነ መሳፍንት

በኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ የትግራዩ መስፍን የጎንደሩን ንጉስ ዐፄ ዕዮሃስን በጎንደር ቤተመንግሥት ካስገደላቸው በኋላ የጎንደር የስልጣኔ ዘመን በማክተም በኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ ውስጥ የማዕከላዊ መንግሥት ሚና የተዳከመበት በሌላ መልኩ ደግሞ የየአካባቢው ገዥ መሳፍንቶች ኃይል የገነነበት ዘመነ-መሳፍንት እ.ኤ.አ (1769 -1855) ተፈጥሯል፡፡ (ፕሮፌሰር ባህሩ ዘውዴ የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ)

በዚህ ዘመን ከባምብሎ እስከ ተከዜ ያለው (ባምብሎ በመለስ ተከዜ በፈሰስ) ስሜኑ ክፍል ለረጅም ዘመናት በሰሜን ባላባቶች በራስ ገብሬ በልጃቸውና በልጅ ልጃቸው ኃይለማርያምና በራስ ውቤ ይተዳደር እንደነበር የአጼ ቴዎድሮስን ታሪክ የጻፉ ሶስቱ ጸኃፊዎች (አለቃ/ደብተራ ዘነበ፤ አለቃ ወ/ማርያምና ስሙ ያልታወቀ ጽሀፊ) ከትበውት እናገኛለን።

ከዚህ ባሻገር በስሜን ታሪክ ውስጥ ራስ ውቤ እጅግ በጣም ጠንካራ ገዥ ስለነበሩ በመሳፍንቶች ዘመን የማዕከላዊ መንግሥት ሲዳከም የሰሜንን ክፍል የራሳቸው ግዛት አድርገው በማስተዳደር ከግብጽ እና ሱዳን ሲሰነዘር የነበረውን ጥቃት መክተው ቀጠናውን አስከብረውታል።

በተጨማሪ Seben Rubnson የተባለ ጸሐፊ “The Survival Of Ethiopian  Independence“ (September, 2003) በተሰኘ መጽሐፉ በገጽ 218 ላይ በምስል ሦስት የታያያዘውን ኢትዮጵያ በዘመነ መሳፍንት ጊዜ የነበራትን ግዛት የሚያሳይ ካርታ አስፍሮ እናገኘዋለን። ይህም ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት በስሜን በጌምድር አስተዳደር ስር ይተዳደር እንደነበር በማያሻማ ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

ምስል 3፦ የዘመነ መሳፍን ኢትዮጵያ የግዛት አስተዳደር የሚያሳይ ካርታ (Seben Rubnson, “the survival of Ethiopian  independence“ 1991 kuraz, page 218)



3.6. ወልቃይት በዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ

- የቆንስልፕላውድን ምስክርነት

በዘመነ መሳፍንት የመጨረሻ ዘመን አካባቢ የእንግሊዝ መንግሥትን ወክሎ ከራስ አሊ ትንሹ የመሳፍንት መንግሥት ጋር ስምምነት ለማድረግ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የመጣው ከጊዜ በኃላ አጼ ቴዎድሮስ ኢትዮጵያን የማዋሀድ እንቅስቃሴ በጀመሩበት ጊዜ የንጉሡ ወዳጅ ሆኖ እስከ ዕለተ ሞቱ ድረስ በኢትዮጵያ የኖረው ሚስዮናዊ ፕላውድን “Travels in Abyssinia With an Account of a Mission to Ras Ali in 1848” በተሰኘ መጽሐፉ የትግራይን ግዛት እንዲህ ገልጾታል፡-

“… The region of Tigray consisted of all Christian regions north of the Tekeze River. i.e. Hamasen, Saraye, Akale guzay, Agame, Tigray proper, Shire, Adiabo, Temben, Inderta, and Silalo. the river Tekeze is the line separating the Tigray province and Gondar” 

ትርጉም፡-

“የትግራይ ግዛት ከተከዜ ወንዝ በስተ ሰሜን ያሉትን ሀማሴን፣ ሰርዓይ፣ አካለ ጉዛይ፣ አጋሜ፣ መደበኛው ትግሬ፣ ሽሬ አዲአቦ፣ ተንቤን፣ እንደርታ እና ስላሎን የተሰኙ የክርስቲያን ቀጠናወችን የያዘ ሲሆን፤ የተከዜ ወንዝ የትግራይ እና የጎንደር ግዛቶችን የሚለይ ወሰን ነው።”

የሚል ምስክርነቱን ሰጥቶ እናገኛለን። ይህም ወልቃይት ከትግራይ አስተዳደር ውጭ መሆኑን እና ተከዜ የጎንደር እና የትግራይ ሕዝብ እና አስተዳደር የተፈጥሮ ደንበር መሆኑን ያስረግጣል።

- የሀርሙዝ ራሴም ምስክርነት

ሀርሙዝ ራሳም (Hormuzd Rassam) የተባለ በዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ ዘመን ከእንግሊዝ ጦር ጋር የመጣ ዲፕሎማት የእንግሊዝ መንግሥት የነበረውን ተልዕኮ በተረከበት መፅሀፍ «Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia».  የተሰኘ መጽሐፍ ደሞ የሚከተለውን አስፍሯል፡-

“I take this opportunity of remarking that the term “Amhara,” as now used by the Abyssinians, in an ethno-logical sense, designates the inhabitants of the country lying west of the Takkaze, and also south of that river, as far as the province of Gojjam. 

ትርጉም፡-

“ይህን አጋጣሚ  ዐማራ የሚባለውን ስያሜ ለመለየት ተጠቅሜበታለሁ በዚህም አቢሲኒያዊያን በመባል የሚታወቁ ከተከዜ ወንዝ በስተ ደቡብ እና በስተ ምዕራብ እስከ ጎጃም ክፍለ ሀገር ድረስ የሚኖሩት በንንፅራዊ የሰው ዘሮች ጥናት የ ዐማራ ህዝቦች ናቸው።”

ይህም ከተከዜ ምላሽ ያለው ሕዝብ የዐማራ ማንነት ያለው ሕዝብ መሆኑን እና የወልቃይት  ዐማራነትን በማያጠራጥር ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

- የሳሙኤል ጎባልተ እና ሮበር ቢይርድ ምስክርነት

ሳሙኤል ጎባልተ እና ሮበር ቢይርድ (Samuel Gobat and Robert Binder) የተሰኙ በዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ የሥልጣን ዘመን የመጡ ፅሐፊዎች ደግሞ Journal of three years stay in Abyssiniya. በተሰኘ የማስታወሻ መፅሄታቸው የሚከተለውን ከትበዋል፡-

The Amhara and Tigre independent state are separated partly by the River Tekezze and partly by the lofty mountains of Semin the inhabitants of the Amhara and Tigre are distinguished from each other, not only by different language, but also by a distinct national character (culture, customs, identity, manners ECT. ).”

ትርጉም፡-

“የዐማራ እና የትግራይ ሰፋፊ ግዛቶችን የተከዜ ወንዝ እና ሰንሰለታማዎቹ የሰሜን ተራራወች ተፈጥዊ ደንበር ሆኖ ይለያቸዋል። በሁለቱ ግዛቶች ላይ በሚኖሩ ህዝቦች መካከል ያለው ልዩነት የቋንቋ ብቻ ሳይሆን የተለየ፣ ጉልህና ግልጽ የሆነ የብሄራዊ ማንነት ልዩነት አላቸው።” (S.G. & R (1850) Journal of three years stay in Abyssiniya. P.37.)

በማለት ከትበዋል።

- ወልቃይትበአጼ ዮሀንስ ዘመነ መንግሥት

 

- ፕሮፌሰር ሬክላስ ምስክርነት

በአፄ ዮሐንስ ዘመነ መንግሥት ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት የትግራይ የአስተዳደር ክፍል አለመሆናቸውን ፈረንሳዊ የህብረተሰብ ሳይንስ ሊቁ ፕሮፌሰር ሬክላስ The Earth and its Inhabitants, Africa: South and east Africa, 1880 በተሰኘ መጽሃፋቸው ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት በአጼ ዮሀንስ ዘመነ መንግሥት የዐማራ ግዛት መሆኑን እንዲህ በግልፅ ሰንደውታል፡-

The Amhara government provinces are: Dembia, Chilga, Yantagara, Dagussa, Kuara, Begemidir, Guna, Saint, Wadla, Delanta, Wogera, Simen, Telemit, Armachiho, Tegdie, Qolla Wogera, Waldiba, and Wolkait.

