www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com; Globalbelai@yahoo.com
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Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity-
www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
Dear Patriotic Global Citizens and friends of Britain, Ethiopia and USA:
Converting our challenges into new opportunities:
History gives all of us opportunities for sucess and failures all the time. It is only those who learn from history that are crowned with victory and success. The current situation in the Horn is a carbon copy of what happened some 50 years ago.
Similarities of the terror :
Fascist Italy 1935-41 and modern Jihadist Sleeper Cell Horn terrorists!
The actors are different but their affilitations and their intentions are the same.
In fact, the current actors are second and third generation criminals who were never made accountable. Can you inherit or choose to be criminal? It appears behaviors are learned from family members and certain criminal activities can be passed on from generation to generation. In fact, the following stories prove that nature and nurture are highly intricate forces that impact our individual and common characters, behaviors and even civilizations.
Unfortunately, current global leadership does not take account this evident scientifically proven and historically validated common knowledge and wisdom. Even to day, the UN Security Council, African Union, US, European Union and the stakeholders, US and Ethiopia are not holding them accountable.
Fifty years ago, it was Fascist Italy using the Red Sea Coast region of Afar, Eritrea and Tigrai as well as the Eastern region of, Dijibouti, Somaliland, and Somalia that embarked one of the most horrible terrorist activities that utilized chemical warfare and eco-destructive poison gas against innocent Ethiopian people in the early 1935 that ignited the second world war.
Italy, Germany and Japan never really paid for their criminal behavior and are today major superpowers with no transparency and accountability. The victims like Ethiopia, Israel, UK and China continue to be the underdogs of these criminal nations who continue not to take responsibiliity and accountability for their historic crime of second world war.
The italians are still busy undermining the Horn with their surrogate Shabia and UIC sleeper cell terrorists. The Germans, most escpaed the Neuremburg trial via the Catholic International Cover and moved to Latin America and continue to create the most horrendous disparity with the local Indigenous Indian/African civilizations. The Japanese have never taken responsibility what they did to China-Korea and todate, their PMs continue to lie and offesnd their neighbors.
In the Horn, that gruesome horrendous terror and crime of 2nd WW is being repeated again 50 years later by the same set of actors against the same set of victims. Could we change our challenges into new opportunities is the lesson here!
Can terror be passed on to the next generation? the living link to 2nd WW.
Today, children of the then surrogate Fascist army (Shabia, Shabab,AlQaeda Support Network of AFD) are more or lesss trying to repeat the same strategy by attacking Ethiopia from Somalia via the Union of Islamic Courts s wellas from the North by the Shabia, Shabab, AFD network.
Like their predecessors did 50 years ago, their sleeper cell terrorists in Shabia Embassy and the series of Diaspora Exteremist Networks as shown by Jeferey Gettelman story of 4 December 2007 New York Times article, they are using the same set of New York based Italin Community lobbying firm led by Presidential Candidate Juliani.
Remember the same set of Italian Americans from New York blocked the then White House and State Department from sanctioning the Fascist invasion and sent their journalists to boo HIM Haile Selasssie I at the famous Geneva Conference Speech where he was declared "Man of the Year by Times in 1935.
The current set of Diaspora and Shababa/Shabia Sleeper Cell Terrorists in the USA are using the same children of the New York Italian Community Representatives who lobbyied the US not to defend the Collective Security Agreement of League of Nations.
Pre-emptive Security Strategy of 2007 Vs Collective Security Strategy of 1935!
Ethiopia was a victim of the then popular failed Collective Security Strategy of League of Nations and the current generation Ethiopians are succeeding with the Pre-emptive Security Strategy of 2007.
The same action of terror but with different people, but connected in blood and history. The present day terrorists are trying touse the old failed strategy of using the same New York Italian Community-the Juliani Lobbying Firm to advance the same cause of isolating Ethiopia both diplomatically, militarily and economically.
Any similarities to what happened 50 years ago? Please read on....
Remember 50 years ago, when African Americans and Friends of Ethiopia led by Dr Melaku Bayan of Howard University of Federations of Friends of Ethiopia asked the State Department to halt the invasion of Ethiopia by Mussoloni's terror, it was the New York based Italian Americans who blocked their efforts and the reulting second world war. Now, the same actors are trying to do the same thing with their children and grand children.
Italy's former colonies are behaving like their master!
Today, the children of the Faschist banda traitors are lobbying Juliani's Firm to sanction Ethiopia via HR 2003. The recent Jeffrey Gettleman report of December 4, 2007 (New York Times, attached below shows clearly that the whole Shabia, OLF, and ONLF as well as the Dispora CUD and AFD was paying to the tune of $410, 000 US dollars to access the White House for the sheer purpose of sabotaging Ethiopia both diplomatically, militarily and economically.
Isn't the Homeland Security meant to track such financial transactions that advance terror? should Juliani be grilled on this conduct unbecoming from a potential US Presidential candidate? This is the question that voters and republicans should ask themselves about the current set of contenders for the President. Just imagine President Juliani reversing President Bush's Pre-Emptive Security stratregy! Can it happen. Oh! yes remember the Spanish and British PMs who lost their governance due to security challenges?
Does the US condone Corruption in congress?
Is this the type of democracy where you buy power and influece with money, that the US wants to export to poor countries around the world?
What is corruption? It is critical to refer to Accountability International report here. Unfortunately this institution is busy in developing world and has forgotten that the mother of corruption is in the link between the so called Developing and Developed world. Eventually all the loot ends up in the Developed world and that is where the issue of good governance should focus. The latest World Bank Managing Director at her maiden NPR interview clearly stated that we need to have a comprehensive review of the anti-corruption campaign. She is a former Nigerian Finance Minister and knows first hand about corruption.
The current ciminal and rather terrorists motivated campaign of HR2003 ans its series of predecessor draft bills (HR 2228, 5680 etc) is a glaring deficit of US revolving door of corruption where foreign govenments and agents can buy influence with money. Now, who is abusing the money of poor dish washers and taxi drivers?; be it the 2% illegal tax levied by the Red Sea Coast Shabia terrorists, or the Diapora or the AFD/CUD terrorist network, that has galvaned the resources from the US, under the pretext of helping poor people in the Horn? Does the US Presidential Candidate need money from poor African nations to run his campaign? Or is it sheer crime for the Juliani Camp to abuse their privileges?
The real quetion is, how long can the US allow such corrupt practice to continue where the unsuspecting Minority Americans and Diaspora of Horn of Afica citizens are being swindeled off their hard earned money? Is this not what the 9/11 Commission Recommended to avert potential repetition of the AlQaeda terror at home and abroad?
Where is Homeland Security when you need it?
Making the Trojan Horse Accountable!
Who is fooling whom is the real question? should the USA allow terrorist networks to galvanize resources to support the very people who bombed its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania? That is the question Congressman Payne and the Charlatan Human Rights' Congressman Smith (imagine protecting the interests of terrorists who bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by a US Congressman?) Such misguided and selfish congressmen have to answer first to the US government and people and then to the Ethiopian, African Union and United Nations Security Council. Can we make these guys who collect such amount of blood money accountable is the real question.
Any Lessons ffrom the 2nd World War and League of Nations?
Fify years have come and gone; and the same actors are using the same strategy.
However, Ethiopia the first victim of 2nd WW and the now famous League of Nations' failed "Collective Security Strategy" has learned the great lesson of "Pre-Emptive Security Strategy" Versus the Strategy of Collective Security" .
The notion of Collective Security strategy did not work then at the Geneva based League of Nations due to the likes of Juliani (Italian American Lobby of the US Governement) and Juliani is trying to do the same.
Fortnately for Ethiopioans the current generation has learnt its lesson and is not going to wait and depend on the international community!
Why? Ethiopia remembers how the August Emperor HIM was embarassed and had to wage a patriotic struggle for five years with so muchy destruction and loss of progress which even the current generation remembers! Ethiopia has an alternative strategy in place. Will the UN and US and EU and AU learn from Ethiopian experience of successful Pre-Emptive Security srategy is the real quesion1
The real lesson now is that the Pre-emptive Security strategy should involve the east and northern areas of the country, with the support of AU, Arab League, EU, US and the UN. The lesson is protect the interst of the majority against the criminal minority.
The world and the region should be proactive win-win partners with Ethiopia in protecting the national interest of Ethiopia and the Horn retgion and support the long suffering people of the Axumite Heritage in the Red Sea Coast who continue to suffer the adventures of nevo-terrorists of the Fascist era.
Remember the Poison gas of Fascist Italy was repeated by the bombing of Ayder School in Makele, Trigrai, not once but twice by the criminal regime in Asmara. To date, no one has taken them to court or asked them to be accountable.
The Whole Alegiers Agreement that continous to promote a contentious relationship today, did not address this issue, or if it did, Eritrea did not bother, as they are planning another genoicdal war.
Imagine, the war veterans and victims coming to Washington asking the Diaspora for fund raising events to assist them to survive.
That is what is happening to these heroes, and one of them is actually a lawyer, and chair of the Ethiopan Parliamentary Legal Affairs and yet he lost his eyes and his limbs to this horror. In the ideal world, by now he should have been compensated by the criminals. Yet, he is in Washington to educate us about the horrors of war, and his tormentors are lobbying the US congress to sanction his beloved country and he has no recourse but to come to his Ethioioan community in America to share his agony.
What a joke and injustice? The Aider School Victims should not beg for assistance but should be rewarded as heroes and compensated early!
Prevention: Preemptive Security strategy strengthens collective security!
Collective Security was the buzz word of the era of League of Nations and it failed. It was replaced by the period of the cold war for 50 years where assured destruction with nuclear power was the main deerrant.
Now with the advent of Jihadists and Sleeper Cell Terrorists vigilance and pre-emptive security is the new strategy which Ethiopia successfully deployed in Somalia and Eritrea. With the advent of Satellite technology and cyber technology, we do not have to wait untill the clouds of threat accumulate and create un necessary pain and destruction. We can pre-empt is the Millennial Security strategy of 21st Century. That is the lessons learned of the past 50 years!
Lesson to the covert and sleeper cell terrorists in the Horn.
Ethiopia was threatened by Jihadists and Marxist exteremists from Asmara and Moqadisho for the past 5 years and when the Somali Islamic Courts Union began to advance to its borders in Baidowa, Ethiopia pre-emptively disrupted and took over the capital Moqadisho and drove away or destroyed the international Jihadist networks.
The leadership are now hiding in Asmara the new regional hub of terrorists. Asmara who blatenly invaded a small town of Badme in 1998, now saw that Ethiopia was planning to run over its capital and the eventual potential destruction of its terrorist and dictatorial security appartus, it stayed put or to be exact began its covert operations by recruiting insurgents in the Ogaden and Oromia, like Iran does in Iraq.
Lessons from the terroris in Algeria!
The new lesson is that the world order has to move towards pre-emptive strategies to ensure the new threats of extremist terrorists do not create havoc on civilian populations. The recent experience of Alegeria should never be repeated in the Horn.
Asmara and the regional terrorist network turned to Washington to try their distruptive efforts via the corrupt congressional lobbying activities that produced HR2003. There are times when the threat is so great that the only option becomes to convert those threats into new opportunities. HR 2003 currently hiding in the halls of the US Senate gives us that unique opportunity.
Seeking Win-Win Synergy, always!
Creating a Win-Win Synergistic Society for Peace and Prosperity! instead of a dependent, master and slave society which HR 2003 (Accountability and Democracy Bill of Ethiopia) intends to create between the Noble and Great Societies of Ethiopia and USA.
The critical question is who is the owner of this bill? Are they really American and Ethiopian People or US based Sleeper Cell Terrorists using the Congress as the Trojan Horse for their evil intentions with democratic sounding languages?
The Millennial Vision:
The Vision: Peace and Prosperity among Ethiopian and American Peoples! Converting the Challenges of HR2003 to Opportunities for all!
Wealth Creation Versus Poverty Reduction? (HR 2003 is about creating perpetual dependency and slavery!) The current UN led effort of reducing poverty as Millenial Strategies is highly flawed concept as it does not address the issue, that is prosperity and wealth creation.
Can we measure poverty reduction?
Poverty reduction is a poor alternative for innovative enterprises that create weatlh. However; Peace, Security and Enabling Environment is a pre-requesite for wealth creation. Skilled Man Power and Enabling Policies disappear in the midst of fear, terror and civil unrest. First create the enabling environment for peace.
We can measure wealth creaton!
The notion of poverty reduction via tools such as HR 2003 is a highly flawed concept that does not create prosperity and peace but puts poor people at each others' throat for a long time to come. Wealth creation can be measured with qualitative and quantitative tools but you cannot measure poverty reduction. So, why do the impossible? The UN Development Goals should be changed to reflect reality and what is possible.
The Strategy: Good Governance and Accountability for all!
The Transparency and Accountability of Good Governance should alwys be implemented at at the local level to the people on the ground, and not to some phantom institutions that are not themselves accountable to any one.
Making Enabling Institutions accountable!
The Enabling institutions such as UN, OAU; World Bank and IMF in themselves should not be the end and all of all our deliberations. These institutions, should be made accountable themselves by highly regorous qualitative and quantitatie tools to check if they are doing what they are expected to do, that is enabling Democratic Governance for Peace and Prosperity across the globe?
