1. Abraha -who occupied parts of Yemen with Roman support- wanted to destroy the ka’bah before Allah destroyed him and his army, was Habashi now known as ‘Ethiopian’.  It’s important to note here that the word ‘Habasha’ predates the word Ethiopia which is a Portuguese word and came with the arrival of the Portuguese in the region which can be said is very recent compared with the word Habasha.
   
   
2. He said he will use what he claims as ‘history’ to prop up his contention then  he talked  about  the prophet of Allah, Sulaiman Allaihi Salam and accused  him of lustfulness by referring to him as ‘lecherous!’  He went further  and talked  about the kingdom of Saba or ‘Sheba’ of  Ma’reb , Yemen, which has nothing to do with Ethiopia making very bizarre claims ,for example, that ‘Minilik’ a habashi word stands for’ Ibn malik=the son of the king’. He again committed one more dangerous mistake to call Allah’s prophet Sulaiman Alaihi salam,as ‘a king’. He also referred to Nijashi raziallahu anhu who was king of Habasha at that time and how he welcomed the Sahabbah. Because he was one of those Allah refers to them in the Qur’an ‘Ahlu alkitab’ which means ‘the People of the book’, when the sahabbah raziallahu anhum narrated to him the characteristics of the prophet Muhammad Sallallahu aleihi wasallam tears followed down from his eyes as he listened to them and embraced Islam but his successors who ruled Ethiopia did not follow his footsteps. By using Nijashi’s case or ‘card’ as it’s repeatedly used these days. Samatar wants portray his beloved country, Ethiopia-because his love for Ethiopia not for Somalia is clear from his words by saying ‘I am from the periphery of Ethiopia not the center and with Agenda of Ethiopian development! ’, though in some other times he tells us he’s Somali from leelkase clan of Daarood and pretends to speak actively for Somali cause! –as a peace-loving country which he wants others to take inspirations from her! He also talked about the number, that’s Ethiopia more populous than other countries but I don’t know what makes him take this as a criteria, this again couldn’t make any sense.
   
   
3. He also referred to the great Imam Ahmed Ibrahim Al Ghazi, nicknamed Ahmed Gurey which in Somali language means ’Ahmed the left-handed’. But he spoke him in very unusual negative way accusing him of disrupting religious harmony in the horn of Africa by invading Habasha. The real history of the book tells us very differently. Imam Ahmed Gurey when talking to his men after a decisive battle which he badly defeated one of Habashi kings he said: “Today we have defeated and gained victory by Allah’s blessing  against an enemy which humiliated our fore fathers.” This shows the Imam was forced to defend himself against a bullying and brutal enemy which doesn’t have any regard whatsoever for the other. And many examples of Ethiopian rulers’ cruel and vicious excesses against Somali people and Eritreans.
   
   
4. Ethiopia was the only African country which took part in the infamous Berlin conference of nineteenth century in which Africa was partitioned among Europeans as slices of cake. In that conference, Ethiopia has been given its share of Somalia- remember Somalia was divided into five in that notorious conference- and subsequently some more land which still remain under its occupation were given as a gift by the same Europeans before they left the area, and is the  cause of wars and tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia. The struggle for the freedom of this territory started from the day one and never stopped to date and will never stop until the rights are returned to their people, because Somali people are free people and will pay every price to keep their freedom and never in their history accepted humiliation.  Ethiopia also illegally occupied Eritrea, but fortunately, after long years of struggle the brave people of Eritrea have finally won their freedom. The irony is that the country that was part of Africa’s long suffering has been rewarded unjustly by the Africans and placed the headquarters of their union, the African Union in its capital, Addis Ababa! But worse still the very organization has congratulated Ethiopia from Addis Ababa, when its troops invaded Mogadishu in 2007 rather than condemning it! The African Union if they couldn’t stop the Ethiopian aggression against Somalia- and we know they cannot- That spokesman should have remained neutral because both countries are in the union and enjoy the same status and none is more or less important than the other. The history is full undisputable and shining stances that Somalia never let down Africa but has done all at its disposal to help all those African countries who were still fighting for their freedom. On the other hand, not  a matter of the past only but at the present , Ethiopia, still continues its proxy aggressions against both Somalia and Eritrea yet the story remains almost the same, the aggressor is the victim while the victim is punished by defending himself.  Look for example, the latest sanctions on Eritrea. Ethiopia has invaded Somalia in 2007, sullied our beloved capital, killed thousands, injured thousands, terrorized and forced thousands into terrible refugee camps again the African Union and the UN have not denounced these heinous crimes against Somali people.

After seeing these facts –I mentioned only a few of many- we can say, contrary to what  Mr Samatar  claims: No! Ethiopia cannot lead to peace and prosperity in the horn of Africa. We also can say Ethiopia doesn’t have any of the indices that qualify her to be regional power yet this false picture thrives in the minds of this man and many of his likes. Ethiopia has also never showed any signs of leadership but badly tainted record when it comes to its historical relationship with the denizens of the horn of Africa. Peace and prosperity in the region can be achieved only when the aggressors see what they are indulging now is totally wrong and this cannot be seen in the horizon. What we see now is that more fuel is being added to the fire and the old ways are being repeated again and again.

Finally, a country which only a few weeks back the UN declared: ‘millions of Ethiopians are facing starvation in the coming months!’ needs to think seriously before it takes that expensive and unrealistic goal of imposing its hegemony in the region. Miscalculations are easy to make but very dangerous to correct especially when they involve human lives. There’s a Somali proverb which explains clearly this idea it says,’ Tiisa anfacaa tu kale ku dara’, i.e. ‘The one who benefits himself/herself will benefit the others’. This brings us to conclusion claim whatever you like in whichever way you like –if you are not ashamed of your behaviors- but the facts are facts and will remain facts and whoever tries to distort them the history will mock them.

Abdi Mohamed 
Email: fiiro15@live.com  

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