ትርጉም፡-

 “የ ዐማራ ግዛት የሆኑት፦ ደምቢያ፣ ጭልጋ፣ ያታናግራ፣ ዳጉሳ፣ ቋራ፣ በጌምድር፣ ጉና፣ ሳይንት፣ ዋድላ፣ ደላንታ፣ ወገራ፣ ስሜን፣ ጠለምት፣ አርማጭሆ፣ ጠገዴ፣ ቆላ ወገራ፣ ዋልድባ እና ወልቃይት ናቸው።” (Elisée Reclus ,The Earth and its Inhabitants, Africa: South and east Africa, 1880, p, 443)

- ወልቃይት በዳግማዊ ምኒልክ ዘመነ መንግሥት

 

- የዮሴፍኢምሊ ምስክርነት

ዮሴፍ ኢምሊ የተባለ በዳግማዊ ምኒሊክ ዘመን ኢትዮጵያን የጎበኘው ሌላኛው የፍሬንች ሚስዮናዊ «Histoire politique et religieuse d'Abyssinie»  በተሰኘ መጽሐፉ የትግራይን ግዛት እንዲህ ገልጾታል፡-

Amhara districts that border with the Tigre, beyond the Tekkeze, are: Welkait, Enseeya, and, in front of Adet Plateau, Tsellemt that begins north of the Semein chain of mountains.”

ትርጉም፡-

“የዐማራ ግዛት ሆኖ ከትግራይ ጋር ከተከዜ ምላሽ የሚያዋስነው ደንበር ወልቃይት፣ እንሲያ እና የአዴት አንባ ፊት ለፊት የሚገኘው የሰንሰለታማወቹ የሰሜን ተራራ መነሻ የሆነው ጠለምት ነው።”

በማለት ቅልብጭ ያለ ምስክርነቱን ሰጥቶ እናገኛለን።

ከዚህ ባሻገር ዳግማዊ ምኒሊክ “እንደ አባትህ እደር” በተሰኘ የአስተዳደር ፖሊሲያቸው በ ዐማራና በትግራይ መካከል ያለውን የግዛት አስተዳደር ሳያፋልሱ በስሜን፣ በወገራና በበጌምድር አዲስ መዋቅር ዘርግተዋል፡፡ ከበምብሎ እስከ ተከዜ ያለውን (ለረጅም ዘመናት በሰሜን ባላባቶች በራስ ገብሬ በልጃቸውና በልጅ ልጃቸው ኃይለማርያምና በደጃች ውቤ ይተዳደር የነበረውን አካባቢ) የራስ ወሬኛ (ወልደስላሴ) ግዛት አደረጉት፡፡ ለግዛቱም ውቤ ቀመስ የሚለውን አዲስ ስያሜ ሰጡት፡፡ የወገራ ግዛት ላይ የራስ ወሬኛ (ወልደስላሴ) ልጃቸውን ደጃች ነጋሽን ሲሾሙት በቤጌምድር ላይ ደግሞ ፊታውራሪ ዘውዴን ሹመዋል፡፡

- ወልቃይት እስከ 1983 ዓ..

ከዳግማዊ ምኒሊክ እስከ 1983 ዓ.ም. ያለውን አስተዳደራዊ ታሪክ ስንመለከት፤ በልጅ እያሱ፤ በዘውዲቱና በአልጋ ወራሽ ራስ ተፈሪ የአስተዳደር ዘመናቸውም ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምትና ሁመራ በትግራይ አስተዳደር ስርም ሆነ የትግራይ ተወላጅ በእነዚህ አካባቢዎች ላይ ተሹሞ ያስተዳድረበትን ዘመን የሚያመለክት መረጃ በፍፁም የለም፡፡ በጣሊያን ወረራ ዋዜማ ከበምብሎ እስከ ተከዜ ያለውን በበላይነት ያስተዳደሩት ደጃዝማች አያሌው ብሩ ናቸው፡፡ ፋሽስት ጣሊያን ኢትዮጵያን በወረረበት ዘመን (ከ1928 -1933) አስተዳደሩን በስድስት ግዛቶች ያዋቀረ ሲሆን፤ እነሱም  ዐማራ፣ ኤርትራና ትግሬ፣ ሐረር፣ ኦሮሞ፣ ሲዳማ፣ ሸዋና ሶማሌ ናቸው፡፡

የጣሊያን አስተዳደራዊ መዋቅር ዘርንና ቋንቋን መሰረት ያደረገ በመሆኑ አማርኛ ተናጋሪ የሆኑት የወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴ፣ ጠለምትና ሁመራ እንደቀደመው ሁሉ የ ዐማራ ግዛት ስር አድርጓቸዋል፡፡ በተመሳሳይ መልኩ ትግርኛ የሚናገሩ የትግራይ አካባቢዎች ትግርኛ ከሚናገሩ ከደጋው የኤርትራ አካባቢ ጋር እንዲቀላቀል ተደረጓል፡፡

በኢትዮጵያ አርበኞች ተጋድሎ ፋሽስት ጣሊያን ኢትዮጵያን ለቅቆ ሲወጣ፣ ንጉሡ ከስደት ከተመለሱ በኋላ እና በደርግ ዘመን በነበረው አስተዳደር ወልቃይት በቀድሞው በጌምድር እና ጎንደር ክፍለሀገር በስሜን እና ወገራ አውራጃ እስከ 1983 ዓ/ም ድረስ ሲተዳደር ቆይቷል።

ከዚህ ባሻገር በተለያየ ጊዜ የትግራይ አስተዳዳሪዎች እና ፖለቲከኞች የሰጡትን ምስክርነት ለአብነት አንስተን ስንመለከት በአጼ ኃይለ ስላሴ ዘመን የትግራይ ክፍለ ሀገር አስተዳደሪ የነበሩት ራስ መንገሻ ስዩም  በሰጡት ምስክርነት ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት እና ሁመራን እሳቸውም ሆነ ከእሳቸው በፊት የነበሩ አስተዳዳሪዎች አስተዳድረውት እንደማያውቁ እንዲሁም ከቀድሞ ጀምሮ የትግራይ ወሰን በምዕራብ በኩል ተከዜ እንደሆነ መስክረዋል። በተመሳሳይ ሁኔታ እንደ አብረሃም ይህይህ ገብረመድን አርዓያ ዶ/ር አረጋዊ በርኼን የመሳሰሉ የወያኔ የቀድሞ ታጋዮች  ወልቃይት ጠገዴን ከሱዳን ጋር ለመገናኘት የውጭ ኮሪደር ለማግኘት እና የቀጠናውን ሀብት ፈልገው እንዳካለሉት መስክረዋል።

በአጠቃላይ ከላይ በዝርዝር የተመለከትናቸው ታሪካዊ ማስረጃዎች እንደሚያሳዩት ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴ፣ ጠለምት፣ ሰቲት ሁመራ ወይንም ከተከዜ ምላሽ የሚገኘው የስሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር ቀጠና በውል በሚታወቀው ከአክሱም ዘመነ መንግሥት እስከ 1983 ዓ.ም. ድረስ ባለው የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ ሲተዳደር የነበረው በስሜን በጌምድር ጠቅላይ ግዛት፣ በጎንደር ክፍለ ሀገር መሆኑን በማያጠራጥር ሁኔታ የሚያስረዳ ሁኖ እናገኘዋለን።

 

- የወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት (ሰሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር) በወያኔ  ኃይል

                         በግዳጅ መያዝ እና ወደ ትግራይ ክልል መካለል

በ1983 ዓ.ም. በትጥቅ ትግል ወደ ሥልጣን በመጣው የወያኔ አገዛዝ በወቅቱ የነበሩ ገዥ ህጎችን በግልጽ በተቃረነ የፖለቲካ ውሳኔ የወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት ቀጠናዎችን ወደ ትግራይ ክልል ከልሏቸዋል።

ለዓብነት ያህል፡-

- የኢትዮጵያ የሽግግር ጊዜ ቻርተር አንቀፅ ቁጥር 13 “የክልሎች አስተዳደር በብሄሮች አሰፋፈር ላይ ተመርኩዞ ይቋቋማል”፣


- የብሄራዊ ክልላዊ የሽግግር መስተዳድሮችን ማቋቋሚያ አዋጅ ቁጥር 7/1984 በአንቀፅ ቁጥር 4 ደግሞ “የብሄር፣ ብሄረሰብ እና ሕዝብ ኩታ ገጠም አሰፋፈር ለብሄራዊ መስተዳደር ወሰን አከላለል መሰረት ይሆናል” በማለት በአንቀፅ ቁጥር 3 ንዑስ 1 እና 2 በኢትዮጵያ ያሉ 64 ብሄር፣ ብሄረሰብ እና ሕዝብ በ14 ብሄራዊ ክልላዊ የሽግግር መስተዳድሮችን እንደተቋቋሙ ደንግጓል።

ነገር ግን የወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምትና ራያ ሕዝብ በብሄር፣ በኩታ ገጠም አሰፈፈር፣ በማንነትና በቋንቋ ከሚመስለው የቀድሞው በጌምድር (ጎንደር) እና ወሎ ክፍለ ሀገር የተካለሉበት የ ዐማራ ክልል ወጥቶ ወደ ትግራይ ክልል የአስተዳደራዊ ወሰን ሊካለል ችሏል። በዚህም የወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት ሕዝብ በብሄር፣ በኩታ ገጠም አሰፈፈር፣ በማንነትና በቋንቋ ከሚመስለው የቀድሞው በጌምድር (ጎንደር ክፍለ ሀገር) የተካለሉበት የዐማራ ክልል ወጥቶ ወደ ትግራይ ክልል የአስተዳደራዊ ወሰን ህግን በተቃረነ ሁኔታ ሊካለሉ ችለዋል። ይህ አከላለል ከላይ የተመለከቱት ህጎች ካስቀመጡት መስፈርት ጋር ተቃርኖ በ1967 ዓ.ም. ወያኔ በትጥቅ ትግል ጊዜ ያወጣው ማንፌስቶ ላይ ለትግራይ ሕዝብ እና መሬት የሰጠውን ትርጓሜ ገቢራዊ አድርጓል።