Can the International agencies be lobbyied like Congress?
Now the sleeper cell terrorists have shown clearly that they can lobby the US congress, can they do the same to the internatinoal agencies such as the UN, World Bank and IMF? What holds them from practicing their covert and overt operations with money?
Are these international agencies representative in the first place? Who sets their agenda? Do they learn from their mistakes? Ae they any better than the very private and public institutions they are intended to enable? Do they give regular report to their contituencies? Who are these stakeholders? Do the public and the global governance community know them? How can we make them accountable to the interests of 6.5 billion people instead of few well connected and powerful interest groups? That is the real question of the Millennium?
Chaning the New Bill to reflect the reality on the gound!
The reality on the ground in the Horn is clear; as Ethiopia is the only viable Democratic Governance in transition and the rest of the neighborhood is rampant with regional and global autocracies, dictators and infiltrated by international terrorists. It is better to build on the local strength and enable Ethiopia's security and peace to spread instead of allowing terror to spread? This does not take nuclear technology or brain surgery. It is sheer common sense!
First: Enable Ethiopia- the Island of nacent Democracy to thrive!
The New bill that is accumulating dust in the US Senate, HR 2003 should be changed to reflect the ongoing interest of the US and Ethiopian people and should be accountable itself to the People of the United States and Ethiopia by seeking the active participation of all the people
The Goal: Creative and Participatory Governance!
Governance should be creative, participatory and most of all accountable and responsive to the intrests of all stakeholders, be it public, private, local, regonal and international. So, let us change the paradigm of hopelessness towards productivity! From Poverty Reduction Via HR 2003 towards Wealth Creation and Empowerment of all!
Perspective: Making room for all interest groups! Ethiopian and American People!~
As we thank the Lord for our blessings, it is critical to remember those who have not been blessed as much as we have, due to all sorts of personal and community challenges of the man made and ecological challenges of our time.
Passion for Peace and Prosperity
Peace is not just the mere absence of war, conflict but rather a win-win interactive state of productivity and prosperity for all. The passion for Peace comes from our common understanding that we have a stake on planet earth, our ecology and our community.
Participation. Involving all stakeholders is key!
The most critical aspect of this noble idea is creating a system where all stakeholders have access to the deliberative process of making the change towards Peace and Prosperity. The key process is the creation of a participatory environment. That is where Democratic Governance come as a strategy.
Productivity: The desire to make changes possible. Make HR2003 Peace and Prosperity driven than promoting poverty reduction and punitive relationship
Participation with out a goal and productivity is waste of time. So, all our meetings and activities should be goal and result oriented.
SMART Objectives and Action Plans: Empowerment for Peace and Prosperity!
S= Specific; M=Measurable; A=Appropirate; R=Realistic; T= Time Sensitve.
Specific: Building wealth instead of reducing poverty with measurable strategy
Measurable: Wealth can be measured with qualitative and quantitative measures whereas reducing poverty is a relative term with no specific end.
Appropriate: Ensure the Governance protocols are sensitive to the cultural and social norms of each society. One cannot just impose western or eastern values on others. It is about creating an appropriate shared value system.
Realistic: Utilizing tools for measuring change in a realistic approach with qualitative and quantitative tools of measuring change.
Qualitative: Seek Public Opinion actively by involving all stakeholders
Quantitative: Measure change of productivity in each area of Civic, Business and Social Justice.
Time Sensitive: All activities should be measured against time. That is there should be people, place, time coordination such that progress is measured against time.
I propose all concerned citizens and especially the Silent Majority Consider to be engaged actively for a positive outcome.
CORT Analysis of HR 2003
CORT Analysis is a creative tool of Risk Assessment and Option Appraisal in situations where critical decisions need to be taken in public and private institutions. (Global Strategic Enterprises, Risk Assessment Tools Series.)
CORT stands for Challenges, Opportunities, Risk and Threats.
Challenges:
1.Ownership: HR 2003 is not a joint declaration of the Ethiopian and American People but a tool by certain interest groups whose motives are highly questionable as they are associated with AlQeda, Shabia, Shabab, AFD Network in the Horn.
2. Apparent Good intentions with evil tools of Certification. Creating unnecessary tension between the peoples of USA and Ethiopia.
3. Led by misguided members of Congress and not well debated or considered. Voice Vote instead of deliberate consideration of the intelligence on the ground; i.e Dr Peter Pham and Dr Fraser Testimonies were ignored intentionally by Shabia Lobby.
Opportunities:
1. Good intentions need to be discussed by the Peoples of Ethiopia and USA and get appropriate representation.
2. The Ethiopian and US Parliament could create some task force for partnership and joint sessions if necessary to charter the future.
3. Alert the public at large about the challenges of the Horn and Middle East as the new front line of Global terror if the challenges are not taken now by concerned citizens and representatives.
Risks
1. HR 2003 could be the Trojan horse for Global and Regional Terrorists to infiltrate US intelligence and Democratic system.
2. The Extreme Elements of US Diaspora and other Extreme elements could be emboldened to take the American and Ethiopian people hostage. Treason and the notion of protecting the interests of terrorists instead of the general peace loving public becomes the norm of democratic discussions as it is currently happening at the Democratic and Republican Party Debates and the experience of Spanish and British PMs becomes common!
3. The current excellent US-Ethiopia relationships could be sacrificed against the interests of the Ethiopian and American people.
Threats
1. The vulnerable democratic governance in the Horn could be overtaken by terrorist and hooligans that have messed up Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Pakistan. and will take over the Horn and create instability in Africa and the west
2. The current excellent relationship could be converted into an all out sanctions like the time of the Military Junta converting Ethiopian Millennial Renaissance Transformation Agenda into the Dark Ages of Millennial Isolation, Chaos and back to Stone Age.
3. The current thriving Ethiopian Airlines, DV System and Creative Democratic Renaissance could be lost to isolationism or more creatively Ethiopia will seek alternative partners like the Chinese and Soviet Union or European partners over the USA.
What If Scenario & Option Appraisals:
If the US continues on this misguided and reckless track, it will be penetrated by well organized Sleeper Cell Terrorists and the US Free Democratic System will be perpetually abused by Communist and Jihadist Sleeper Cells converting the US Giant into a disorganized civilization like Rome, Greek and Byzantine before it.
Options and Alternatives:
So, the stakes are so high and intelligent people and specially the Silent Majority should not be complacent, nor complaint to the impending chaos by their in action. In action is complacency in the midst of danger is recklessness and patriotism should prevail.
The Solution: Options and Alternatives
1. Involve and educate every one with appropriate tools to change this impending crisis!
2. Encourage the Silent Majority to Wake up and take its rightful place in history, i.e. Positive Engagement.
3. Consider Win-win Synergistic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity for All, It is possible.
The Alternative: Peace & Prosperity Vs Insecurity & Poverty!
We need believers in Peace and Prosperity. That should be our deliberate choice and not allow the option of insecurity, terror and perpetual poverty and ecological destruction.
The Choice is ours!
Should we choose life over death? We shoud choose prosperity over pepetual povery? Secure future over misguided terror and civil unrest? Peace and Prosperity driven future rather than fear and ignorance perpetuated terror!
This generation like the great generations before it, should be prepared to face its challenges and pass on a better future for the next generation.
Seeking your creative partnership and alternative perspective in an environment of win-win partnership for Peace and Prosperity!
I remain yours sincerely
Dr B
Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc. 4 Peace & Prosperity
Win-win synergestic Partnership focusing on 5Es: Education+Energy+Ecology+Economy+Enterprises
www.Globalbelai4u.blogspot.com; Globalbelai@yahoo.com
C: 703.933.8737; F: 703.531.0545
Note:
The attached press release from Dr Rice following her recent visit to Addis Ababa is a clear indication, that the US government is taking the right steps in the right direction.
Please note the issues addressed:
bilateral US-Ethiopia relatons.
focus on Ethiopia peace keeping role and relations with Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea
Strengthening Democratic Institutions
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http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0712/S00346.htm
Meeting With Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
Thursday, 6 December 2007, 5:32 pm
Press Release: US State Department
Statement by Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
December 5, 2007
Meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
Bilateral relations and the Horn:
Today, I met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and representatives of the Ethiopian government to discuss issues of bilateral importance to both of our nations, with a focus on Ethiopia's relations with Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea.
Regional security, human rights, economic and public health
Other areas of discussion included regional security and fighting terrorism; democracy and human rights; economic development and food security; and public health concerns such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Comprehensive ceasefire for Somalia:
During today's meeting, we emphasized the need for a comprehensive ceasefire agreement to be forged between Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and non-extremist opposition groups, which would help prevent further violence and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Mogadishu.
Transitional political process in Somalia:
We also discussed the need for the TFG to urgently resume the transitional political process outlined by the Transitional Federal Charter leading towards national elections in 2009.
UN Missiion in Darfur: Ethiopia as peace keeper!
On Sudan, I encouraged Prime Minister Meles to send Ethiopian troops pledged to the United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) as soon as possible, and to work with Khartoum to allow UNAMID deployments, including non-African troops, to move forward unhindered. I also urged the Prime Minister to avoid any acts that might heighten friction between Eritrea and Ethiopia and to take concrete steps to lessen tensions on the border.
Strengthening Democratic institutions.
There must not be a resumption of hostilities initiated by either side. We also discussed the importance of strengthening democratic institutions in Ethiopia and the issue of food security, with a specific focus on ensuring unrestricted commercial food delivery throughout the country, including the Ogaden.
2007/1094
Released on December 5, 2007
ENDS
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H.R 2003 & the $210,000 Question:
(Revisited)
Dr. G. Dagnew
(Dec 11, 2007)
The Diaspora Fiasco of Washington DC
The recent December 4 New York Times article of Jeffery Gettleman was very telling on how the US congress was penetrated by the Horn of Africa Sleeper Cell terrorists.
The last article was written just based on statements made by Mr. Solomon Bekele to the New York Times reporters. Now that we have obtained the actual evidence of who paid the balance. I will discuss the money trial and, the collaboration of Kinijit with OLF, ONLF and Shabia. But first, a reminder on what was said on the previous article:
According to the December, 4 article of the New York Times, Lobbying disclosure records indicate that some $210,00 was paid to arrange a power sharing agreement between the Ethiopian opposition groups and the government of Ethiopia. Kinijit North America boss Mr. Solomon Bekele admitted he only paid $90,000 of the total. The question is who paid the balance of $120,000? The disclosure does not say Shabia and its affiliates for now. . . .
According to a written account of the meeting provided by coalition party officials, the consortium of opposition parties that included both the coalition and more militant members like the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist group. ……..
Finally, while I have answered who paid the $ 120,000 of the $210,000 for myself, I am still puzzled by who is still paying to re-write the Ethiopian constitution via H.R. 2003. I furthermore, feel duped for thinking that H.R 2003 was all about alleged human rights and not a cute power sharing arrangement for ONLF and Kinjit. Any way, it is good to know that it only takes few Dollars and a Donald Payne to violate the sovereignty of a country with 70 million people.
We now know from US Justice Department Lobbing disclosures that all the above groups are involved in pushing H.R. 2003 in congress and have paid quite some money. It is now know that on January 2006 “the coalition affiliate (OLF, ONLF)” first contacted Bracewell & Giuliani to lobby, and then brought in the coalition (CUD) to pay its share $90,000.
Since the US law requires source of money be disclosed, the OLF has also registered $141,921.07 with the Justice Department with intent and for the purpose of lobbying (see below). How ever, the total sum of 210,000 paid to Bracewell & Giuliani was registered under CUD’s name and the OLF did not list a separate lobby firm for its registered money
How HR moved from 4423 to 5680 and then 2003
The game does not stop here. Not wanting to be seen and affiliated with its looser affiliates, The Government of Eritrea hired Ed Buckham, Chairman of the Alexander Strategy Group, who was Chief of staff to former House Majority Whip, Tom DeLay for a whopping $52,000 a month for six month. According to US DOJ disclosers, the contract specifies among other things help with U.S.-Eritrean relations,
HR 4423 the Ethiopia Consolidation Act, as well as US media representatives. H.R. 4423 is the Shabia Amendment to HR 2003 and its mother H.R. 5680 proposed By Christ Smith. It failed in the House International committee because the Firm that lobbied for it most hated by the democrats because its association with former Congressman DeLay. It again failed in committee when Donald Payne took over as a chair.
The list of so called lobbyists or Trojan Horses?
Another K Street heavy hitter hired by Eritrea is Barbour Griffith & Rogers, LLC for $342,440.76. BG&R founded by former Republican Party chairman and current Alabama Governor is now headed by Robert D. Blackwill, Former Deputy Assistant to George W. Bush and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning and it is also heavily populated by former chiefs of staff of Congressmen and Senators.
The firm has registered at both DOJ and the State Department to assist Eritrea in developing, refining and expanding relationships between Eritrean officials and U.S. foreign policy-making apparatus in the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government. (See discloser below)
An Ethiopian Football Star turned traitor Ambassador to the enemy!
