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Ethiopia has the largest Muslim Population in the Horn of Africa


Successive of its leaders have sold Ethiopia as “a Christian nation in the strategically important Red Sea region dominated by nations that are hostile to the interests of Israel and the United States.”  As such, Ethiopia has received enormous financial and military support from the United States. The current minority government in Ethiopia has gone even further by painting  the horn of Africa region as a hot bed of extremists and it has labeled itself as the front to the war on terror. This cannot be any further from the truth. 

The fact is that Ethiopia's population of 80 million is evenly split between followers of Islam and Orthodox  Christianity.  That puts the Muslim population in Ethiopia around 40 million.  That is larger than the Muslim population of Eritrea (2.5 Million), Djibouti (880,000), Somalia (10 Million), Kenya (4.5 Million) and Uganda (4 Million).  The Muslim population of Ethiopia is even larger than of Sudan estimated at 30 million. 

However, the Muslims in the horn of Africa region practice a moderate form of Islam and are by and large law abiding citizens. The Christian and Islamic communities in the horn of Africa have a long tradition of religious tolerance.  Christian and Muslim communities are intermingled and have a harmonious co-existence.  Most attend the same schools and attend each others social events. This is not to say extremists do not exist in the region. The U.S. embassy bombings in the capitals of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya in 1998 are a stark reminders that extremists do exist in the region and that the United States must stay vigilant. However, the United States war on terror in the Horn of Africa lacks an honest partner when it comes to Ethiopia. 

The Ethiopian government has exploited its support for the war on terrorism on many fronts, including but not limited to silencing critics within the United States government of its gross repression of democratic forces in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has gotten United States support in the Security Council to sanction Eritrea as a supporter of extremists in Somalia when the fact is Eritrea has a stellar record of fighting extremists since its independence in 1991. On the other hand Ethiopia continues to invade Somalia under the false pretense of fighting terrorists when in fact it has done more to create them and has no interest in getting rid of them. If Somalia becomes stable, the government of Ethiopia knows full well it will loose the blank check it has been getting from the United States. It is time for the United States to re-evaluates its relationship with Ethiopia and its goals and objectives in the horn of Africa.

Yemane Abselom

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