ምስል 4፦ ከጎንደር እና ወሎ ተወስደው ወደ ትግራይ የተካለሉ ግዛቶች

ማኒፌስቶው  ለትግራይ ሕዝብ በሰጠው ትርጓሜ  “የትግራይ ሕዝብ ማለት በትግራይ ውስጥ የሚኖሩትን እና የትግረኛ ቋንቋ የሚናገሩ ከትግራይ ውጭ የሚኖሩትን በሙሉ ያጠቃልለለ ነው።”  በማለት ከደነገገ በኋላ፣ አከታትሎም የትግራይ መሬት “በደቡብ አለውሃ፣ በሰሜን መረብ ሲያካልሉት በምዕራብ በኩል ደግሞ ወልቃይትን እና ፅለምትን ያጠቃልላል።”  (መግለጫ፣ ትህነአድ፣ የካቲት 1968 ዓ.ም.) በማለት ደመድሟል።

ይህ ማኒፌስቶ ለትግሬ ሕዝብ እና ለትግራይ መሬት የሰጠው ፖለቲካዊ ትርጉም በንድፈ ሀሳብ ደረጃ  ማስታወስ ከማይቻለው ጊዜ ጀምሮ በኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ የሚታወቀውን እና  በወቅቱ የነበረውን የትግሬ  ሕዝብ እና የትግራይ መሬት በግዛት ተስፋፊነት በመለጠጥ ተከዜን ተሻግሮ በበጌምድር (ጎንደር)፣  በወሎ ራያ፣ ክፍለ ሀገር ስር የነበሩ ግዛቶችን በሙሉ  ወደ ትግራይ አካሏል።

(…ይቀጥላል)
https://amharic-zehabesha.com/archives/173712
እውን ያማራ ዋና ጠላቱ ሆዳም አማራ ነው? - መስፍን አረጋ
መንደርደርያ

ደመቀ መኮንን፣ ተመስገን ጡሩነህና አበባው ታደሰ ሆዳም አማሮች የሚባሉት ለምንድን ነው?  አማራ ማለት በመላ ዓለም ተሰራጭቶ የሚኖር ራሱን አማራ ነኝ የሚል ማለት ነው፡፡  ሆዳም አማራ ማለት ደግሞ አማራ ሁኖ ካማራነቱ ይልቅ ሆዱን የሚያስቀድም ማለት ነው፡፡  ደመቀ መኮንን፣ ተመስገን ጡሩነህና አበባው ታደሰ አማራ ናቸው የሚባሉበት ምክኒያት ምንድን ነው?  ስማቸው ቆንጆ ያማራ ስም ስለሆነ?  በአማራዊ ስም የሚጠሩ፣ አማራ ያልሆኑ፣ የአማራ ለምድ የለበሱ ፀራማራ ተኩላወች ቢሆኑስ?  ትክክለኛ ማንነታቸውን ከስማቸው በላይ ተግባራቸው በትክክል አይመሰክርም ወይ?  አማራን ፍጹም የሚጠላ የለየለት ፀራማራ ካልሆነ በስተቀር፣ የሰናፍጭ ቅንጣት የምታህል አማራዊነት የሚሰማው ሰው የአማራ ሕጻናትን እያረደና እያሳረደ ደማቸውን ለሚጠጣና በደማቸው ለሚታጠብ ጭራቅ ፍጹም ሎሌ መሆን እንዴት ያስችለዋል?  አማራን ለማጥፋት ምሎ ተገዝቶ፣ ቆርጦ የተነሳው ጭራቅ አሕመድ እነዚህን ሁለት ግለሰቦች በአማራ ሕዝብ ስም ከቀደሞ ጌታቸው ከፀራማራው ከወያኔ ጋር  እንዲራደሩ ለምን መረጣቸው?  ውነት ካንደበቱ ሊወጣ የማይችለው፣ ውሸታሙ ጭራቅ አሕመድ ስለ ተደራዳሪወቹ ሲናገር ደመቀ አማራ ነው ለማለት ምን አስፈለገው?  የአማራ ዋና ጠላቱ ሆዳም አማራ ነው ወይስ በአማራ ስም የሚጠራ፣ አማራ ያልሆነ፣ የአማራ ለምድ የለበሰ ፀራማራ ተኩላ?

 

ሆዳም አማሮች ወይስ የአማራ ለምድ የለበሱ ፀራማራ ተኩላወች?

የአማራ ጠላቱ ሆዳም አማራ ነው የሚል፣ በየሙያቸው አንቱ የሚባሉትን ጨምሮ አያሌ ሰወች የሚጠቀሙበት አባባል አለ፡፡  ይህ አባባል ግን ባብዛኛው ትክክል ያልሆነ፣ የአማራን ሕዝብ ቅስም ለመስበር ወያኔወች ባይፈጥሩትም በስፋት እንዲለመድ ያደረጉት አባባል ነው፡፡  ሆዳም አማራ ማለት ለሆዱ ያደረ አማራ፣ ከአማራነቱ በፊት ሆዱን የሚያስቀድም አማራ፣ ለሆዱ ሲል የፀራማሮች ሎሌ ለመሆን የማያቅማማ አማራ ማለት ነው፡፡  በዚህ ብያኔ መሠረት ሆዳም አማራ እንዳለ ሁሉ፣ ሆዳም ትግሬ አለ፣ ሆዳም ኦሮሞ አለ፡፡  ሆዳምነት በሁሉም ብሔሮች ውስጥ እንጅ በአማራ ውስጥ ብቻ ተለይቶ የሚገኝ እኩይ ባሕሪ አይደለም፡፡

ይህ ከሆነ ታዲያ፣ ሆዳምነት በአማራ ሕዝብ ውስጥ በስፋት የሚታይ የሚመስለው ለምንድን ነው?  ለዚህ መሠረታዊ ጥያቄ አጭሩ መልስ፣ ባማረኛ ስም የሚጠሩ አማራ ያልሆኑ፣ የአማራ ለምድ የለበሱ፣ ፀራማራ ተኩላወችን እንደ ሆዳም አማራ ስለምንመለከታቸው ነው የሚለው ነው፡፡

ለምሳሌ ያህል አባዱላ ገመዳን እንውሰድ፡፡  አባዱላ ገመዳ በወያኔ ዘመን የወያኔ ሎሌ ሁኖ ኦሮሞን ይጨፈጭፍና ያስጨፈጭፍ የነበረ ሆዳም ኦሮሞ ነበር፡፡  አባዱላ ገመዳ ግን ኦሮሞ ነኝ ብሎ ስለሚያምን ሆዳም ኦሮሞ የሆነው ሆዱ ስለሚበልጥበት እንጅ ኦሮሞን ስለሚጠላ አልነበረም፡፡  ላለመሆኑ ማስረጃው ደግሞ ሆዱንም ኦሮሞንም የሚጠቅምበት ዕድል ሲፈጠርለት፣ እድሉን ወዲያውኑ ተጠቅሞ፣ ወያኔን በግላጭ ከድቶ በግላጭ ኦነጋዊ መሆኑ ነው፡፡

በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ የብአዴኑን አዲሱ ለገሰን እንውሰድ፡፡  አዲሱ ለገሰ አማራን ለሃያ ሰባት ዓመታት የጨፈጨፈና ያስጨፈጨፈ፣ የአማራ ሕዝብ ቁጥር በሦስት ሚሊዮን ቀንሷል በማለት ሥራየን በሚገባ ሠርቻለሁ በሚል ስሜት ፓርላማ ላይ ተኩራርቶ የተናገረ፣ ወያኔን በፍጹም ታማኝነት ያገለገለ፣ የወያኔ ፍጹም ሎሌ ነበር፡፡  የወያኔ ሎሌ የነበረው ግን ለሆዱ ብቻ ሳይሆን የወያኔን ፀራማራነት የሚደግፍ ምናልባትም ከራሱ ከወያኔ በላይ ፀራማራ ስለሆነ ነበር፡፡  ለከርሱ ብቻ ቢሆን ኖሮ፣ ወያኔ ለሁለት አንጃወች ተከፍሎ የነ ሰየ አብርሃ አንጃ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር እናርግህ ሲለው፣ እድሉን ተጠቅሞ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር በመሆን ሁሉን በጁ በደጁ አድርጎ ከርሱን እንዳሻው ይሞላ ነበር፡፡  እሱ ግን ከሆዱ ይልቅ ፀራማራነቱ በለጠበት፡፡  ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ሁኖ የፀራማራውን የወያኔን ክፍፍል ይበልጥ በማባባስ፣ ወያኔ ይበልጥ እንዲዳከም ብሎም እንዲከስም ከማድረግ ይልቅ ተቃራኒውን መረጠ፡፡  ወያኔ በመለስ ዜናዊ አምባገነናዊ መሪነት ይበልጥ ተጠናክሮ እንዲወጣ ወሳኝ ሚና በመጫወት፣ የመለስ ዜናዊ ፍጹም ሎሌ ሁኖ አማራን መጨፍጨፉንና ማስጨፍጨፉን ቀጠለ፡፡