The DJ for this party was Girma Asmerom the former Eritrean Ambassador who coordinated every thing including the OLF and ONLF first contact with Giuliani firm. From this, readers can surmise how big and well financed the coalition task force on HR 2003 is. This does not even include Berhanu Nega’s media machines such as Ethiopian Review and Ethio Media who enjoy displaying dead bodies of Ethiopian solders killed by terrorists as their partners at Dehai.org.
How the tentacles of sleepr cell terrorists spreads?
Ethiopians need to see and realize Shabia’s big strategy using ONLF and OLF to disrupt raouts to the Port of Djubti and Berbera to choke Ethiopia’s development and not to help Oromo’s and Ogadenis. We should also know that this is not about the border but Shabia’s failed dream of becoming a regional mover and shaker. I am always amused by Shabia’s regional adventure from Chad to Sudan, Somalia, back to Bademe and even Uganda.
Eritrea starving and yet its rogue leaders are spending thousands on lobbyists!
The sad commentary on this is the bread line for our Eritrean brothers has starched from downtown Asmara to Libya and back to Northern Tigray. It is also sad to see our poor brothers of OLF and ONLF under Eritrean Generals fighting bare foot as have seen in videos and magazines.
Unlike those fighter under Eritrean Generals OLF leaders in the US and Europe leave lavishly, Including the ONLFites who staged a congressional kissing and hugging ceremony with our own so called peaceful “ arada” rebels Berhanu Nega and Birtukn. ONLFites from Asmara to the Al-Ithad Islamia sleeper cells in Fiq and Diaspora must have been delighted to see Berhanu Nega affirming their dream.
Imagine a Pardoned Prisoners selling out a seond time! (Birhanu Nega Bonga!)
It is hard to assume Berhanu Nega and company are not aware of these high profile enemies of Ethiopia. Because he told us he is Dr., he can read, and that we are “Fara”. But this explains the character of Berhanu. In his quest to power, he has managed to destroy his own Kinjit in a few months, and has become a willing participant and collaborator with any one, to get to power and by any means necessary.
When all things crumbled for him he tells us, he is not going back because of some research. (Fellowship at New University, New York?) What research! A research on how to form an Exile Government with Berhanu Mewa as the Treasury Department Head? I am not trying to be funny here but just imagining an honest research by Berhanu.
Source: US Department of Justice.
Notes: As you will see on this discloser only the Eritrean Government has hired an actual Lobby firm
OLF has contributed the disclosed money to hire the Giuliani Firm under CUD name. All these contacts are from 2006, they or may not be renewed. Will have to wait for the next filings for that.
The leeper cell terrorists in action!
Special Note on EPRP’s disclosures: It has been an open secret for quite a while now. Since 2001, EPRP has filed and registered with the Justice Department under names including Hibret, and under Ato Fasika Bekele and a Mesfin Mekonin etc.. The disclosed money is reported as expense for lobbying by individuals. It will be the work of its members to ask what they lobbied about on such huge money.
Oromo Liberation Front, North America Office #4610
Post Office Box 73247
Washington, DC 20056-3247
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) 28
Nature of Services: Political Activities
The registrant spoke to U.S. Government officials and congressional staffers regarding the progress of the recent Peace initiative between the Ethiopian Government and the OLF, human rights issues, and conflicts between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the continued political crisis in Somalia. The registrant also disseminated informational materials on behalf of the foreign principal.
$141,921.07 for the six month period ending January 31, 2006
Alexander Strategy Group #5557 (T)
3000 K Street, N.W.
Suite 101
Washington, DC 20007
State of Eritrea (t) 28
Nature of Services: Lobbying
The registrant contacted members of Congress, congressional staffers, media representatives, and U.S. Government officials regarding the Eritrea-Ethiopia boundary situation, religious freedom, Sudan and regional security matters,
U.S.-Eritrean relations, concerns about press freedom in Eritrea, and HR 4423 the Ethiopia Consolidation Act, as well as other issues of interest to the foreign principal.
$52,000.00 for the six month period ending April 30, 2006
Barbour Griffith & Rogers, LLC #5430
1275 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Tenth Floor
Washington, DC 20004
Embassy of the State of Eritrea (t) 28
Nature of Services: U.S. Policy Consultant
The registrant assisted the foreign principal in developing, refining and expanding relationships between Eritrean officials and U.S. foreign policy-making apparatus in the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government.
$342,440.76 for the six month period ending May 31, 2006
Printed as of: June 06, 2007 :ERITREA
Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Party #4789
Post Office Box 73337
Washington, DC 20056-3337
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party 28
Nature of Services: Lobbying/Public Relations
The registrant addressed members and supporters of the foreign principal concerning the political situation and the activities of the party.
$81,875.35 for the six month period ending April 30, 2006
Rudolph Guiliani (Photo: Libradio Romero, NYT)
Birtukan Midekssa, second from right, a former political prisoner, was among those pushing efforts toward democracy in Ethiopia at a news conference last month in Alexandria, Va. (Photo: Andrew Councill for The New York Times)
WASHINGTON - Although Rudolph W. Giuliani is campaigning as President Bush’s staunch ally in the war on terror, his law office has lobbied Congress on behalf of legislation that the Bush administration calls a threat to antiterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa.
Mr. Giuliani was not personally involved in the lobbying last year on behalf of the company’s client, the American wing of a dissident Ethiopian political party known as the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, leaders of the group said.
But the firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, used Mr. Giuliani’s name in its pitch to win the assignment, and his clout was a reason it landed the job, said Seyoum Solomon, an Ethiopian-American from Maryland who helped negotiate the deal.
“He is a popular Republican, a good friend of the president and he might have some influence on the State Department,” Mr. Solomon said to explain the hiring decision.
The legislation sought by the dissidents proposes restrictions in American aid if Ethiopia does not agree to share power with opposition parties and take other steps promoting democracy. As part of its work, the Giuliani group set up a meeting at the White House last year at which the administration was urged to consider the viewpoint of a consortium of Ethiopian political parties that included Mr. Solomon’s group, as well as a more militant rebel organization.
The Ethiopian effort demonstrates the complications Mr. Giuliani confronts as he simultaneously runs for president and remains a name partner in a law firm that lobbies in Washington. He is the only Republican candidate who remains engaged in business pursuits.
The Bush administration supports the government in Ethiopia as a bulwark against terrorism and has characterized the legislation as a liability in that effort.
A White House spokesman declined comment on Bracewell & Giuliani’s role. A State Department official described the legislation that the firm helped to push as detrimental. “The reality is, in fact, it does harm a relationship” with an ally, the official said.
The Ethiopian opposition has many supporters in Congress, in part because of concerns about the existing government’s reputation for repression. Even the Bush administration is not critical of the coalition as an organization and has refrained from classifying as terrorists the more militant opposition parties in the consortium that some coalition leaders helped establish.
But the administration believes, said one State Department official who was not authorized to speak on the record about the matter, that the existing government is making progress toward creating a democratic government and has helped to combat an extremist Islamic insurgency in neighboring Somalia, where it has sent troops and worked to aid American operations against Qaeda suspects.
Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the Giuliani campaign, said Mr. Giuliani’s views were not necessarily consistent with the lobbying stands taken in Washington by Bracewell & Giuliani.
“At the end of the day, the mayor’s position and ideas on the campaign trail are his own,” Ms. Comella said.
Scott H. Segal, a lobbyist for Mr. Giuliani’s firm, said its primary mission had been to secure American support for the release of jailed Ethiopian opposition leaders, not to promote the legislation. He said Mr. Giuliani’s firm primarily sought to use the legislation to draw attention to those disenfranchised in Ethiopia.
“Not everything we did on behalf of the client was 100 percent consistent with United States foreign policy at the time,” he said. “Our job was to cajole the U.S. foreign policy establishment into taking a principled stand in Ethiopia.”
The lobbying contract, signed in January 2006, is one of the few that Mr. Giuliani’s firm, based in Houston, has had with clients looking to influence United States foreign policy.
The law firm, which Mr. Giuliani joined in 2005 and which pays him more than $1 million a year, specializes in corporate finance and energy matters. But several years ago, the firm was approached by an Ethiopian-American who knew Marc F. Racicot, the former Montana governor and Republican leader who once worked at Bracewell as a lobbyist.
“We did not go to the firm because of Giuliani,” said Solomon Bekele, an leader of the American affiliate of the coalition who was involved in the hiring decision. “It was a plus.”
When the contract was signed, the country had suffered through a bloody few months after a May 2005 federal election that was first heralded as the most democratic in the country’s history. Soon, protests organized in part by the Coalition of Unity and Democracy turned violent as demonstrators began to complain about election fraud. The government claimed some protesters were armed, while observers said the police and armed forces had overreacted, sparking conflicts in June and November of 2005 in which 199 people were killed, including six police officers.
The government arrested thousands, including coalition leaders who had just been elected to Parliament, including Hailu Shawul, the chairman, and Birtukan Midekssa, a vice president.
Last year, the firm was able to persuade the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa to insert language into a bill that condemned the violence and the arrests. One new provision in the bill, introduced by Representative Christopher H. Smith, Republican of New Jersey, demanded that the country reconfigure its national election board to include representation by opposition parties.
Members of Mr. Smith’s staff said they had received advice on the bill from many parties, including Bracewell & Giuliani and a lobbying firm hired by the Ethiopian government, DLA Piper. The Ethiopian government position is that the legislation is being pushed by “extremists in Ethiopian politics who reject peaceful and legal avenues of political participation,” according to a statement issued by its embassy in Washington.
Mr. Smith said support for the bill hardly constituted weakness toward terrorism. “The war on terror is very, very important,” he said in a speech in October about the proposal. “But no regime that terrorizes its own citizens can be a reliable ally in the war on terror.”
In June 2006, the Giuliani firm set up a meeting for coalition leaders with Michael J. Gerson, at the time one of Mr. Bush’s senior policy advisers.
At the meeting, coalition leaders asked the United States to put pressure on Ethiopia to negotiate with a new consortium of opposition parties that included both the coalition and more militant members like the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist group, according to a written account of the meeting provided by coalition party officials.
About a year after the meeting, the Ogaden group was involved in an attack on a Chinese-run oil field in which more than 70 people were killed.
Mr. Solomon said the coalition had always been a peaceful party and did not condone the attacks. But he would not condemn what he called “freedom fighters.”
Mr. Segal said his firm had lobbied the administration only on behalf of the coalition, not the larger alliance of opposition groups.
A White House spokesman, Scott M. Stanzel, said Mr. Gerson could not recall details of the meeting but described it as merely informational.
Last summer, the administration worked behind the scenes to win the release of the jailed opposition leaders, as the coalition had urged. But the administration has consistently opposed the legislation in letters written to the House sponsors.
The lobbying contract between Bracewell & Giuliani and the American affiliate of the coalition ended last year. Mr. Solomon said the coalition’s affiliate had terminated the deal because the firm had not lined up more news coverage and never delivered on a promised meeting with Mr. Giuliani. The law firm said a meeting had never been promised.
Lobbying disclosure records indicate the firm was paid $210,000 in 2006, but Mr. Solomon said his group had actually paid $90,000.
Nonetheless, the legislation that the firm helped push has moved forward and passed by a voice vote in the House of Representatives in October.
Though Bracewell & Giuliani is no longer employed by the Ethiopian dissidents, its communications director, Frank Maisano, arranged a news conference in October on the topic at the National Press Club. Mr. Segal said that Mr. Maisano had been involved in that function as a member of the press club and that his help was not related to the former Bracewell contract.
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Jeffrey Gettleman contributed reporting from Kenya.
1. http://www.addisfortune.com/Ethiopia,%20on%20Verge%20of%20Halting%20Oil%20Imports%20from%20Sudan,%20Looks%20to%20Saudi%20Arabia.htm
2. http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN131294.html
3. http://www.capitalethiopia.com/archive/2007/december/week2/local_news.htm
Source: Fortune, Ethiopia
December 8, 2007
1. Ethiopia, on Verge of Halting Oil Imports from Sudan, Looks to Saudi Arabia
ISSAYAS MEKURIA
Ethiopia is on the verge of halting petroleum product imports from Sudan, and may be forced to pay as much as 10 million dollars more every year to get its fuel from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations.
Two factors may force Ethiopia to cease importing millions of dollars in petreolum products from neighbouring Sudan, an arrangement that has saved Ethiopia millions over the last four years.
The state-owned Sudan Petroleum Corporation (SPC) – which supplies Ethiopia with gasoline and liquid petroleum, among other oil products – has stopped allowing Ethiopia to purchase on credit. Furthermore, the US Department of Treasury in May 2007 placed the SPC on its sanction list over Sudanese government support for militia groups terrorizing the Darfur region, putting diplomatic pressure on Ethiopia to cease its business relationship with the company.
A senior government official told Fortune that both factors will likely compel Ethiopia to look elsewhere for its oil product imports. According to data available from the Ethiopian Customs Authority, in fiscal year 2005/06 alone, Ethiopia brought in two billion litres of petroleum products, spending about 860.5 million dollars in that year.
