Egypt and Ethiopia: Mixing Religion and Politics?

Egypt and Ethiopia: Mixing Religion and Politics?

By Mitiku Adisu

Almasry Alyoum in its 13 April 2011 edition seemed eager to divert the “Nile water crisis” to the courtyards of the church. “Egyptian and Ethiopian churches discuss Nile water crisis” run the headline. How deep should the church be wading in troubled waters? Would such involvement get in the way of the church’s primary responsibility to point people to the Living Water, even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

Ethiopia and Egypt have had ties spanning centuries; or time immemorial, depending on whether you start with Christian history or the Blue Nile River. Egypt, we forget at our own peril, was once majority Christian. As recent as four centuries ago more than 40% of Egypt was Christian. Compare that to 11% at present and, considering persecution and out migration, you begin to understand why and how societies change. Ethiopia, on the other hand, has remained majority Christian due in part to initial theological contributions of Egypt.

Since Creation, the Blue Nile has provided sustenance to the people of Egypt. Today, majority Egyptians live on the Nile Delta where the Blue Nile continues to cut through a gorge of pain and beauty to deliver without fail dark-rich soil from rain-drenched highlands of Ethiopia. Egyptians have worried that such power in the hands of “Christian” Ethiopia could destabilize their economy and security. There was even talk in ancient times that the Highlander could poison the river and wreak havoc on Egyptians. Of course, that was all a lie. It never happened nor was it ever contemplated – or even practicable. But that did not stop the lie from being passed on from one generation to the next. This also explains why Egyptian governments consistently sided with groups that threatened the stability of Ethiopia. In the end, Egyptian leaders have used fear to unite the public and divert attention from persisting maladministration while benefiting from unilaterally ill-designed agreement orchestrated by British Colonial Administration in the past century.

Another item to remember is that Coptic Orthodox Church was the Mother Church of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The first Ethiopian bishop, Aba Salama, was appointed in 330 A.D. by Athanasius of Alexandria himself [c. 296 to 373]. Until the 1950s the Metropolitan for the Ethiopian Church was Egyptian. The practice had to come to an end following Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s due to the Egyptian cleric’s attempt to pacify Ethiopians to not resist the enemy. Consequent to the invasion, Emperor Haileselassie went into exile and upon his return declared independence for the Ethiopian Church; the first Ethiopian Patriarch, Abuna Basliwos, was inaugurated in 1959. There is currently emerging ‘crisis’ between Ethiopia and Egypt over the equitable use of Nile waters. Ethiopia wants to build a dam and generate power for the development of the nation; Egypt is concerned activities of this magnitude could have negative impact down stream. And now Pope Shenouda III [of the Coptic Egyptian Church] is “communicating with the Ethiopian church in an effort to help resolve the water crisis.” This is an interesting development and goes to show intentions of the Egyptian government to use all available means to achieve its goals. What is interesting is that Coptic Christians are essentially relegated to second-class citizens and persecuted.

The late-president Sadat had personal dislike for Abuna Shenouda for, among others, publicizing the mistreatment his flock was receiving at the hands of Islamic groups. In 1981, Sadat went further to depose Shenouda in contravention of church polity and international law and exile him to a monastery in Western Egypt; a month later, Sadat was assassinated by members of the same Islamist group. It is also to be recalled that around Christmas 2010 many Coptic Christians were massacred as the recently deposed government of Mubarak stood by and watched. Pope Shenouda now says he would like to intervene in the crisis “for the sake of Egypt’s security” which makes us wonder if this isn’t a political move to find favor with the progressively alienating political leadership than any thing else. Be that as it may, the Pope wants to see the Ethiopian church “convince” her government to not go ahead with dam construction within its borders.

So, on what grounds could the Ethiopian church play the role of mediator? First, such overtures assume the Ethiopian church is an independent entity, which she is not. Talk of separation of church and state is only a constitutional formula meant for the uninitiated and the politically agile. Secondly, the Pope’s expectation is untenable in that it assumes the Ethiopian church will somehow risk what amounted to taking Egyptian side in the crisis. The Ethiopian church has for all purposes not once raised her voice against government excesses locally over the past two decades and to assume it will now is simply absurd!

Pope Shenouda, who was born in 1923, is one acquainted with the ups and downs of relations between Egypt and Ethiopia; we won’t go into all that at the moment. One thing we could not help but mention is Pope Shenouda’s stand in 1974 against the then military government and Socialists in Ethiopia and their interference in the affairs of the church. After seizing power, the military government moved to depose and murder the second patriarch of Ethiopia, Abuna Tewofilos, because the patriarch had showed deep concern over the illegal killings of national leaders and emergent state atheism, as well as requested remains of Emperor Haileselassie in order to hold a public memorial service. Abuna Tekle Haymanot was subsequently handpicked as successor who Pope Shenouda refused [rightly, we might add] to recognize. Formal relations between the two churches were only resurrected in 2007. What is surprising is that His Holiness Abuna Shenouda hardly said a word when the current head of the Ethiopian church was “favored” by Ethiopia’s new rulers. One thing needs to be underscored here despite the impracticability of the proposal to find a role for the church in the water crisis. And that is, the initiative the Pope and [his flock] have taken to stand with their Muslim countrymen and women in Tahrir Square soon after the massacre visited upon them in their own church during the most peaceful season of the Christian calendar. What’s even more striking is that Coptic Christians are willing “for the sake of Egypt’s security” to seek ways of securing their nation – a nation that has yet to find the will to secure its own citizens who happened to be Christian.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. [Matthew 5:9-12]