ቀጥለን ደግሞ ደመቀ መኮንንን እንመልከት፡፡  ይህ ግለሰብ ልክ እንደ አዲሱ ለገሰ አማራን ላያሌ ዓመታት የጨፈጨፈና ያስጨፈጨፈ የወያኔ ፍጹም ሎሌ ነበር፡፡  የወያኔ ፍጹም ሎሌ የሆነው ደግሞ ልክ እንደ አዲሱ ለገሰ ለሆዱ ሲል ብቻ ሳይሆን የወያኔን ፀራማራነት የሚደግፍ፣ ምናልባትም ከራሱ ከወያኔ በላይ ፀራማራ ስለሆነ ነበር፡፡  ለሆዱ ብቻ ቢሆን ኖሮ፣ ወያኔ ሲወድቅ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ሊሆን ሲችል፣ ከወያኔ የበለጠ ፀራማራ መሆኑን ለሚያውቀው ለቅርብ ጓደኛው ለጭራቅ አሕመድ ቦታውን በሙሉ ፈቃደኝነት አይለቅም ነበር፡፡

ደመቀ መኮንን ሆዳም ቢሆንም ከሆዳምነቱ በላይ ግን ፀራማራነቱ ይበልጥበታል፡፡  ወያኔንም ሆነ ኦነግን በፍጹም ታማኝነት ለማገልገል ፍጹም ደስተኛ ነው፡፡  ፀራማራነቱን ይበልጥ የሚያረካው ግን ሁለቱ ፀራማራወች ወያኔና ኦነግ ባንድነት ተጋግዘው አማራን ከምድረገጽ ቢያጠፉለት ነው፡፡  ለዚህ ነው፣ በመጀመርያ የወያኔ ፍጹም ሎሌ፣ ቀጥሎ የኦነግ ፍጹም ሎሌ፣ አሁን ላይ ደግሞ የሁለቱም ፍጹም ሎሌ ለመሆን ወያኔንና አነግን ለማደራደር ሽር ጉድ የሚለው፡፡

ተመስገን ጡሩነህም፣ ሆዳም ቢሆንም ከሆዳምነቱ በላይ ፀራማራነቱ የሚበልጥበት፣ በአማራዊ ስም የሚጠራ፣ የአማራ ለምድ የለበሰ፣ ፀራማራ ተኩላ ነው፡፡  ከርሳም ቢሆንም፣ ለአማራ ሕዝብ ጥቅም ቁሞ፣ ከርሱን ይበልጥ ከሚሞላ ይልቅ፣ የኦነግ ሎሌ ሁኖ አማራን እያስጨፈጨፈ የኦነግን ፍርፋሪ ቢለቃቅም ይመርጣል፡፡  ሽመልስ አብዲሳ ያስጨፈጨፋቸው አማሮች ደም ሳይደርቅ ሽመልስ አብዲሳን ባሕር ዳር ድረስ ጠርቶ ካባ ለመሸለም የተሸቀዳደመው፣ የሽመልስ ዘግናኝ ጭፍጨፋ የልቡን ስላደረሰለት ነበር፡፡  ይህ እኩይ ፀራማራ ግለሰብ በላዔ አማራ የሆነው የጭራቅ አሕመድ ባልደረባ ብቻ ሳይሆን ጃንደረባ ነው፡፡  በትክክል ለመናገር ደግሞ ይህ እኩይ ፀራማራ ግለሰብ የጭራቅ አሕመድ (ለቃላት ምርጫየ ይቅርታ ይደረግልኝና) የጭን ገረድ ነው፡፡  ይህ እኩይ ፀራማራ ግለሰብ በሰኔ 16ቱ የባሕርዳር ጭፍጨፋ ወቅት የጭራቅ አሕመድ የደህንነት ኃላፊ ስለነበር፣ በጭፍጨፋው ላይ በቀጥታም ሆነ በተዛዋሪ ወሳኝ ሚና እንደተጫወተ ግልጽ ነው፡፡  በዲባቶ አምባቸው ቦታ ወዲያውኑ የተተካውም አማራን መሪ አልባ በማድረግ ፀራማራነቱን በሚገባ አስመስክሮ ጭራቅ አሕመድን ስላስደሰተው እንደሆነ፣ ክልሉን መምራት እንደጀመረ ፋኖን እያሳደደ መግደል መጀመሩ በግላጭ ይመሰክርበታል፡፡

ስለዚህም የአማራ ዋና ጠላቱ የአማራ ለምድ የለበሰ ፀራማራ ተኩላ እንጅ ሆዳም አማራ አይደለም፡፡  አዲሱ ለገሰ፣ ደመቀ መኮንን፣ ተመስገን ጡሩነህ፣ ይልቃል ከፋለ፣ ሰማ ጡሩነህ፣ አበባው ታደሰ፣ ብናልፍ አንዷለም፣ ግርማ የሽጥላ፣ ቆንጆ ያማራ ስም ስላላቸው ብቻ ሆዳም አማሮች ናቸው ከማለታችን በፊት አማሮች መሆናቸውን ማጣራት አለብን፡፡  እነዚህ የአማራን ለምድ የለበሱ ፀራማራ ተኩላወች፣ ለምዳቸው ይበልጥና ይበልጥ እየተገፈፈ ማንነታቸው ይበልጥና ይበልጥ ግልጽ እየሆነ መጣ እንጅ፣ አማራን ከዱ ሊባሉ አይችልም፣ መቸም ቢሆን ካማራ ጋር ወግነው አያውቁምና፡፡

 

መስፍን አረጋ

mesfin.arega@gmail.com

 
https://amharic-zehabesha.com/archives/173722
የወልቃይት ጠገዴ እና ጠለምት እውነታዎች (ከታሪክ፣ ከህግ እና ከስነ ሕዝብ ምህንድስና አንጻር)
ቴዎድሮስ ታደሰ በለይ (ጥናታዊ ጽሑፍ)

- ሥነ-ዘዴ

ይህ ጥናታዊ ጽሁፍ በመረጃ መሰብሰቢያ ስነ ዘዴነት ጥቅም ላይ ያዋለው የተለያዩ ጽሁፎችን፣ ታሪካዊ ማስረጃዎችን፣ አለም አቀፍ እና የሀገር ውስጥ ህጎችን፣ ጥናታዊ ጽሁፎችን፣ መጽሐፎችን፣ መጽሄቶችን፣ የሰብዓዊ መብት ጥሰት የሚመለከቱ ሪፖርቶችን ሌሎች ሰነዶችን በጥልቀት በመዳሰስ በመመርመር እና በመተንተን የተጠናከረ ነው። በዚህም አዘጋጁ ጥቅም ላይ ያዋላቸውን ስራዎች በሙሉ በምንጭ፣ በማጣቀሻነት እና በዋቢ መጽሐፍት ዝርዝር ተገቢውን እውቅና ሰጥቷል።

- ዳራ

የወልቃይት ጠገዴ መልከዓ ምድር በሰሜን ተከዜ (ኤርትራ)፣ በደቡብ ስሜን አርማጭሆ፣ በምስራቅ በኩል ተከዜ ወንዝ (ትግራይ)፣ በምዕራብ በኩል ደሞ ከሱዳን ጋር ይዋሰናል። ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት በውል በሚታወቀው የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ በበጌምድርና ጎንደር ክፍለ ሀገር፣ ስሜን እና ወገራ አውራጃ ሲተዳደር ቆይቷል። የትግራይ እና የበጌምድር (ጎንደር) ወሰን ተከዜ ስለመሆኑ አያሌ የታሪክ ማስረጃዎች አሉ፡፡ ከ1983 እስከ ጥቅምት/2013 ዓ.ም. የወያኔ ኃይል ቀጠናውን በግዳጅ ይዞ ወደትግራይ ክልል በማጠቃለል የተለያዮ ግፍ፣ በደል፣ የሥነ-ሕዝብ ምህንድስና እና አለም አቀፍ ወንጀሎች እየፈጸመ ሲያስተዳድረው ቆይቷል።

የወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት አካባቢ የወያኔ ኃይል ጥቅምት 24/2013 ዓ.ም. የሰሜን ዕዝን በማጥቃት በከፈተው ጦርነት የሀገር መከላከያ ሰራዊት እና የዐማራ የጸጥታ ኃይሎች በከፈሉት መስዋዕትነት ነጻ ሊወጣ ችሏል። አካባቢው የግዙፍ የእርሻ ልማት ማዕከል መሆኑን ተከትሎ፣ የተለያዩ የኢትዮጵያ ብሄር ብሄረሰቦችም የሚኖሩበት አካባቢ ነው። ዞኑ ወፍ አርግፍ፣ ቃብትያ፣ ባዕከር፣ ወይናት፣ ማይካድራ፣ ዳንሻ፣ አውራ፣ ማክሰኞ ገበያ፣ ቆራሪትና ቤት ሞሎ የተሰኙ ከተሞችንም በመያዝ በ 4 የገጠር ወረዳዎችና በ 5 የከተማ መስተደድር እየተዳደረ የሚገኝ ሰፊ አካባቢ ነው።