Fortune learned that the senior members of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s administration, led by Girma Birru, minister of Trade and Industry, left for Saudi Arabia last week. The delegation, which also includes officials such as Yegezaw Mekonen, director general of Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE), and Abi Sano, president of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), stayed in Saudi for two days to discuss with their counterparts about the possibility of a credit facility to procure fuel from that country.
One member of the delegation described the visit as a success, but declined to give details on the nature and result of the negotiation.
Up until May 2007, when the US imposed sanctions on SPC, Ethiopia was importing petroleum products from the Sudan through a Letter of Credit (L.C) facilitated by CBE and Citibank. With Citibank now restricted from dealing with SPC, the Sudanese oil company strictly requires Cash Against Document (CAD) for all procurement of the petroleum products that Ethiopia purchases from the Sudan, an official of the Ethiopian government confirmed.
The loss of Citibank as an intermediary in June 2007 even prevented Ethiopia from paying 2.5 million dollars of debt owed to the SPC for petroleum products. Ever since then, relations between the two countries, which have never been easy, have been further strained, the official told Fortune. The Ethiopian government proposed to pay off its due by means of agricultural products, but the Sudanese government has refused to accept the offer.
Reliable data indicates that importing petroleum products from the relative proximity of Sudan, rather than from Middle Eastern countries, saves the government as much as 10 million dollars each year.
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2. Indian firm plans $451 mln potash mine in Ethiopia
Tue 11 Dec 2007
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia said it had signed an agreement with an Indian mining firm on Tuesday to establish a $451 million factory to mine potash, a key ingredient in fertiliser, in the arid Afar desert.
Under the deal, Sainik Mining Limited of India, a privately owned firm will mine the potash in Musely and Crescent, in the remote region bordering Djibouti and Eritrea in eastern Ethiopia, for 20 years.
"Apart from helping in Ethiopia's development effort, the establishment of the company would also help to enhance the long standing relations between our two countries," said Alemayehu Tegenu, Ethiopia's minister for mining and energy.
Sainik director Nitin Wagh, said the company had plans to produce over 20 million tonnes of potash during the 20 years.
The Indian factory will be established on 10 hectares of land. Studies by the mines ministry show that Musely and Crescent have the potential to produce up to 140 million tonnes of potash.
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Source: Capital, Ethiopia
December 8, 2007
3. Affordable connectivity for rural villages the Siemen way!
Kirubel Tadesse
Nokia Siemens, a joint venture of Siemens Communications and Nokia Networks Business Group, says that it is responding to people’s real needs and budgets by developing solutions and new business models to enable them get connected.
“Around half the world’s population lives in villages,” explains Nokia Siemens, “the challenge now is for network operators to be flexible enough to try and adopt innovative solutions such as Nokia Siemens Networks’ ‘Village Connection’ that transfers responsibility for local network and business functions to a local level, building cost-effective connectivity, village by village.” Nokia Siemens explains that the thinking behind this solution is that now operators across Africa can capture the rural market potential by offering voice and sms services to villages with relatively low investment which, in turn, helps them meet the rural end-user at the point at which she or he can afford to get connected.
At a press conference Michael Maltusch, Ethiopia Country Director of Nokia Siemens Networks, gave on Thursday, December 6, 2007 at Sheraton Addis, said that in order to achieve its goal of connecting 5 billion people by wire and wireless from one end of the planet to the other by 2015, Nokia Siemens Networks believes at least three areas must be addressed, “Innovative solutions; novel business models for rural areas and the synthesis of a new value network where rural roll-outs are turned into a lucrative, realistic business opportunity that will enable the mobile communications industry to provide rural customers with connectivity”.
Explaining Nokia Siemens Networks’ Village Connection, the Country Director said “Village Connection uses a different business model. The Village Subscriber - for whom affordability is key, so he or she can choose between various call plans ranging from local-calls-only to Nokia Siemens Networks Village Connection Domain connectivity and roaming – with post and prepaid options; The Entrepreneur – where local people will now have the opportunity to host their own mobile access point, providing a lucrative business opportunity where the village entrepreneur or franchising business is an entirely new player in the value network;
The GSM Operator - which aggregates traffic from various village entrepreneurs and is responsible for channeling the traffic between different villages and for the provisioning of external connectivity to Village Connection subscribers; The authorities – statutory bodies that may include the licensor and/or the regulator responsible for licensing and spectrum allocation; The Solution Vendor – responsible for supplying the network infrastructure and subscriber terminals either to the GSM operator or directly to the village entrepreneur.”
“The importance of the Village Connection model is that it brings business to villages and enables different models of business franchising that create employment for someone in a village. It also recognizes the importance of sustainable growth when connecting rural communities – which become possible when social responsibility and environmental values, are also in place”, added Maltusch.
Combining the legacy of Nokia Networks and Siemens Com, Nokia Siemens Networks has been active in Ethiopia since 2004 and is a major networks solutions provider for Ethiopia Telecom Corporation (ETC). The company has delivered and installed GSM and GPRS Mobile Network to ETC for approximately one million subscribers and delivered and installed a 1,800 kilometers of Fiber Optics Network in challenging geographical environments.
Ethiopia
Travel Guide | Search News | Search the Web
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Re: Pre-empting Man made and Natural Disaster in Eastern Ethiopia
The following update is critical in understanding the current security and safety issues in Ethiopia, the Horn and the new front of global terrorism.
It is ironic that natural and man made disasters continue to create new waves of civil unrest, conflict and potential new threats to the survival of the region.
If appropriate global and regional attention is not given to the brooding problems, it might be very difficult to curb the situation for a long time to come.
The African Union, Africome, Arab League and the UN Security Council should not be distracted by all sorts of pre-occupation with protocol and risk averse activities.
The time is right to act to change the current paradigm of hopelessness in the region.
The Ethiopian people should be supported in their efforts to bring peace in the region. That support should be forth coming from all directions.
Please read the attached current information for detailed information on the chalenges of the region.
Seeking your proactive and deliberate involvement for Peace and Prosperity, I remain
Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
Global Strategic Enterprises 4 Peace & Prosperity
www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
Promoting good governance via win-win synergistic partnership of 5Es: Education+Ecology+Energy+Economy+Enterprises
Globalbelai@yahoo.c0m
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Somali Prime Minister Pledges to Broaden Base
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
05 December 2007
Somalia's newly-named prime minister has pledged to reach out to rival groups as he fills vacant cabinet posts in his government. He made the comment after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned that he must broaden the base of support within his administration in the interests of peace. VOA's Peter Heinlein reports from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where the secretary and the prime minister met to discuss Somalia's future.
An undated photo shows new Somalia's PM Colonel Nur Hassan Hussein
Days after Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein named a cabinet that excluded several ministers in his predecessor's government, Secretary Rice urged him to be more inclusive. Before chairing a meeting of interested parties on Somalia in Addis Ababa Wednesday, Rice said she would stress to Hussein the importance of broadening the political basis for reconciliation.
"I'm looking forward to meeting the prime minister of Somalia to encourage the broadest possible engagement with forces that are not associated with terrorism but might be part of a political solution for the Somali people. There needs to be a broad basis across lines in Somalia, so that is extremely important, and I will discuss that with the prime minister," she said.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Rice said she encouraged the Somali prime minister to develop a timeline by next month for completing the transitional process, including drafting a new constitution and electoral law.
Speaking to a few reporters after the meeting, Prime Minister Hussein said the 73-member cabinet he named this week was a first step in creating a broadly-based government. He said he would try to respond to U.S. criticisms by including a broad cross-section of people in his cabinet, possibly even Somalis living in exile in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, a country that has been accused of fueling clan rivalries in Somalia.
"Our cabinet will be a very transparent cabinet. When it comes to the people of Asmara, they are welcome. Because we are determined to make the outreach, to reach everybody, every opposition. We recognize the right of every Somali to be consulted and to be considered," he said.
Condoleezza Rice speaks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 05 Dec 2007
Secretary Rice said she is pushing more African countries to send peacekeepers to Somalia. She noted that Uganda already has 1,800 soldiers serving in an African Union peacekeeping mission. Burundi has promised to send an additional number of troops. But many African countries are reluctant, pointing to the tragic results of previous peacekeeping efforts.
Rice said she is pursuing with world leaders the idea of organizing a robust peace force that could replace the Ethiopian troops who went to Somalia a year ago to back government forces.
"We do believe that peacekeeping efforts need to take place in Somalia. We appreciate very much the Ugandan forces that are there. They frankly need to be joined soon by other forces. We look forward to the deployment of Burundi's forces. I spoke to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon just before I left Washington, and we talked about the need to try to get this peacekeeping force in place," she said.
Secretary-General Ban's special representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould Abdallah also attended the Addis Ababa meeting. He tells VOA he was encouraged by the high-level U.S. involvement and attention to Somalia.
"I think it is very significant specially she has shared and participated in this meeting in Soamlia, where it has been accepted that the situation is reall a serious threat," he said.
During her 24-hour stop in Africa, Rice also met the presidents of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, along with the interior minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss how to halt the fighting in eastern Congo that threatens stability throughout the African Great Lakes region.
She also held talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. A statement issued after that meeting said the discussions focused on Ethiopia's relations with neighboring Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia.
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1. http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL29900881.html
2. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/nov/95913.htm
x. (No link available)
1. Ethiopia's Meles denies rights abuses in Ogaden
Thu 29 Nov 2007
Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has denied accusations from rebels of massive rights abuses by troops including hanging and rape during this year's offensive against the Ogaden separatist movement.
"I am absolutely confident that there have been no widespread human rights violations in the Ogaden, not only because we believe in the respect for human rights, but because we know how to fight the insurgency," he told reporters.
Although overshadowed by other conflicts in the wider region, including Somalia and Sudan's Darfur, fighting in the Ogaden has increased this year as the government responded to a major rebel attack on a Chinese-run oil exploration field.
Both sides say they have killed hundreds of the others' fighters, but no independent verification has been possible in the remote and arid southeastern area near the Somalia border.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) says Ethiopian soldiers have been persecuting and killing locals, as well as blocking food and burning villages, in tactics intended to flush out rebels and their sympathisers.
"Armed forces ... captured by the ONLF in recent months have reported on several occasions that they were under direct orders to hang villagers in 'trouble spots' throughout Ogaden as part of a continuing collective punishment campaign against civilians," an ONLF statement said on Thursday.
"This brutal practice is increasingly becoming the terror tactic of choice for ... regime troops in the Ogaden and is well known to our nomadic population."
Increasingly under pressure from the West over his rights record in recent years, Meles says the ONLF is lying, and is a terrorist group sponsored by arch-enemy Eritrea.
"Massive human rights abuses and massive deaths in the Ogaden do not and will not exist," he said.
Once a rebel leader himself, who helped topple former Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, Meles said it would be counterproductive to terrorise locals.
"After all, it is only 16 or so years ago that we ourselves were insurgents," he said. "The stupidest mistake a government does is to harass civilians."
Meles generally gets high marks from Western diplomats for his anti-poverty strategies, but is frequently criticised for authoritarian tactics handling foes inside Ethiopia.
After visiting the Ogaden this week, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes called for investigations into rights abuse accusations in carefully-chosen words. He also said that action was needed to prevent a major humanitarian crisis there. (Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Elizabeth Piper)
____________
Source: US State Department
Office of the Spokesman
November 29, 2007
2. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Will Travel to Ethiopia and Belgium First Week of December
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Secretary will attend a meeting with leaders from the African Great Lakes states (Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda) to discuss issues of regional peace and security on December 5.
Secretary Rice also will engage in consultations on current developments in Somalia and on implementation of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with cabinet ministers from east African countries as well as senior representatives of the African Union and United Nations. She also will hold bilateral meetings with the Government of Ethiopia.
Secretary Rice will arrive in Brussels on December 6 to attend foreign ministerial sessions on December 7 among NATO’s 26 Allies. This includes a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, which is likely to discuss Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty regime, and the upcoming NATO Summit in Bucharest.
She will participate in a meeting of the 26 Allies with NATO’s seven Mediterranean Dialogue partners (Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Israel, Jordan, and Tunisia) and a session of the NATO-Russia Council. There will also be a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission. She will also take part in a transatlantic dinner bringing together EU and NATO foreign ministers.
______________________
3. Ethiopia, Eritrea: Tensions High in Border Dispute
Nov 29, 2007
The Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission (EEBC) has threatened to rule
Nov. 30 that the demarcation it has drawn between Ethiopia and Eritrea
will stand -- a move that could provoke war between the two countries.
War is not likely to come immediately, though, as Ethiopia remains
heavily deployed in Somalia, and the commission, despite its threat, is
likely to leave the door open for continued negotiations.
The internationally mandated EEBC, fed up with Ethiopian opposition to
its current demarcation, could rule by Nov. 30, a date the commission
floated a year ago, should either side -- particularly Ethiopia -- prove
unwilling to conclude negotiations. Because Eritrea accepts the current
ruling, it is unlikely to be the one to attack in an effort to force a
resolution of the border dispute.
The two countries fought a 1998-2000 war -- which claimed an estimated
70,000 lives -- over the same border, with Ethiopia never really
accepting Eritrea's independence and Eritrea not accepting the
possibility of being once again under Ethiopia's yoke.
Regardless of the soaring tensions, Ethiopia is not likely to launch an
immediate attack to force a redrawing of line, as it remains heavily
involved in fighting an Islamist insurgency in Somalia, with 20,000
troops and its best commanders believed to be deployed in Somalia.
However, should Ethiopia withdraw those troops and commanders to support
an operation against Eritrea, Somalia's Transitional Federal Government
under President Abdullahi Yusuf would very likely fall to the same
Islamists -- the former Supreme Islamic Courts Council (SICC) -- that
controlled much of southern and central Somalia in 2006.
Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia in December 2006 -- which forced Addis
Ababa to continue its intervention in the country -- was aimed at
preventing the anti-Ethiopian SICC from following through on its threat
to fight, alongside the Ethiopian rebel group Ogaden National Liberation
Front, to claim Ethiopia's Ogaden region, which is ethnic Somalian
territory.
The African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia -- currently
around 1,500 Ugandans, though a Burundian contingent could deploy in
December -- is effectively incapable of replacing the battle-hardened
Ethiopians.
Although tensions will remain high, the EEBC's likely decision to opt
for continued negotiations, coupled with Ethiopia's continuing
preoccupation with fighting the Somalian insurgency, should keep a lid
on the situation -- at least temporarily.
Somalia
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1. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hf_MFHEJNdzZztI_XKuDsogwujww
2. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75402
3. http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/SSHN-795JSB?OpenDocument
1. Ethiopia urges quick deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia
November 20, 2007
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopia on Tuesday called for a quick deployment of peacekeepers in war-ravaged Somalia, an African nation increasingly running adrift in the face on an escalating insurgency.
Of the 8,000 peacekeepers the African Union pledged to send to bolster President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's weak government, only 1,500 Ugandan troops are actually on the round.
"The plan designed to deploy peacekeeping forces to Somalia should be materialised as soon as possible," the Ethiopian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Ethiopian troops helped sweep aside Islamist militants from much of the country they had briefly governed in January, but have been embroiled in a deadly insurgency mainly in Mogadishu.
Rebels recently dragged through the streets, stumped and spat on the bodies of Ethiopian troops, a grisly reminder of a similar treatment of US special forces in 1993.
Burundi and Nigeria had given firm pledges to contribute soldiers, but are yet to make good their word.
The Ethiopian foreign ministry called on the international community to facilitate efforts to restore durable peace in Somalia, where the last functional government collapsed in 1991 after the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The escalating insurgency has seen UN chief Ban Ki-moon rule out sending any peacekeepers to the Horn of African nation, except for a "coalition of the willing."
But on Monday, the UN Security Council said there was need to pursue contingency planning for the possible deployment of UN troops, side-stepping Ban, but giving no promises.
Previous peacekeeping forays by the United Nations and the United States ended disastrously in the mid-1990s and the world turned its back, abandoning the country at the mercy of armed gangs.
_________________
20 November 2007
2. ETHIOPIA: Six more NGOs to operate in Somali region
Photo: OCHA/IRIN and USAID
Map of Ethiopia's Somali region
ADDIS ABABA - More aid agencies – including three medical organisations - have been approved to operate in the troubled Somali region of Ethiopia.
Mercy Corps, International Medical Corps and Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland, as well as Italian agency Coopi, Mother and Child Development Organization and German Agro Action, have been accredited by the government’s Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA).
"The NGOs [non-governmental organisations] will address the humanitarian needs in the region," DPPA spokesman Sisay Tadesse said. "Their humanitarian intervention focuses on health, water, agriculture and livestock."
Earlier in November, the DPPA allowed 12 NGOs to deploy staff in the Degehabur, Gode, Fik, Warder and Korahe areas of the region.
Aid agencies and human rights groups have expressed concerns over the situation in the remote, arid area, which borders Somalia and where government troops clash with the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), saying the conflict has had a direct and indirect humanitarian impact on the civilian population.
In a report issued on 5 October, Paul Hebert, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ethiopia warned that 1.8 million people could be affected by a “looming crisis” unless food and medical aid arrived within a few months.
The Ethiopian government and the UN reached an agreement in October on measures to ensure that aid would reach vulnerable people in the Somali region
"We are not late," Sisay said. ";We have already distributed 7,358 metric tons of food aid to the five zones of the Somali region."
He said the DPPA had contracted 175 trucks to distribute aid, while 82 others were seconded from the strategic relief fleet and ministry of defence.
"If the transportation available is in place, we can finish the distribution within two weeks," Sisay said on 20 November, adding that the number of food distribution points would be increased from 46 to 186.
The Ethiopian government and the UN reached an agreement in October on measures to ensure that aid would reach vulnerable people in the Somali region.
The UN and DPPA decided to establish joint support centres in the most affected areas of the southeastern region to facilitate the logistics of delivering food, medicine, veterinary services and livelihood support.
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Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
>;19 Nov 2007
3. UN Chief to visit Ethiopia as relief efforts intensify
(New York: 19 November): As the United Nations and its partners scale up their assistance to vulnerable groups in Ethiopia in response to increasing humanitarian needs, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, plans to visit the country at the end of the month.
The goal of the visit is to determine humanitarian needs and challenges, if any, of the people of Ethiopia and to discuss ways in which the United Nations system and its partners could potentially support the Government of Ethiopia in its efforts to address these needs. It will be the first visit to the country for Mr. Holmes in his capacity as Emergency Relief Coordinator, and, in fact, the first visit of such a senior humanitarian official since Kenzo Oshima’s visit during the 2003 drought.
"I am looking forward to the visit, so that the United Nations can ensure that the country’s vulnerable populations receive attention and assistance that they may require from the international community," said Mr. Holmes. "I am encouraged to see that the Government of Ethiopia is committed to improving the humanitarian situation in the country and remains open to cooperation with the international community on this matter," he added.
During his trip to the country, the Emergency Relief Coordinator will travel to Jijiga and Kebridehar in the Ogaden region, where the United Nations has recently established a field presence. While there, he will assess ongoing humanitarian operations and discuss current humanitarian challenges with regional government officials, elders, and representatives of local communities.
Following the field visit, John Holmes will visit the nation’s capital, Addis Ababa, where he plans to hold talks with the Prime Minister and his Deputy as well as senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials. Consultations with African Union officials and representatives of the United Nations Mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia are also on his agenda. At the end of his visit, he will meet with the local press to brief them on the outcome of his trip.
Currently, over 640,000 people in Ogaden require urgent humanitarian assistance, with food, medical supplies and water being the main priorities. Following an inter-agency assessment undertaken in late August 2007, the UN dispatched 4,900 metric tonnes of food to the 186 approved food distribution points in the five military zones in the region. In addition, preparations are being finalized to deploy 15 mobile health teams. At the same time, the Government accredited more NGOs to work in the affected zones, although the modalities of their work remain to be worked out.
To date Ethiopia has benefited from several Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) grants that amount to over US$ 20 million since the fund’s inception, with over US$ 10 million being disbursed this year alone. In addition, various humanitarian activities in the country continue to be supported from the Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF), which provides rapid and flexible funding to meet short-term emergency priorities. Thanks to the US$ 16.3 million made available through the HRF, over 40 projects were implemented in the country in response to drought, floods and an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea.
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http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2007/11/29/ogaden_locals_allege_abuses_by_soldiers/
2, http://www.newsweek.com/id/72707
3. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=nw20071128231132481C602407
Source: AP
1. Atrocities alleged in eastern Ethiopia
John Holmes, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief, right, greet residents of Kebridehar in the eastern Ethiopian region of
Ogaden, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007. John Holmes, urged officials to allow freedom of movement and more aid agencies
in the eastern Ethiopian region of Ogaden, where a low-level insurgency has escalated. (AP Photo/Anita Powell)
Anita Powell
November 29, 2007
KEBRIDEHAR, Ethiopia—In the desert stretches of eastern Ethiopia, locals accuse soldiers fighting an insurgency of burning villages to the ground, committing gang rape and killing people "like goats."
The allegations have drawn the attention of international human rights campaigners to this remote corner of a key U.S. ally.
Ethiopia's prime minister says his troops are fighting against a separatist movement in the region known as the Ogaden, and he denies that soldiers have committed such atrocities.
"This is a counterinsurgency. I am not going to tell you there hasn't been anyone beaten up. I am absolutely confident that there has not been any widespread violation of human rights," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told journalists Wednesday.
But a thin, pensive 30-year-old man, who spoke on condition of anonymity this week because of fear of reprisals, told The Associated Press that the army had burned two villages -- Lebiga and Korelitsa -- to the ground Nov. 23, killing one man.
The army, the man said, was killing his neighbors "like goats."
Officials in the area, which covers nearly 80,000 square miles, said they had heard similar reports. They also asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The 30-year-old man described gang rapes and public hangings, and said villagers had been told not to speak to international observers. Officials in the area also said villagers had been told not to speak to outsiders, and that also was mentioned in a September report by a U.N. fact-finding mission.
A 26-year-old man, who also asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, accused the government of withholding food to punish fighters and supporters of the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
For more than a decade, the ethnic Somali rebels have been fighting for greater autonomy in the region, which is being heavily explored for oil and gas. In April, they attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in the region, killing 74 people. The Ethiopian military began counterinsurgency operations in May.
The ONLF accuses the government of human rights abuses; the government accuses the rebels of being terrorists funded by its archenemy, Eritrea.
The U.S. looks to Ethiopia to help fight the war on terror in East Africa, where al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225 people.
But working with Ethiopia against terror means an alliance with a country accused of violating human and political rights. Last year, the Ethiopian government acknowledged its security forces killed 193 civilians protesting a disputed election but insisted excessive force was not used.
Earlier this year, New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Ethiopian army of blocking aid, burning homes and displacing thousands of civilians in the Ogaden region.
Ethiopia expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Dutch branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres from Ogaden. But in recent weeks, the government has allowed 19 non-governmental organizations to return.
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, the prime minister told journalists Wednesday that human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis, "didn't exist. Doesn't exist. Will not exist" in the Ogaden.
Meles, a former rebel, said that he would not repeat the measures taken against him by previous regimes and his government will not commit "widespread human rights violations."
"We know firsthand how to fight an insurgency and how to avoid stupid mistakes," Meles said.
John Holmes, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief, visited the region Tuesday and on Wednesday described the humanitarian situation there as "potentially serious."
He said that he had talked with Meles and other Ethiopian officials about opening up transport and trade, expanding food distribution and addressing human rights concerns. He said Meles took the human rights "issue seriously."
Holmes said he heard many secondhand reports of human rights abuses and said that "they come from numerous and sufficiently varied sources to be taken seriously." He did not give details.
The U.N. fact-finding mission said in September that the situation in the Ogaden had deteriorated rapidly and called for an independent investigation.
The mission also said that recent fighting in the region had led to a worsening humanitarian situation and called for a substantial increase in emergency food aid.
__________
Source: Newsweek
Nov 28, 2007
2. Dueling Dictators
These two nations should be as close as the U.S. and Canada. So why are Ethiopia and Eritrea on the verge of war—again?
If there were an award for the most pointless war of the last 25 years, Ethiopia and Eritrea's 1998-2000 border battle might well take the prize. An estimated 70,000 people were killed, another 750,000 displaced, and by the time of the ceasefire two of the poorest countries on earth had each spent over a half billion dollars fighting over a few dusty miles of parched scrubland. As if that weren't bad enough, the two dictators who oversaw that disaster are now leading their countries dangerously close to a rematch.
On Friday, the independent boundary commission established after the last war is slated to dissolve itself after seven thankless years—without the governments of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki having reached an agreement on precisely where their border lies. What happens next is anyone's guess. Both governments proclaim their desire for peace while accusing its rival of preparing to launch an attack.
Ethiopia has massed at least 100,000 troops along the frontier, facing off against an estimated 125,000 Eritreans--including 4,000 Eritrean soldiers in what is supposed to be a demilitarized U.N.-patrolled buffer zone between the two armies. A report from the U.N. secretary-general's office this year called the border "tense and potentially unstable." Earlier this fall, Ethiopia's foreign minister said the armies are separated by as little as "70 to 80 meters" in some places.
That means the slightest provocation could trigger a war. But why exactly are two countries with such enormous problems--and so many similarities--at each other's throats yet again? Eritrea, once a part of Ethiopia, is as close culturally to northern Ethiopia as Canada is to the United States. Many people in both countries speak a common language, practice the same ancient branch of Orthodox Christianity, listen to the same Amharic-language pop singers on the radio and share a staple diet of a fermented bread made from teff--a grain commercially grown only in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Their respective leaders have a lot in common, as well. Zenawi and Afwerki were both born to ethnic Tigray families less than 90 miles apart under Ethiopia's postwar imperial regime. Both studied at Addis Ababa University.
Both rose to prominence in the 1980s at the head of secular Marxist-leaning guerrilla groups opposed to Ethiopia's disastrous Derg government, which ruled during the country's great famine in the 1980s. Both preside, too, over countries that share common miseries. Per capita income hovers around $200 a year, about a third of the average for sub-Saharan Africa.