- አስተዳደራዊታሪክ

በአስተዳደራዊ ታሪክ ደረጃ የወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴ፣ ጠለምት (ስሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር) ታሪክ ከበጌምድር (ጎንደር  ዐማራ) ታሪክ የማይነጠል የተጋመደ ታሪክ አለው። ይህን የአስተዳደራዊ ታሪክ በማስረጃ ህግ መመዘኛ መስፈርቶች ማለትም ገለልተኝነት፣ ተዓማኝነት፣ የእውነታ ይዞታ እና አግባብነትን መሰረት በማድረግ የተለያዩ የአገር ውስጥ እና የውጭ ጸሐፊዎች፣ አሳሾች፣ የመንግስታት ቆንስሎች ዲፕሎማቶች፣ የሀይማኖት ሰባኪዎች ሚስዮናዊያን እና የነገሥታት ዜና መዋዕል ጸሐፊዎች ከአክሱም ዘመነ መንግሥት እስከ 1983 ዓ.ም. ድረስ ያሉትን ታሪካዊ ማስረጃዎችን መሰረት በማድረግ እንመልከት።

በዚህ ጽሁፍ ወልቃይት የሚለው ቃል ከተከዜ ወንዝ ምላሽ እስከ አንገረብ ወንዝ እና የሰሜን ተራራ ተፋሰስ ድረስ ያለውን የሰሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር ግዛቶችን (ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴ፣ ጠለምት፣  እና ሰቲት ሁመራ) አጠቃሎ የሚወክል ነው። አላማው የቃላት ድግግሞሽን ለማስቀረት እንደሆነ ግንዛቤ ይወሰድ።

- ወልቃይት በአክሱም ዘመነ መንግሥት

 

 

- የካርል በተር ጥናት ምስክርነት

ካርል በተር የተባለ የጀርመን ምሁር በአርክዮሎጅ ጥናት ላይ በተመሰረተ “The rise and fall of Axum, Ethiopia: A Geo-Archaeological interpretation” በተሰኘ ስራው የአክሱም ግዛትን  የሽሬ አምባ የመረብ እና ተከዜ ተፋሰሶች ምላሽ እንደሚገኝ ጅኦ አርክዮሎጅ ጥናትን መሰረት በማድረግ ገልጿል። “The Axum country side forms part of the plateau of Shire (Troll 1970), a rolling upland at 2,100 - 2,400 m elevation, rising 500 m or so above the rugged valley system of the Mareb and Tekeze rivers.” Karl W. Butzer, p.471-495

- የአክሱም ነገሥታት የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፎች

 

ቀደምት የአክሱም ነገሥታት የብራና ጽሁፍ ከመጀመሩ በፊት የንግሥና ዘመናቸውን፣ ታሪካቸውን፣ ሲያስተዳድሩት የነበሩ ግዛቶችን የገጠሟቸውን የጦርነት አውደ ውጊያዎች ሌሎች ታሪኮችን በድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ የመከተብ ልምምድ ነበራቸው። ከዚህ ጉዳይ ጋር በሚያያዝ ሁኔታ የሦስት ነገሥታት የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ በተለያየ ጊዜ በምዕራባዊያን የአርክዮሎች አጥኝዎች ተተርጉመው የተጻፉትን እንመልከት።

- 1.የዳግማዊ አጼ ኢዛና የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ “የወልቃይት ነገድ ጦርነት ሳይገጥም ገበረልኝ” ይላል። (ዩሪ ኤም ኬ አክሱም)

- 2.የአጼ ካሌብ የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ “የተከዜን ወንዝ ከተሻገርሁ በኋላ የስሜን ነገድን አስገበርሁ” ይላል። (ኮስሞስ 517 እኤአ)

- የአጼ ሐጻኒ ዳንኤል የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፍ “የወልቃይት ሰዎች ወደ አክሱም ሐስላን ወደሚባለው አገር ወጥተው አገር ስላጠፉ ተዋግቸ መለስኳቸው 10ሽህ በግ እና 3ሽህ ፍየል ዘርፌያቸው ሰዎቼም አገሩን ዘርፈውት ወደ አገራችን ተመለስን።” በማለት ከትቧል። (ፕሮፌሰር ሊትማን፣ ጀርመን 1903)

እነዚህ ከላይ የተመለከቱት የድንጋይ ላይ ጽሁፎች በአክሱም ዘመነ መንግሥት የአገዛዝ ዘመን የትግራይ መሳፍቶች (ገዥዎች) ወልቃይትን የትግራይ አካል አድርገው ያላስተዳደሩት መሆኑን፣ ይልቁንም በስሜን እና በጌምድር ግዛት ውስጥ ሲተዳደሩ እንደነበር በማያጠራጥር ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

- ወልቃይት፤በዛግዌ ስርወ መንግሥት

ከ1150 እስከ 1270 በቆየው የዛጉየ ዘመነ መንግሥት ክርስትና በተስፋፋበት ጊዜ የትግራይ ወሰን የተከዜ ወንዝ ነው። ለዚህም ማስረጃው የንጉስ ነአኩቶ ለአብ ገደልና ድርሳናት ናቸው። በዘመንፈስ ቅዱስ እልፍዮስ የተዘጋጀው ድርሳን “ከተከዜ ወንዝ በምዕራብ በኩል የሚኖሩ የበጌምድር ሰዎች ለንጉሥ አንገብርም በማለት በማመፃቸው ንጉሡ በፀሎት ቀጣቸው።” በማለት ዘግበዋል። ይህም ወልቃይት በጥንቱ በጌ ምድር ስር ይተዳደር እንደነበር ያሳያል።

ከዚህ ባሻገር ሀሪስ የተባለ የጀርመን ምሁር “The Highlands of Aethiopia” በተሰኘ መጽሐፉ የሰጠውን ምስክርነት ስንመለከት “ከዛግዌ ስርዎ መንግሥት መውደቅ በኋላ ቀደም ሲል ከሥልጣን የተወገዱ የሰለሞን ተወላጆች ወደ ሥልጣን መምጣታቸውን ተከትሎ አማርኛ ቋንቋ ከዚህያ በፊት ጥቅም ላይ ሲውል የነበረው የግዕዝ ቋንቋ ሙሉ በሙሉ በመተካት አማረኛ የቤተመንግሥት ቋንቋ ሆነ። በዚህም ሽዋን ጭምሮ ከተከዜ እስከ አባይ በሚኖሩ የጎንደር፣ የጎጃም እና ወሎ ሕዝብ ላይ የበላይነት ያለው የመግባቢያ ቋንቋ በመሆን በአብዛኛው የአቢሲኒያ ሕዝብ ዘንድ የሚነገር ብሄራዊ ቋንቋ ለመሆን ችሏል።” (Harris, “The Highlands of Aethiopia: In Three Volumes, Volume 3” 1843,) የሚል እናገኛለን። ይህም ከተከዜ ወንዝ ምላሽ ያለው ቀጠና በዛግዌ ዘመነ መንግሥት የበጌምድር ግዛት መሆኑን ያስረዳል።

- ወልቃይት በሰለሞናዊ ስርዎ-መንግሥት

 

- መጽሐፈ አክሱም

በአስራ አራተኛው ክፍለ ዘመን በአክሱም ንቡረ-ዕድ የተፃፈው ‹‹መፅሐፍ አክሱም›› የተሰኘው የትግራይ ገዥ ራስ ስሁል ሚካኤል ለጀምስ ብሩክ ያበረከቱት በጀምስ ብሩስና አርኖል ዲአባዲ አማካኝነት ወደ አውሮፓ የተወሰደው ዶክመንት እንደሚገለፀው በዚያን ግዜ የትግራይ አስተዳደር ስር አክሱምን አማክለው በተዋቀሩት 12ቱ ጠቅላይ ግዛት ማለትም፤ ተንቤን፣ ሽሬ፣ አጋሜ፣ ሀማሴን፣ ቡር፣ ሳማ፣ ስርዐይ፣ አምባ ሰናይት፣ ገራልታ እና ሳህራት ዝርዝር ውስጥ ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ሆነ ጠለምት ተካትተው አይገኙም። (Carlo Conti Rossini. Liber Axumae. Book of Axum) ይህም በአጼ ዘርዓ ያቆብ ዘመነ መንግሥት በ14ተኛው ክፍለ ዘመን የተጻፈው መጽሐፈ አክሱም ወልቃይት የትግራይ አስተዳደር አካል አለመሆኑን በማያሻማ ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