More than 40 percent of Eritreans are illiterate, and one in seven Ethiopian children die before age 5. Neither country has any industry to speak of, and most of the population of both Eritrea and Ethiopia are subsistence farmers dependent on good rains to eke out a living. Zenawi himself has called the flashpoint town at the heart of the border dispute no more than "a godforsaken village."
Zenawi and Afwerki share a complex history on their journey from alliance to enmity. Afwerki's more established guerrilla group, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), helped nurture Zenawi's, which was based in the neighboring province of Tigray and was known as the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). As allies, the two groups swept aside the Derg army and captured Addis Ababa in 1991.
Zenawi's TPLF took control of Ethiopia's central government, and Afwerki became governor of Eritrea and later president, when Eritrea, backed by Ethiopia, peacefully seceded in 1993.
But relations soon soured. Afwerki, who viewed himself as something of a mentor to Zenawi, found himself in charge of a country with 7 percent the population of his former acolyte. Tension was inevitable. "There was conflict over who was more important," says one Ethiopian official, who spoke anonymously due to the issue's sensitivity. "And Meles obviously became more important when he took over the bigger country."
By 1998, a series of economic and political disputes led to a rapid deterioration in relations, and Eritrea launched a surprise attack near the disputed town of Badme. Two years of World War I-style trench warfare followed. By the time a U.S.-backed peace agreement was reached in Algiers in 2000, Ethiopian troops had retaken Badme and pushed into Eritrean territory.
As part of the peace deal, the two sides agreed to set up the boundary commission that would demarcate their border based on three pre-World War I treaties between Italy (Eritrea's one-time colonial master) and Ethiopia. Both sides lawyered up, hiring high-powered American attorneys to argue a border dispute that would turn on maps drawn by hand a century ago.
The commission dealt Ethiopia a nasty surprise in 2002, when it awarded Badme to Eritrea. The ruling was hard for Zenawi to swallow, particularly since Ethiopia ended the war with the upper hand militarily, and the prime minister did not fully accept the ruling until earlier this year. However, Ethiopia has continued to thwart its implementation by blocking the commission from demarcating the border on the ground. Ethiopian troops continue to occupy Badme.
That sort of intransigence would normally trigger heavy criticism from Western powers. But fortunately for Zenawi, Afwerki played a clumsy diplomatic hand. After the September 11 attacks, Zenawi became a key Washington ally, allowing the U.S. to interrogate terror suspects in secret prisons and invading Somalia to oust an Islamist government last year.
Ethiopia receives about a half billion dollars in official U.S. assistance annually, and Washington offered only muted criticism when Zenawi's government jailed opposition leaders, silenced journalists and killed 193 demonstrators following disputed elections in 2005. Washington has also given short shrift to numerous reports of atrocities committed by the Ethiopian Army in the country's rebellious Ogaden region and in Somalia.
Meanwhile an increasingly defiant Afwerki was busy alienating potential allies and making his nation—once a favorite of the West—a pariah. Eritrea harassed U.N. peacekeeping teams sent to monitor the border, expelled foreign aid agencies, and arrested those working for foreign embassies in Asmara.
It cracked down on religious minorities and political dissidents and gave succor not only to Ethiopian rebels but those from neighboring Somalia and Sudan, as well. Eritrea's coziness with Somali Islamists linked to Al Qaeda led the U.S. earlier this year to threaten to place the country on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.
As tensions with its much larger neighbor have heightened, Afwerki has conscripted an ever-larger share of its working age population into the military, triggering economic stagnation and a growing stream of defectors. Though Eritrea may be legally in the right when it comes to Badme, it's having a hard time finding many sympathizers.
Predicting what either of the secretive regimes will do is difficult. Without diplomatic help from the outside world, Eritrea's increasingly desperate regime may look to launch a quick strike and hope that international pressure would lead to a ceasefire before Ethiopia could launch a counterattack.
Likewise there has been speculation that Zenawi, sensing Afwerki's isolation and confident about Washington's support for Ethiopia, would launch a coup against his old ally—followed by an Ethiopian invasion. "[If] we go to war, the war will be not only to defend ourselves," Zenawi said in a speech Tuesday. "We will teach Eritrea that there won't be a third time."
With tensions rising, analysts believe that Washington and the United Nations also need to put pressure on both sides. While the U.N. could exert diplomatic pressure, the Bush administration could threaten Zenawi with sanctions and a withdrawal of aid if he attacks Eritrea. Earlier this month, U. N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged that the boundary commission be allowed to proceed with demarcation, and the U.S. State Department issued a statement urging both sides to exercise "maximum restraint."
That may not be enough. Should the two sides ignore peace overtures, it's ordinary Ethiopians and Eritreans who will suffer most. Tsega Gebreab, 57, fled Eritrea last year after the government confiscated her husband's farm and conscripted her eldest son. Now living in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, she says she can't sleep at night for fear that her son is at the front and soon to become cannon fodder in a war she can't understand. "I almost went mad when my child was taken," she says, her voice cracking. "We're constantly stressed." In this volatile part of the world, that's unlikely to change any time soon.
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Source: IOL, South Africa
November 29, 2007
3. UN hails green projects in Mexico, Ethiopia
Nairobi - More than one billion trees were planted around the world in 2007, with Ethiopia and Mexico leading in the drive to combat climate change through new lush forest projects, a United Nations report said on Wednesday.
The Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said the mass tree planting, inspired by Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, will help mitigate effects of pollution and environmental deterioration.
"An initiative to catalyse the pledging and the planting of one billion trees has achieved and indeed surpassed its mark. It is a further sign of the breathtaking momentum witnessed this year on the challenge for this generation - climate change," UNEP chief Achim Steiner said in a statement.
"Millions if not billions of people around this world want an end to pollution and environmental deterioration and have rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty to prove the point," he added.
UNEP said the total number of trees planted is still being collated, but developing countries top the list with more than 700 million and 217 million planted in Ethiopia and Mexico respectively.
Ethiopia's high demand for fuel wood and land for cropping and grazing has slashed its forest cover from about 35 percent of its landmass in the early 20th century to just 4.2 percent by 2000, environmentalist say.
Others planters include: Turkey 150 million, Kenya 100 million, Cuba 96.5 million, Rwanda 50 million, South Korea 43 million, Tunisia 21 million, Morocco 20 million, Myanmar 20 million and Brazil 16 million.
Maathai's Green Belt Movement planted 4.7 million trees, double the number it had initially pledged, according to UNEP. The army has participated in re-afforestation drives in Kenya and Mexico.
Indonesia, which will next month host the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is expected to plant almost 80 million trees in one day alone in the run up to the Bali climate meeting.
UNEP said China, Guatemala and Spain are expected soon to announce new plantings of millions of trees.
Experts says that trees help absorb carbon contained in the heat-trapping gases blamed for climate change, which are largely generated by human activity and are one of the most perilous environmental challenges in the modern world.
The UNEP report sends a powerful message ahead of the December 3-14 meeting in Bali of the UNFCCC, a panel charting the path for negotiating pollution cuts to be implemented after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol pledges run out.
"We called you to action almost exactly a year ago and you responded beyond our dreams," said Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace prize for her campaign to plant tens of millions of trees to counter tree-loss and desertification in Africa.
"Now we must keep the pressure on and continue the good work for the planet," Maathai said in the statement.
The Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), which co-organised the campaign, said the success indicated that environment can be rescued by afforestation.
"This milestone shows clearly that the global community has the spirit and the substance to unite in achieving ambitious targets to create a better environment for all," said ICRAF Director General Dennis Garrity.
The UNEP, citing its credible tracking system, said 1.56 billion trees have been planted around the world, but had so far received pledges of 2.24 billion trees.
The mass planting, carried by governments, communities, corporations and individuals, will continue despite surpassing the one billion mark, the agency said.
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How To Lose Your History
April 2, 1999
By Dr Richard Pankhurst
Addis Ababa - Almost thirty years ago, in what some people like to call the Good Old Days, Dr Walter Harrelson, Dean of the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, visited Ethiopia in search of manuscripts of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.
While in Addis Ababa, he met His Holiness Abuna Theophilus, the then Acting Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who suggested to his American visitor that funds might be sought to microfilm all manuscripts in Ethiopia, thus enabling scholars with varied interests to have access to documentation.
To this end, Abuna Theophilus appointed a committee, chaired by Dr Harrelson, to explore the possibilities of microfilming the manuscripts, and of securing the funds to do so. The First Joint Consultation Meeting for Microfilming Ethiopian Church Manuscripts was accordingly held in Addis Ababa, on April 22-23 1971.
It was in this way, and readers may note that I have been quoting directly from an Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library brochure, that the justly renowned EMML project was launched.
Highly Regarded
The project was so highly regarded that it received initial financial support from the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by 30 June 1977 had received American financial support, to a the tune of US$ 170,000.
Microfilming was, as far as possible systematic, and carried out church (or other institution), by church, and the filming of manuscripts was as far as possible complete. Only the most common items, such as copies of Dawit, i.e. the Psalms of David, were excluded from filming.
The project published its first detailed catalogue, of the first 300 Ethiopian manuscripts, in 1975; and its last catalogue to date, Volume X, with 999 entries - edited by Dr Getatchew Haile - six years ago, in 1993.
These catalogues, mainly, though not exclusively the work of Dr Getatchew, now cover no less than five thousand items, and are works of meticulous scholarship, on any showing.
There is in addition a back-log of many uncatalogued manuscript (how many we do not know), as well as, we may suppose, a number of already catalogued manuscripts awaiting publication.
Works Microfilmed
The EMML project, which won the admiration of virtually all scholars in the field (Leslau, Ullendorff, Strelcyn, Hammerchmidt, Chojnacki, Tubiana, et al.) and is widely quoted in works of scholarship, was based on a partnership between three institutions: the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and St John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Cataloguing of manuscripts by the EMML revealed that the majority of Ethiopia's manuscripts consisted, as one would expect, of Bibles, Biblical Commentaries, Service books, Lives of Saints, and other religious works essential for the understanding of Ethiopian religion, religious institutions, and history; but also covered many other matters, including philosophy, secular and church history (such as Ethiopian royal chronicles), law, mathematics, medicine, and other subjects.
The Lives of Ethiopian Saints, though often full of unbelievable miracles, are, it should be emphasised, also full of historical information of crucial importance for the study of Ethiopian history. Many such works contain moreover unavailable data on such varied subjects as traditional church education, famines and epidemics.
Many Ethiopian manuscripts also contain "marginalia", or otherwise unwritten pages at the beginning, end, or elsewhere in the volume, which have been used, sometimes over a period of centuries, to enter a wide variety of historically important data.
This may cover such questions as royal land grants, land purchases and sales by both men and women, using gold, Maria Theresa dollars, or "primitive money"; marriage agreements and contracts; tax records (see for example the volume I edited, with Girma-Sellassie Asfaw, on the tax records of Emperor Tewodros); lists of books, usually specified by name; church paraphernalia and other property, including guns, in various churches and monasteries, etc., etc. - a rich store in effect of historical material.
Illustrations
Not a few manuscripts also contain illustrations, likewise of immense historical and cultural importance. Invaluable for the history of Ethiopian art, they also provide unique documentation on almost all aspects of Ethiopia's historic past.
They depict such subjects as agriculture and handicrafts; wood-cutting, and house-building; clothing and dress, both male and female; crowns, and other royal decorations; crosses, and church paraphernalia;
cattle-slaughtering, preparation and serving of food and drink; banquets, complete with dining tables, waiters, and slaves; hair-styles and decorations; jewellery and tattooing; horse and mule decorations; local weapons, such as spears and shields, and imported ones, like rifles; furniture and household objects, including masob, agagil, and gambo; sports and games, among them guks and gabata; diseases and debilities, among them leprosy and other skin diseases, and loss of limbs; and wild and domestic animals.
Not a few paintings consist portraits, albeit often highly stylized, of Ethiopian personalities of the past both religious and lay, while others depict class relations, with rulers, servants, and slaves. Such material, you will appreciate, dear reader, is of crucial importance to the Ethiopian political, military, medical and social historian, no less than to the historian of art.
The EMML project microfilmed only in black-and-white, though it did take some colour photographs of paintings: for the future the possibility of working in colour, with digital cameras, needs serious consideration.
Archival Material
The EMML did not confine itself only (as some may think) to manuscripts on parchment, but also microfilmed a large amount of archival material, for the most part on paper.
This is not the place to provide a catalogue of EMML microfilms (spare us that!), but take for example a few of the items in Volume IX:
It contains biographical material on Ethiopia's first foreign-educated physician-cum diplomat, Hakim Warqnah, known abroad as Dr Martin;
papers on many subjects written by the assiduous, but unassuming Ethiopian scholar, Blatta Mars'e Hazen;
a life of the heroic, yet little-studied, Ethiopian Patriot, Tashoma Shangut;
entirely unpublished Ethiopian documents belonging to Ethiopia's pre-war Minister of Public Works, Fitawrari Taffesa Habta Mikael; an Ethiopian Government report on the movement of Somali pastoralists;
reports (from the Ethiopian as well as the British side) on the Anglo-Ethiopian Boundary Commission defining the frontier between Ethiopia and British Somaliland in the early 1930s; documents on the Wal Wal incident of December 1934, which Mussolini was to use shortly afterwards as a pretext for the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia; and much much more!