- የ15ኛው ክፍለ ዘመን ሚስዮናዊያን ምስክርነት

በአስራ አምስተኛው ክፍለ ዘመን የካቶሊክ እምነትን ለመስበክ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የመጡ ሚስዮናዊያን የነበራቸውን ተልኮ እና በወቅቱ የሰፈሩባቸውን ቀጠናዎች የሚያትት የቪክቶር ፈርናንዴዝ “Enlivening the dying ruins: history and archaeology of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia, 1557–1632 የተሰኘ ታሪክ እና አርክዮሎጅን አጣምሮ የያዘ በጥናት ላይ የተመሰረተ ካርታ ወልቃይት እና ዋልድባ (ጠለምት) ከትግራይ አስተዳደር ውጭ መሆናቸውን በግልጽ ያሳያል።

በ15ኛው ክፍለ ዘመን የፖርቱጋል ጦር ተከትለው በክሪስታቮ ደጋማ መሪነት ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የመጡ ሚስዮናዊያን አንድሬስ ዲ አቬይዶ፣ ፍራንሲስኮ አልባሬዝ፣ ፔድሮ ፒያዝ እና ሌሎች በሰጡት ምስክርነት ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት በበጌምድር ጎንደር  (ዐማራ) ክፍል መሆናቸውን ያስረግጣል።

ለአብነት ፍራንሲስኮ አልባሬዝ የተባለ ፖሪቱጋላዊ የካቶሊክ እምነት ሰባኪ ቄስ በኢትዮጵያ በተለይ በኤርትራ ትግሬና በጌምድር ለ7 ዓመት 1520-1527 እንደቆዩ ይታወቃል፡፡ አልባሬዝ የመጣበት ዋናው ተልኮ የካቶሊክ እምነትን በድብቅ ለመስባክ ቢሆንም የአካባቢውን መልክዓ ምድራዊ ሁኔታ፤ የግዛት አስተዳደርና የሕዝብ አሰፋፈርን በጉዞ ማስታዋሻው ከትቧል፡፡ በጊዜው የነበረውን የግዛት አስተዳደር ሲገልጽ ‹‹ቤጌምድር በኢትዮጵያ ከሚገኙት የአስተዳደር ግዛቶች ውስጥ በጣም ትልቁ ነው›› ይላል፡፡ የቤጌምድር ግዛት በኤርትራና የቤጌምድር ግዛት ከጎጃም ቀጥሎ የሚገኝ ሲሆን እስከ ባህር ነጋሽ (ኤርትራ) ድረስ 3.2 ማይል ርቀት ይዘልቃል›› ሲል ገልፆታል:: (Francisco Alvarze, Narratives f the Portugues Embassy to Abysnnia during the years 1520-1527, Portugal: Haklutee Society, 1881), p. 351)

- ወልቃይትጠገዴ በጎንደር ዘመን (Gonderian Period)

 

- የታሪካዊ ቅርስ ማስረጃ

የጎንደር ስልጣኔ በተጠነሰሰበት እና የአብያተ መንግሥታት ግንባታ በሚከወንበት ጊዜ በአጼ በካፋ ዘመነ መንግሥት በደጋው ወልቃይት (ወፍ አርግፍ) ተወላጅ የሆኑ ደጃዝማች አያናዝጊ የተባሉ የወልቃይት ባላባት በአጼ በካፋ ዘመነ መንግሥት ከንጉሡ ያገኙትን ድጋፍ መሰረት በማድረግ የስሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር ቀጠናን የሚያስተዳድሩበት ቤተ-መንግሥት፣ ወልቃይት ውስጥ ‹‹ቤት ሙሉ›› በተባለ ቦታ በጎንደር አብያተ-መንግሥታት አሰራር ጥበብ እና ምህንድስና መገንባት ችለዋል።

ይህም በታሪክ ትምህርት ‹የጎንደር ዘመን› ተብሎ በሚገለጸው በሰሎሞናዊ ስርዎ መንግሥት ኢትዮጵያን ሲያስተዳድሩ የነበሩ የጎንደር ነገሥታት፣ አያተ-መንግሥታትን ሲገነቡ የነበሩት በበጌምድር ግዛት ተወስነው ስለነበር ወልቃይት በዚያን ጊዜ የበጌምድር ጎንደር አካል እንደሆነ በማያጠራጥ ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

ምስል 1፦ ቪክቶር ፈርናንዴዝ የ15ኛዊ ክፍለ ሚስዮናዊያን የሰፈሩባቸውን፣ የካቶሊክ እምነት ያስተማሩበትን ግዛት እና አስተዳደር የሚያሳይ ካርታ (“Enlivening the dying ruins: history and archaeology of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia, 1557–1632 P-28)

ምስል 2፦ ደጃዝማች አያናዝጊ ሁለተኛ በአጼ በካፋ ዘመነ መንግሥት ያሰሩት ቤተ መንግሥት

 

- የጀምስ ብሩስ ምስክርነት

በጎንደሪያን ዘመን ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የመጣው ስኮትላንዳዊ ተጓዥ ጀምስ ብሩስ (James Brues) የዓባይ ወንዝን መነሻ ለማሰስ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ በቆየበት ጊዜ በሚመለከት በጻፈው “travels to discover the source of Nile” በተሰኘው ስራው የትግራይን ግዛት በዚህ መንገድ ገልፆታል፡-

“Tigre is bounded by the territory of the Bahire Negash (Eritrea) that is by the River Mereb on the East and Tekezze up on the west. It is about one hundred and twenty miles broad from east to west and two hundred from north to south”

ተዛማጅ ትርጉም፡- 

“የትግራይ ምድር በባህረነጋሽ ኤርትራ የተከበበ ሲሆን፣ በምስራቅ መረብ ወንዝ እና በምዕራብ ተከዜ ወንዝ ያዋስነዋል። ከምስራቅ ወደ ምዕራብ አንድ መቶ ሃያ ማይል ሲያካልል፣ ከሰሜን ወደ ደቡብ ያለው ደግሞ 2 መቶ ማይል ነው።” 

ጀምስ ብሩስ በዚሁ መጽሐፉ ላይ “Tekezze is the natural boundary between Tigre and Amhara” Travells to. ‹‹ተከዜ የ ዐማራ እና የትግራይ የተፈጥሮ ድንበር ነው።›› (V.3, P. 582) በማለት ቅልብጭ ያለ ምስክርነቱን ሰጥቷል።

 

3.5. ወልቃይት በዘመነ መሳፍንት

በኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ የትግራዩ መስፍን የጎንደሩን ንጉስ ዐፄ ዕዮሃስን በጎንደር ቤተመንግሥት ካስገደላቸው በኋላ የጎንደር የስልጣኔ ዘመን በማክተም በኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ ውስጥ የማዕከላዊ መንግሥት ሚና የተዳከመበት በሌላ መልኩ ደግሞ የየአካባቢው ገዥ መሳፍንቶች ኃይል የገነነበት ዘመነ-መሳፍንት እ.ኤ.አ (1769 -1855) ተፈጥሯል፡፡ (ፕሮፌሰር ባህሩ ዘውዴ የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ)

በዚህ ዘመን ከባምብሎ እስከ ተከዜ ያለው (ባምብሎ በመለስ ተከዜ በፈሰስ) ስሜኑ ክፍል ለረጅም ዘመናት በሰሜን ባላባቶች በራስ ገብሬ በልጃቸውና በልጅ ልጃቸው ኃይለማርያምና በራስ ውቤ ይተዳደር እንደነበር የአጼ ቴዎድሮስን ታሪክ የጻፉ ሶስቱ ጸኃፊዎች (አለቃ/ደብተራ ዘነበ፤ አለቃ ወ/ማርያምና ስሙ ያልታወቀ ጽሀፊ) ከትበውት እናገኛለን።

ከዚህ ባሻገር በስሜን ታሪክ ውስጥ ራስ ውቤ እጅግ በጣም ጠንካራ ገዥ ስለነበሩ በመሳፍንቶች ዘመን የማዕከላዊ መንግሥት ሲዳከም የሰሜንን ክፍል የራሳቸው ግዛት አድርገው በማስተዳደር ከግብጽ እና ሱዳን ሲሰነዘር የነበረውን ጥቃት መክተው ቀጠናውን አስከብረውታል።

በተጨማሪ Seben Rubnson የተባለ ጸሐፊ “The Survival Of Ethiopian  Independence“ (September, 2003) በተሰኘ መጽሐፉ በገጽ 218 ላይ በምስል ሦስት የታያያዘውን ኢትዮጵያ በዘመነ መሳፍንት ጊዜ የነበራትን ግዛት የሚያሳይ ካርታ አስፍሮ እናገኘዋለን። ይህም ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት በስሜን በጌምድር አስተዳደር ስር ይተዳደር እንደነበር በማያሻማ ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

ምስል 3፦ የዘመነ መሳፍን ኢትዮጵያ የግዛት አስተዳደር የሚያሳይ ካርታ (Seben Rubnson, “the survival of Ethiopian  independence“ 1991 kuraz, page 218)

3.6. ወልቃይት በዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ

- የቆንስልፕላውድን ምስክርነት

በዘመነ መሳፍንት የመጨረሻ ዘመን አካባቢ የእንግሊዝ መንግሥትን ወክሎ ከራስ አሊ ትንሹ የመሳፍንት መንግሥት ጋር ስምምነት ለማድረግ ወደ ኢትዮጵያ የመጣው ከጊዜ በኃላ አጼ ቴዎድሮስ ኢትዮጵያን የማዋሀድ እንቅስቃሴ በጀመሩበት ጊዜ የንጉሡ ወዳጅ ሆኖ እስከ ዕለተ ሞቱ ድረስ በኢትዮጵያ የኖረው ሚስዮናዊ ፕላውድን “Travels in Abyssinia With an Account of a Mission to Ras Ali in 1848” በተሰኘ መጽሐፉ የትግራይን ግዛት እንዲህ ገልጾታል፡-

“… The region of Tigray consisted of all Christian regions north of the Tekeze River. i.e. Hamasen, Saraye, Akale guzay, Agame, Tigray proper, Shire, Adiabo, Temben, Inderta, and Silalo. the river Tekeze is the line separating the Tigray province and Gondar” 

ትርጉም፡-

“የትግራይ ግዛት ከተከዜ ወንዝ በስተ ሰሜን ያሉትን ሀማሴን፣ ሰርዓይ፣ አካለ ጉዛይ፣ አጋሜ፣ መደበኛው ትግሬ፣ ሽሬ አዲአቦ፣ ተንቤን፣ እንደርታ እና ስላሎን የተሰኙ የክርስቲያን ቀጠናወችን የያዘ ሲሆን፤ የተከዜ ወንዝ የትግራይ እና የጎንደር ግዛቶችን የሚለይ ወሰን ነው።”

የሚል ምስክርነቱን ሰጥቶ እናገኛለን። ይህም ወልቃይት ከትግራይ አስተዳደር ውጭ መሆኑን እና ተከዜ የጎንደር እና የትግራይ ሕዝብ እና አስተዳደር የተፈጥሮ ደንበር መሆኑን ያስረግጣል።

- የሀርሙዝ ራሴም ምስክርነት

ሀርሙዝ ራሳም (Hormuzd Rassam) የተባለ በዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ ዘመን ከእንግሊዝ ጦር ጋር የመጣ ዲፕሎማት የእንግሊዝ መንግሥት የነበረውን ተልዕኮ በተረከበት መፅሀፍ «Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia».  የተሰኘ መጽሐፍ ደሞ የሚከተለውን አስፍሯል፡-

“I take this opportunity of remarking that the term “Amhara,” as now used by the Abyssinians, in an ethno-logical sense, designates the inhabitants of the country lying west of the Takkaze, and also south of that river, as far as the province of Gojjam.” 

ትርጉም፡-

“ይህን አጋጣሚ  ዐማራ የሚባለውን ስያሜ ለመለየት ተጠቅሜበታለሁ በዚህም አቢሲኒያዊያን በመባል የሚታወቁ ከተከዜ ወንዝ በስተ ደቡብ እና በስተ ምዕራብ እስከ ጎጃም ክፍለ ሀገር ድረስ የሚኖሩት በንንፅራዊ የሰው ዘሮች ጥናት የ ዐማራ ህዝቦች ናቸው።”

ይህም ከተከዜ ምላሽ ያለው ሕዝብ የዐማራ ማንነት ያለው ሕዝብ መሆኑን እና የወልቃይት  ዐማራነትን በማያጠራጥር ሁኔታ ያስረዳል።

- የሳሙኤል ጎባልተ እና ሮበር ቢይርድ ምስክርነት

ሳሙኤል ጎባልተ እና ሮበር ቢይርድ (Samuel Gobat and Robert Binder) የተሰኙ በዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ የሥልጣን ዘመን የመጡ ፅሐፊዎች ደግሞ Journal of three years stay in Abyssiniya. በተሰኘ የማስታወሻ መፅሄታቸው የሚከተለውን ከትበዋል፡-

“The Amhara and Tigre independent state are separated partly by the River Tekezze and partly by the lofty mountains of Semin the inhabitants of the Amhara and Tigre are distinguished from each other, not only by different language, but also by a distinct national character (culture, customs, identity, manners ECT. ).”

ትርጉም፡-

“የዐማራ እና የትግራይ ሰፋፊ ግዛቶችን የተከዜ ወንዝ እና ሰንሰለታማዎቹ የሰሜን ተራራወች ተፈጥሯዊ ደንበር ሆኖ ይለያቸዋል። በሁለቱ ግዛቶች ላይ በሚኖሩ ህዝቦች መካከል ያለው ልዩነት የቋንቋ ብቻ ሳይሆን የተለየ፣ ጉልህና ግልጽ የሆነ የብሄራዊ ማንነት ልዩነት አላቸው።” (S.G. & R (1850) Journal of three years stay in Abyssiniya. P.37.)

በማለት ከትበዋል።

- ወልቃይትበአጼ ዮሀንስ ዘመነ መንግሥት

 

- የፕሮፌሰር ሬክላስ ምስክርነት

በአፄ ዮሐንስ ዘመነ መንግሥት ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት የትግራይ የአስተዳደር ክፍል አለመሆናቸውን ፈረንሳዊ የህብረተሰብ ሳይንስ ሊቁ ፕሮፌሰር ሬክላስ The Earth and its Inhabitants, Africa: South and east Africa, 1880 በተሰኘ መጽሃፋቸው ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት በአጼ ዮሀንስ ዘመነ መንግሥት የዐማራ ግዛት መሆኑን እንዲህ በግልፅ ሰንደውታል፡-

“The Amhara government provinces are: Dembia, Chilga, Yantagara, Dagussa, Kuara, Begemidir, Guna, Saint, Wadla, Delanta, Wogera, Simen, Telemit, Armachiho, Tegdie, Qolla Wogera, Waldiba, and Wolkait.”

ትርጉም፡-

 “የ ዐማራ ግዛት የሆኑት፦ ደምቢያ፣ ጭልጋ፣ ያታናግራ፣ ዳጉሳ፣ ቋራ፣ በጌምድር፣ ጉና፣ ሳይንት፣ ዋድላ፣ ደላንታ፣ ወገራ፣ ስሜን፣ ጠለምት፣ አርማጭሆ፣ ጠገዴ፣ ቆላ ወገራ፣ ዋልድባ እና ወልቃይት ናቸው።” (Elisée Reclus ,The Earth and its Inhabitants, Africa: South and east Africa, 1880, p, 443)

- ወልቃይት በዳግማዊ ምኒልክ ዘመነ መንግሥት

 

- የዮሴፍኢምሊ ምስክርነት

ዮሴፍ ኢምሊ የተባለ በዳግማዊ ምኒሊክ ዘመን ኢትዮጵያን የጎበኘው ሌላኛው የፍሬንች ሚስዮናዊ «Histoire politique et religieuse d'Abyssinie»  በተሰኘ መጽሐፉ የትግራይን ግዛት እንዲህ ገልጾታል፡-

“Amhara districts that border with the Tigre, beyond the Tekkeze, are: Welkait, Enseeya, and, in front of Adet Plateau, Tsellemt that begins north of the Semein chain of mountains.”

ትርጉም፡-

“የዐማራ ግዛት ሆኖ ከትግራይ ጋር ከተከዜ ምላሽ የሚያዋስነው ደንበር ወልቃይት፣ እንሲያ እና የአዴት አንባ ፊት ለፊት የሚገኘው የሰንሰለታማወቹ የሰሜን ተራራ መነሻ የሆነው ጠለምት ነው።”

በማለት ቅልብጭ ያለ ምስክርነቱን ሰጥቶ እናገኛለን።

ከዚህ ባሻገር ዳግማዊ ምኒሊክ “እንደ አባትህ እደር” በተሰኘ የአስተዳደር ፖሊሲያቸው በ ዐማራና በትግራይ መካከል ያለውን የግዛት አስተዳደር ሳያፋልሱ በስሜን፣ በወገራና በበጌምድር አዲስ መዋቅር ዘርግተዋል፡፡ ከበምብሎ እስከ ተከዜ ያለውን (ለረጅም ዘመናት በሰሜን ባላባቶች በራስ ገብሬ በልጃቸውና በልጅ ልጃቸው ኃይለማርያምና በደጃች ውቤ ይተዳደር የነበረውን አካባቢ) የራስ ወሬኛ (ወልደስላሴ) ግዛት አደረጉት፡፡ ለግዛቱም ውቤ ቀመስ የሚለውን አዲስ ስያሜ ሰጡት፡፡ የወገራ ግዛት ላይ የራስ ወሬኛ (ወልደስላሴ) ልጃቸውን ደጃች ነጋሽን ሲሾሙት በቤጌምድር ላይ ደግሞ ፊታውራሪ ዘውዴን ሹመዋል፡፡

- ወልቃይት እስከ 1983 ዓ.ም.