EMML microfilming was also carried out at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies Library, where manuscripts and archival material was filmed - a valuable insurance against possible destruction by fire at that institution.
Security
Microfilming, it should be emphasised, also has a significant security aspect. Once items are microfilmed they can much more easily identified if stolen; and EMML films, if need-be, can be made available to the Ethiopian police, or Interpol.
Where to See Them
EMML, as a co-operative project conceived with vision made copies of its microfilms widely available to the scholarly community, both in Ethiopia and abroad. Microfilm copies can be viewed, in Addis Ababa, at both the Ministry of Culture and the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, and, in the United States, at St John's University, at Collegeville, Minnesota. And if, dear reader, you are not so privileged as to live in either of these towns, you can consult the published EMML catalogues, which are to be found in libraries in the main centres of learning, and easily order microfilm copies from Collegeville, for a modest fee.
But What Now?
Praise for EMML brings us to the sad point that the project, for lack of funds, or vision, has in recent years come to an end. Though microfilming of manuscripts was carried on fairly exhaustively for almost two decades in much of the country, manuscripts in many other areas, including Tegray, let alone Eritrea, have still not been touched by the project at all.
And yet the need for the systematic recording of Ethiopian manuscripts is as great, nay, far greater, than ever before!
The question with which we are now confronted is: will Ethiopia in the twenty-first Century be able to live up to the achievements, and expectations, of the Twentieth?
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Enoch Calendar: Testimony of Ethiopian Millennial Calander to Judaic/Christian Civilization:
Enoch Calendar Testifies of Christ
by John P. Pratt
Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (Sept. 11, 2001)
©2001 by John P. Pratt. All rights reserved.
Index, Home
Contents 1. Christ Quotes Enoch
2. Enoch's Astronomy
3. Enoch Calendar
4. Life of Christ
5. Enoch Fixed Calendar
5.1 Mercury Witness
5.2 Modern Witnesses
6. Conclusion
Notes
Jesus Christ quoted often from the Book of Enoch, indirectly testifying of its authenticity. Now it has been discovered that Enoch returns the favor because the key dates in the life of Christ are "holy days" on the Enoch Calendar. Thus, Enoch, who prophesied of the Elect One, indirectly witnessed that the Messiah would be none other than Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ and his apostles quoted from the Book of Enoch (also called 1 Enoch) as authentic scripture. It was once in the Bible and was accepted as having been written by Enoch himself, the majestic antediluvian prophet who was translated into heaven without tasting death (Heb. 11:5). During the Third and Fourth Centuries AD the book fell into disfavor and was removed from sacred canon, destined to become one of the "lost books" of the Bible. It was rediscovered in 1773 in Ethiopia and is now readily available in English, but is still largely unappreciated. Before looking at the calendar it describes, let us briefly review how it contains doctrines or phrases of the Savior, which are apparently examples of the Savior quoting Enoch.
1. Christ Quotes Enoch
The one direct quote in the New Testament is by Jude, a brother of Jesus Christ:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
"To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 1:14-15, quoting Enoch 1:9 {2:1} [1].)
While that is the only referenced quotation in the Bible, there are many indirect references which involve striking similarities. The scholar and translator R.H. Charles declared, "The influence of 1 Enoch on the New Testament has been greater than that of all the other apocryphal and pseudepigraphical books taken together."
[2] Another expert noted that "Its influence is apparent in no less than 128 places in the New Testament."[3] The following table compares a few from the introduction to Archbishop Richard Laurence's original translation [4], in which the Savior apparently alludes to the Book of Enoch.
Jesus Christ Enoch
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Mat 5:5) The elect shall possess light, joy and peace, and they shall inherit the earth. (Enoch 5:7 {6:9})
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son (John 5:22). the principal part of the judgment was assigned to him, the Son of man. (Enoch 69:27 {68:39})
shall inherit everlasting life (Mat. 19:29) those who will inherit eternal life (Enoch 40:9 {40:9})
"Wo unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. (Luke 6:24) Woe to you who are rich, for in your riches have you trusted; but from your riches you shall be removed. (Enoch 94:8 {93:7}).
Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Mat. 19:28) I will place each of them on a throne of glory (Enoch 108:12 {105:26})
Woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born. (Mat. 26:24) Where will the habitation of sinners be . . . who have rejected the Lord of spirits. It would have been better for them, had they never been born. (Enoch 38:2 {38:2})
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. (Luke 16:26) by a chasm . . . [are] their souls are separated (Enoch 22: 9,11{22:10,12})
In my Father's house are many mansions (John 14:2) In that day shall the Elect One sit upon a throne of glory, and shall choose their conditions and countless habitations. (Enoch 45:3 {45:3})
that ye may be called the children of light (John 12:36) the good from the generation of light (Enoch 108:11 {105: 25})
the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14) all the thirsty drank, and were filled with wisdom, having their habitation with the righteous, the elect, and the holy. (Enoch 48:1 {48:1})
History. The Book of Enoch was dropped from the Jewish scriptures shortly after Christ, most likely because it apparently referred to him as the Messiah. It was quoted as scripture by the early Christian Church fathers until the middle of the third century AD, accepted as a divine work having been written by Enoch himself.[5]
It then fell into disrepute and was banned from the canon of scripture in the fourth century, partly because it didn't agree with how Christianity came to be redefined after the death of the apostles.
The book also doubtlessly raised questions with its unusual imagery, referring to things such as "the stone which supports the corners of the earth" and "the four winds, which bear up the earth" (Enoch 18:2 {18:2-3}).
That may have sounded primitive to the sophisticated science of the fourth century, but that is the same imagery used by many great prophets. For example, John the Revelator states, "I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth" (Rev. 7:1; compare imagery of Isa. 11:12, Jer. 49:36, Ezek. 37:9, Dan. 7:2, Mat. 24:31).
As is discussed later in this article, often what appears to be primitive science in the scriptures turns out to be the sophisticated concepts of God simplified for us. Note that the prophets have 100% chance of success when predicting the weather, so those angels may have more to do with the wind than we might suppose.
Thus, for a variety of reasons, the Book of Enoch was systematically purged from the scriptures until it became a "lost book" of the Bible. In 1773 the famous explorer James Bruce discovered it in Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia), and brought back three copies. Fortunately, the Ethiopians had kept it in their Bible, where it was located immediately after the Book of Job.[6]
One of the three copies was presented to the Oxford library. The first English translation was published in 1821 by Archbishop Richard Laurence, who had been a Professor of Hebrew at Oxford. Later translations included that of George Schodde in 1881, of R.H. Charles in 1913, and by E. Isaac in 1983.[7]
The first three translations are now available on the internet. Quotations and links in this article are to the original Laurence translation, because it still appears to be the best overall translation.
Date of Origin. Modern scholars, beginning with Laurence, all date the origin of the book to the first or second century before Christ, hence it is assigned to the "pseudepigrapha," meaning it is not believed to have been written by the named author. It is dated using standard "scholarly" methods.
One rule of dating used by modern scholars, is that if anything is prophesied which turns out to be correct, it must have been written after the event, because otherwise the author would really have to have been a prophet!
This complete rejection of the entire concept of revelation forced Laurence to put the authorship of the Book of Enoch extremely late because he saw that it prophesied not only the existence of Parthia (250 BC), but even the reign of King Herod the Great, which began in 37 BC. On the other hand, it was quoted by the Savior and his apostles so it must have been written before their time.
Thus Laurence inferred that the book had been written "before the rise of Christianity; most probably at an early period of the reign of Herod."[8] More modern scholarship has concluded that the book was probably written by several authors over the period of about 180-64 BC.[9] This extremely recent authorship date of course raises the question of how such a late forgery could have been so totally accepted as genuine in just a few decades, which has never been adequately explained.
In this article, let us consider the outrageous possibility that the work was actually originally written by the prophet Enoch long before the Great Flood and contains many genuine revelations.[10]
It probably also contains some interpolations of men, and has suffered from mistakes introduced by the many hand-made transcriptions. But for the purposes of this article, when it says that an angel revealed to Enoch a divine calendar, those statements will be taken at face value. One scientific way to test a hypothesis is to assume it is true and examine the consequences. Let us now apply that method to the astronomy contained in the Book of Enoch.
2. Enoch's Astronomy
To my knowledge there has been no thorough study published of the astronomy contained in the eleven chapters of the Book of Enoch referred to as "Book III: The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries" (chapters 72-82 {71-81}).
The reason appears obvious: the astronomy therein appears to be hopelessly primitive. Perhaps the most glaring error is that the angel reveals to Enoch that the solar year only contains 364 days. That calendar of 364 days is claimed to keep synchronized with the seasons.
It doesn't take much calculation to determine that if a calendar is 1 1/4 days short of a year, it would very quickly drift through the seasons. In only 32 years it would be already be 40 days short, which would be noticeable by everyone. Thus, the calendar is usually dismissed in a footnote reminding us that the author must surely have been aware even at that time that the year has 365 1/4 days[11]. The idea that an angel could be so far in error has discredited the "scientific" portion of the Book of Enoch.
In 45 BC Julius Caesar introduced the "Julian" calendar which averages 365.25 days per year. The Savior and his apostles lived in the Roman Empire where the Julian calendar had been used for decades and was known to be accurate. How could any book be accepted as authentic scripture by them when it contained such a glaring error?
And yet the calendar of Book of Enoch was taken very seriously indeed. Both the Qumran Calendar described in the Dead Sea Scrolls and also the calendar of the Book of Jubilees had 364 days. The Book of Jubilees, dating to about the 2nd century BC, strongly emphasizes that the calendar is to have exactly 364 days.[12]
Could a calendar with 364 days actually be useful? Could it be more sophisticated than our modern-day Gregorian calendar? Could it really be a calendar which God might use?
3. The Enoch Calendar
The calendar described in the Book of Enoch has many excellent features. One of the best is that it has a very simple, elegant pattern. My understanding of the text is that it has twelve months of 30 days and 4 other days which are quarter-year markers for the four seasons. Thus it totals exactly 364 days.[13] The names of the months are not given, but it is clear that each season is to be reckoned as the three months following the day heralding that season. Figure 1 illustrates the pattern, complete with suggested names.
Figure 1. The Enoch Calendar. There are several appealing aspects to such a scheme. Not only is it very structured with the same number of days every month, but every quarter-year contains 91 days, which is exactly 13 weeks. That would mean that every quarter would start on the same day of the week. It would also mean that a year would comprise exactly 52 weeks, instead of being one or two days in excess.
Modern Calendar Reform. It turns out that the biggest complaint against our modern Gregorian calendar is that the commercial community would much prefer that every quarter start on the same day of the week. The big feature of the so-called World Calendar which was proposed from 1931-1955 was that every quarter has 91 days, just like the Enoch Calendar.
The difference was that the World Calendar adds one or two extra days annually which were simply not reckoned in the week or year at all, in order to attain the needed average of 365.24 to keep aligned with the seasons. That was unacceptable to Christians, Hebrews, and Muslims alike, all of whom believe that the week is sacred and should be an unbroken cycle. Hence the World Calendar was not adopted.[14]
Thus, modern calendar reform has been advocating the very features of the calendar of Enoch. The only problem is that the Enoch Calendar purports to keep aligned with the seasons, even describing the place of sunrise during different seasons and also specifying the amount of the lengthening of the day in summer months and its shortening during the winter months.
Astronomers would also like the calendar of Enoch because it emphasizes the four natural divisions of the year. The phrases "first day of spring," summer, autumn and winter are commonly used to denote what astronomers call the spring and autumn equinoxes and the summer and winter solstices.
The equinoxes are the two days each year on which the sun rises most nearly due east, making the days and nights of equal length. The solstices occur when the sun rises at the farthest point north or south, causing the longest and shortest days of the year. Surely the idea of having those four days be emphasized on the calendar would be appealing to astronomers who would like to keep the public aware that the calendar is indeed tied to astronomy.
Intercalation. So what about those extra days needed to keep aligned with the seasons? Nowhere does the Book of Enoch forbid intercalation, meaning inserting extra "leap days" into the year to keep it aligned with the seasons.
It does, however, seem to imply that the week should be an unbroken cycle, because surely one of the main reasons for choosing a 364-day year length is that it is exactly 52 weeks. Thus, the possibility arises of inserting an entire extra week every few years to bring the average to the needed 365.24 days. That would fulfill both the purpose of keeping aligned with the seasons and yet keeping the week an unbroken cycle of 7 days.
Actually, the Book of Enoch does appear to suggest an intercalation method which has been largely overlooked.[15] In discussing the motion of the moon, the angel tells Enoch what I believe to be the secret of when to insert the extra weeks:
"The moon brings on all the years exactly, that their stations may come neither too forwards nor too backwards a single day; but that the years may be changed with correct precision in 364 days. In three years the days are 1,092; . . . To the moon alone belong in three years 1,062 days . . . So that the moon has thirty days less than the sun and stars. . . . The year then becomes truly complete according to the station of the moons and the station of the sun . . ." (Enoch 74:11-17 {73:13-14, 12, 16})
In other words, it is the moon which "brings on all the years exactly," meaning that intercalation is to be done such that the new year (at the spring equinox) approximately aligns with the new moon.