ከዳግማዊ ምኒሊክ እስከ 1983 ዓ.ም. ያለውን አስተዳደራዊ ታሪክ ስንመለከት፤ በልጅ እያሱ፤ በዘውዲቱና በአልጋ ወራሽ ራስ ተፈሪ የአስተዳደር ዘመናቸውም ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምትና ሁመራ በትግራይ አስተዳደር ስርም ሆነ የትግራይ ተወላጅ በእነዚህ አካባቢዎች ላይ ተሹሞ ያስተዳድረበትን ዘመን የሚያመለክት መረጃ በፍፁም የለም፡፡ በጣሊያን ወረራ ዋዜማ ከበምብሎ እስከ ተከዜ ያለውን በበላይነት ያስተዳደሩት ደጃዝማች አያሌው ብሩ ናቸው፡፡ ፋሽስት ጣሊያን ኢትዮጵያን በወረረበት ዘመን (ከ1928 -1933) አስተዳደሩን በስድስት ግዛቶች ያዋቀረ ሲሆን፤ እነሱም  ዐማራ፣ ኤርትራና ትግሬ፣ ሐረር፣ ኦሮሞ፣ ሲዳማ፣ ሸዋና ሶማሌ ናቸው፡፡

የጣሊያን አስተዳደራዊ መዋቅር ዘርንና ቋንቋን መሰረት ያደረገ በመሆኑ አማርኛ ተናጋሪ የሆኑት የወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴ፣ ጠለምትና ሁመራ እንደቀደመው ሁሉ የ ዐማራ ግዛት ስር አድርጓቸዋል፡፡ በተመሳሳይ መልኩ ትግርኛ የሚናገሩ የትግራይ አካባቢዎች ትግርኛ ከሚናገሩ ከደጋው የኤርትራ አካባቢ ጋር እንዲቀላቀል ተደረጓል፡፡

በኢትዮጵያ አርበኞች ተጋድሎ ፋሽስት ጣሊያን ኢትዮጵያን ለቅቆ ሲወጣ፣ ንጉሡ ከስደት ከተመለሱ በኋላ እና በደርግ ዘመን በነበረው አስተዳደር ወልቃይት በቀድሞው በጌምድር እና ጎንደር ክፍለሀገር በስሜን እና ወገራ አውራጃ እስከ 1983 ዓ/ም ድረስ ሲተዳደር ቆይቷል።

ከዚህ ባሻገር በተለያየ ጊዜ የትግራይ አስተዳዳሪዎች እና ፖለቲከኞች የሰጡትን ምስክርነት ለአብነት አንስተን ስንመለከት በአጼ ኃይለ ስላሴ ዘመን የትግራይ ክፍለ ሀገር አስተዳደሪ የነበሩት ራስ መንገሻ ስዩም  በሰጡት ምስክርነት ወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት እና ሁመራን እሳቸውም ሆነ ከእሳቸው በፊት የነበሩ አስተዳዳሪዎች አስተዳድረውት እንደማያውቁ እንዲሁም ከቀድሞ ጀምሮ የትግራይ ወሰን በምዕራብ በኩል ተከዜ እንደሆነ መስክረዋል። በተመሳሳይ ሁኔታ እንደ አብረሃም ይህይህ ገብረመድን አርዓያ ዶ/ር አረጋዊ በርኼን የመሳሰሉ የወያኔ የቀድሞ ታጋዮች  ወልቃይት ጠገዴን ከሱዳን ጋር ለመገናኘት የውጭ ኮሪደር ለማግኘት እና የቀጠናውን ሀብት ፈልገው እንዳካለሉት መስክረዋል።

በአጠቃላይ ከላይ በዝርዝር የተመለከትናቸው ታሪካዊ ማስረጃዎች እንደሚያሳዩት ወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴ፣ ጠለምት፣ ሰቲት ሁመራ ወይንም ከተከዜ ምላሽ የሚገኘው የስሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር ቀጠና በውል በሚታወቀው ከአክሱም ዘመነ መንግሥት እስከ 1983 ዓ.ም. ድረስ ባለው የኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ ሲተዳደር የነበረው በስሜን በጌምድር ጠቅላይ ግዛት፣ በጎንደር ክፍለ ሀገር መሆኑን በማያጠራጥር ሁኔታ የሚያስረዳ ሁኖ እናገኘዋለን።

 

- የወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት (ሰሜን ምዕራብ ጎንደር) በወያኔ  ኃይል

                         በግዳጅ መያዝ እና ወደ ትግራይ ክልል መካለል

በ1983 ዓ.ም. በትጥቅ ትግል ወደ ሥልጣን በመጣው የወያኔ አገዛዝ በወቅቱ የነበሩ ገዥ ህጎችን በግልጽ በተቃረነ የፖለቲካ ውሳኔ የወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምት ቀጠናዎችን ወደ ትግራይ ክልል ከልሏቸዋል።

ለዓብነት ያህል፡-

- የኢትዮጵያ የሽግግር ጊዜ ቻርተር አንቀፅ ቁጥር 13 “የክልሎች አስተዳደር በብሄሮች አሰፋፈር ላይ ተመርኩዞ ይቋቋማል”፣

- የብሄራዊ ክልላዊ የሽግግር መስተዳድሮችን ማቋቋሚያ አዋጅ ቁጥር 7/1984 በአንቀፅ ቁጥር 4 ደግሞ “የብሄር፣ ብሄረሰብ እና ሕዝብ ኩታ ገጠም አሰፋፈር ለብሄራዊ መስተዳደር ወሰን አከላለል መሰረት ይሆናል” በማለት በአንቀፅ ቁጥር 3 ንዑስ 1 እና 2 በኢትዮጵያ ያሉ 64 ብሄር፣ ብሄረሰብ እና ሕዝብ በ14 ብሄራዊ ክልላዊ የሽግግር መስተዳድሮችን እንደተቋቋሙ ደንግጓል።

ነገር ግን የወልቃይት ጠገዴ ጠለምትና ራያ ሕዝብ በብሄር፣ በኩታ ገጠም አሰፈፈር፣ በማንነትና በቋንቋ ከሚመስለው የቀድሞው በጌምድር (ጎንደር) እና ወሎ ክፍለ ሀገር የተካለሉበት የ ዐማራ ክልል ወጥቶ ወደ ትግራይ ክልል የአስተዳደራዊ ወሰን ሊካለል ችሏል። በዚህም የወልቃይት፣ ጠገዴና ጠለምት ሕዝብ በብሄር፣ በኩታ ገጠም አሰፈፈር፣ በማንነትና በቋንቋ ከሚመስለው የቀድሞው በጌምድር (ጎንደር ክፍለ ሀገር) የተካለሉበት የዐማራ ክልል ወጥቶ ወደ ትግራይ ክልል የአስተዳደራዊ ወሰን ህግን በተቃረነ ሁኔታ ሊካለሉ ችለዋል። ይህ አከላለል ከላይ የተመለከቱት ህጎች ካስቀመጡት መስፈርት ጋር ተቃርኖ በ1967 ዓ.ም. ወያኔ በትጥቅ ትግል ጊዜ ያወጣው ማንፌስቶ ላይ ለትግራይ ሕዝብ እና መሬት የሰጠውን ትርጓሜ ገቢራዊ አድርጓል።

ምስል 4፦ ከጎንደር እና ወሎ ተወስደው ወደ ትግራይ የተካለሉ ግዛቶች

ማኒፌስቶው ለትግራይ ሕዝብ በሰጠው ትርጓሜ “የትግራይ ሕዝብ ማለት በትግራይ ውስጥ የሚኖሩትን እና የትግረኛ ቋንቋ የሚናገሩ ከትግራይ ውጭ የሚኖሩትን በሙሉ ያጠቃልለለ ነው።” በማለት ከደነገገ በኋላ፣ አከታትሎም የትግራይ መሬት “በደቡብ አለውሃ፣ በሰሜን መረብ ሲያካልሉት በምዕራብ በኩል ደግሞ ወልቃይትን እና ፅለምትን ያጠቃልላል።” (መግለጫ፣ ትህነአድ፣ የካቲት 1968 ዓ.ም.) በማለት ደመድሟል።

ይህ ማኒፌስቶ ለትግሬ ሕዝብ እና ለትግራይ መሬት የሰጠው ፖለቲካዊ ትርጉም በንድፈ ሀሳብ ደረጃ ማስታወስ ከማይቻለው ጊዜ ጀምሮ በኢትዮጵያ ታሪክ የሚታወቀውን እና በወቅቱ የነበረውን የትግሬ ሕዝብ እና የትግራይ መሬት በግዛት ተስፋፊነት በመለጠጥ ተከዜን ተሻግሮ በበጌምድር (ጎንደር)፣ በወሎ ራያ፣ ክፍለ ሀገር ስር የነበሩ ግዛቶችን በሙሉ  ወደ ትግራይ አካሏል።

(…ይቀጥላል)
https://amharic-zehabesha.com/archives/173712

https://youtu.be/VUfa5eupQTc?si=Zm73w18dFB27xlqD       https://youtu.be/LcFmz2Xq5MY?si=7uP6VZsd2ksEulUf   https://youtu.be/7dUVmj8go7s?si=Px...