That will only be possible in certain years, but it provides a guideline for when to insert the extra one-week intervals. The angel seems to be pointing out that, in addition to its primary goal of aligning with the seasons of the sun, a secondary purpose of the Enoch Calendar is to keep aligned with the moon also. That makes it surprisingly similar to the Hebrew calendar, which has the primary goal of aligning with the moon, and a secondary goal of aligning with the sun.
Note also that the angel points out another excellent reason for the choice of 364 days. The lunar year of 354 days is 10 days short of 364 days, so in three years the lunar cycle is 30 days short of three 364-day Enoch years.
The Hebrew calendar inserts an extra 30-day lunar month about every three years to keep aligned with the sun. Thus, during many three year intervals, the Hebrew and Enoch year align perfectly with no intercalation.[16] There is an excellent example of this very alignment of Hebrew and Enoch calendars during the life of Christ, discussed below.
An unexpected feature of the 364-day year is that it results in an average year length even more accurate than our modern Gregorian calendar. The actual length of the year is now 365.2422 days.
The Gregorian calendar averages 365.2425 days which is much closer than the former Julian calendar which averaged 365.25 days. But if 52 weeks are intercalated every 293 years into the calendar of Enoch, then it averages 365.2423 days which is extremely accurate.
It is very surprising that such accuracy can be obtained by intercalating an entire week at a time over so short a time period. In contrast, our Gregorian calendar intercalates one day at a time over a 400-year cycle and achieves less long-term accuracy.[17] A 364-day calendar based on an intercalated Enoch calendar has been proposed.[18]
Alignment with Week. Because every quarter of the Enoch Calendar will always begin on the same day of the week, we need to know what weekday begins each quarter. One big clue is that this calendar is holy, having been revealed by an angel, and therefore most likely tied to days which God has declared holy. Both the first and last day of the week have been declared holy: the seventh day (Saturday) was the sabbath day before the resurrection of Jesus Christ, after which the first day of the week (Sunday) became the day of worship for those who accept him as the Messiah (Acts 20:7).
The most obvious alignment is that each quarter should begin on a Sunday just as each week begins on a Sunday. Let us try that hypothesis and see what fruit it bears.[19]
Beginning of Day. Another important point is to define when each day begins. The Book of Enoch is apparently mute on this subject, but it may imply that the day begins at dawn for several reasons.
First, the description of the solar calendar begins with the sun rising. Second, day is consistently mentioned as occurring before night, as opposed to Genesis where the evening always precedes the morning (as in the Hebrew day). And finally, as a rule, calendars usually begin both days and years on the same part of the light/dark cycle. That is, calendars on which the year begins in the spring also have the day begin at dawn; if the day begins in the evening, then the year begins in the fall. Even on our Gregorian calendar, the day begins at midnight and the year in mid winter. Thus, let us proceed with the tentative proposal that the day on the Enoch calendar begins at dawn.
4. Key Dates in the Life of Christ
Now let us see if this definition of the Enoch Calendar has any usefulness for events that an angel would consider important. The first obvious target in searching for such a date is to consider the key dates in the life of Jesus Christ. Over the last two decades, this author has published his proposed dates for four major events in the life of Jesus Christ: his birth, baptism, beginning of public ministry, and resurrection.[20] In preparation for appreciating the coincidences with the Enoch Calendar, let us review the symbolism of those dates.
The proposed dates in the life of the Savior were calculated from the Judean calendar, which was the version of the Hebrew calendar used at that time in Jerusalem. It is now clear after the fact to Christians that many of the rites of the law of Moses were symbolic of the events in the life of Christ. For example, the Passover lamb symbolized Christ who would be sacrificed (John 1:29, 1 Cor. 5:7).
It is important to note that the very time at which the Savior was being crucified on Fri 1 Apr AD 33, the Passover lambs were also being slaughtered according to the Judean calendar. On the next day, Passover, which celebrates the liberation of the captive Israelites from Egypt at the Exodus, Jesus Christ was in the spirit world preaching liberation to the captives there (1 Peter 3:18-20, Isa. 61:1).
Similarly, there is the Sheaf Offering of the firstfruits from the ground that was made on Sun 3 Apr AD 33, shortly after the Redeemer was resurrected and became the firstfruits of them that slept (1 Cor 15:20).
One correlation which has not been so obvious is that the feast of the Passover, that is, the joyous celebration, was really the Savior's birthday party, who would be liberated from the captivity of the womb and be born on the same day that the nation of Israel was born. Thus the timing of the various rites of the law of Moses all pointed to Christ as being the Messiah (Gal. 3:24).
Those dates, along with the dates of the Savior's baptism (on the day of Atonement) and the beginning of his public ministry (on Passover) are illustrated in Figure 2. Note the perfection of the astronomical timing. The Savior began his ministry exactly on his 30th birthday, even as the Levites began their temple service at age 30 (Num. 4:3).
His public ministry lasted exactly three years, so that his life from birth to death was within a few hours of exactly 33 Hebrew years, having been born at 15 Nisan began and died as 14 Nisan ended. Thus it appears that his life was planned according to the Hebrew calendar, including the day of his death. Because of the foreknowledge of God, the Israelites had been commanded to sacrifice lambs for well over a thousand years on the very day each year on which the Lamb of God would also be slain.
Figure 2. Key events in Christ's life occurred on ritual days on the Hebrew Calendar.
Now let us consider those same dates on the Enoch Calendar, remembering that the dates were derived by fitting to the ritual days on the Hebrew calendar. First, let us just consider the intervals between the dates.
The period from the Savior's baptism to the beginning of his ministry was 182 days, exactly half a year on the Enoch calendar. Moreover, from his public ministry beginning on Sat 6 Apr AD 30 to his resurrection was exactly 3 Enoch years of 364 days. That is the very interval alignment already quoted from the Book of Enoch, namely, that after a three year period the Hebrew and Enoch calendars align with each other. Note that on our calendar the separation of those two dates is four days short of three years, but on the Hebrew calendar it is exactly three years, both days occurring on the Hebrew day 15 Nisan (Passover).
Those two dates are also separated by exactly 1,092 days as described in the Book of Enoch, both days being the same day on the Enoch Calendar. Thus, the mathematical coincidence which allows these two dates in the life of Christ to fall on the same days on both the Hebrew and Enoch Calendar is explicitly stated in the Book of Enoch.
Correlation. Let us now consider the precise correlation of the Enoch calendar during the life of Christ to our calendar. The goal of the Enoch Calendar is to have the day of the Spring Equinox day (always a Saturday) fall near the new moon (1 Nisan or New Year on the Hebrew Calendar) and also near the actual spring equinox (20/21 March).
The two years AD 30 and AD 33 are ideal models of the desired positions because 1 Nisan fell on Sat 23 Mar AD 30 and Sat 19 Mar AD 33, each only two days away from the equinox. Thus, although we don't know just when the Enoch Calendar would be intercalated, we can be sure that it would not be in, nor between, these two years because they are already perfectly aligned.
To see how unusual that is, note that in the years within two decades of AD 30 and 33, there is not even one other year in which 1 Nisan falls on a Saturday between 17 Mar and 25 March. Thus, it is ideal that these two dates are so centered around the true equinox.
Enoch Calendar Holy Days. No holy days are specified in the Book of Enoch, but the same ones can be proposed to fall on days on the Enoch Calendar which are equivalent to the Hebrew. For example, Passover is supposed to be on the night of the full moon of spring, being 14 days after the new moon on or after the spring equinox. On the Hebrew calendar, that is the evening beginning the day 15 Nisan.
On the Enoch Calendar, the equinox occurs on the day 0 Spring, so 14 days later is 14 Spring. Similarly, the feast of Tabernacles (15 Tishri on Hebrew) would be on 14 Autumn, both of which would always fall on a Saturday. The Sheaf Offering (Hebrew equivalent of Easter) would always fall on Sun 15 Spring and Pentecost would always fall on Sun 4 Late Spring.[21]
Now consider the key dates for the Savior on the Enoch Calendar. Because the Hebrew and Enoch calendars are perfectly aligned during the Savior's entire ministry, the day he began his public ministry was Passover on both the Hebrew and Enoch calendars. Similarly, the day of his resurrection was the Sheaf Offering on the Hebrew calendar, and either on Passover or Sheaf Offering on the Enoch calendar, depending on the time of the beginning of the Enoch day.
The day of his baptism was on the day of Atonement on the Hebrew calendar (Sat 10 Tishri) and on the feast of Tabernacles on the Enoch calendar (Sat 14 Autumn).[22] So three of the four key dates in the Savior's life fell on holy days on both the Enoch and Hebrew Calendars.
Savior's Birth. But what about the Savior's birth date after sunset on Wed 5 Apr 1 BC.? In the year 1 BC., the day 1 Nisan did not fall on a Saturday as in AD 30 and 33, so the Enoch Calendar was not aligned with the Hebrew.
While Christ was born right at the time of the Passover Feast on the Hebrew Calendar (the evening preceding Passover, Thu 6 Apr), it would have been either 11 Spring or 18 Spring on the Enoch calendar, depending on when the intercalation week is added. Thus, the Savior's birth date does not appear to fit the pattern.[23] Let us consider an alternate symbolism.
5. The Enoch Fixed Calendar
If three of the four key dates in the Savior's life are holy on the Enoch calendar, and if it really was revealed by an angel, the we would expect a pattern to be fulfilled that the Savior's birthday would also be represented. The day of the Savior's birth was more important than that of his baptism or public ministry, for even a star had heralded his birth. A little research reveals that there is a very likely substitute "birth date" on a variation of the Enoch calendar.
Note that intercalating 52 extra weeks over the period of 293 years as described above amounts to adding exactly one extra year of 364 days in that interval. That would be the same as 294 fixed 364-day years, which happens to equal 6 jubilees of 49 years each (6 x 49 = 294).
[24] This suggests that there may actually be two different calendars implied by Enoch. The first, which could be called simply the "Enoch Calendar" would intercalate 52 weeks every 293 years and would keep aligned with the seasons as described in the text.
The second could be called the "Enoch Fixed Calendar" and would consist of a straight 364-day count, never having any leap days or weeks added. It would rotate through the seasons; that is, its "first day of spring" would sometimes occur in summer, autumn or winter, but it would serve the purpose of accurately keeping track of the total number of weeks which had passed. After every 293 Enoch years (or 294 Enoch fixed years), the two calendars would again be perfectly aligned for a few years.
Let's consider it more closely both because it is simpler and also because it appears to explain how the birth of Jesus Christ ties to the Enoch Calendar.
Presentation at the Temple. As noted above, during the 33-year life of the Savior, the Enoch Fixed Calendar would fall short of the usual solar year by 40 days. The law of Moses required that on the fortieth day after the birth of a son, the mother should present the child and an offering to the priest at the temple (Lev. 12:2-4).
The boy's birthday was counted as the first day, so the offering was actually made 39 days after the birth. That means that the day of presentation at the temple fell on Sunday, 14 May 1 BC. Because the Savior lived 33 years, that means the time from the presentation at the temple to his death was very close to 33 Enoch fixed years. When we do the calculation precisely, we see that it is exactly 33 years of 364 days from the Savior's presentation at the temple not to his death, but to his resurrection.
Correlation. We have seen that the Enoch Calendar and the Hebrew Calendar were aligned during the years of the Savior's public ministry and resurrection. The question arises of how to align the proposed 364-day Enoch Fixed Calendar with the other calendars.
After all, it rotates through the seasons and so we need to determine where it was on at least one day in history in order to determine it for all time. The most obvious choice is to choose to align it to be identical with the seasonal Enoch Calendar during the three years of the Savior's ministry.
If we do that, then the date of the offering of the firstborn of God at the temple would fall right on the day of the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits to God (15 Spring). That is such a symbolic match that it confirms our hunch that the choice of alignment is correct. So it is proposed that the Enoch and Enoch Fixed calendars were identical during the three years of the Savior's ministry. These relationships are illustrated in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Key events in Christ's life occurred on holy days on the Enoch Fixed Calendar.
Let us now consider some witnesses that this 364-day calendar actually exists, and might still be used by angels. After all, from what we've seen so far, it was only suggested to explain the birth like event for the Savior on the Enoch calendar.
5.1 Mercury Calendar Witness
Mercury Calendar. The "birth" symbolism of the presentation at the temple finds a second witness in the Mercury calendar, which has been described elsewhere.[25] The "birth" of the planet Mercury occurs when it rises as an evening star, on the day "1 Birth" on the Mercury calendar. That day always occurs exactly 39 days after the day "1 Creation" on that calendar, which is the beginning of the Mercury cycle. The Savior was born on the day 1 Creation on the Mercury calendar. Sun 14 May 1 BC was the day 1 Birth on the Mercury calendar, a second witness to the birth symbolism of that day.[26]
Moreover, there is another witness that this 40-day interval (counting inclusively) on the Mercury calendar is indeed important in the Savior's life. The other 40-day interval mentioned during the life of Jesus Christ is his 40-day fast which commenced at his baptism (Mat. 4:2, Mark 1:12-13). The proposed date for the Savior's baptism, Sat 6 Oct AD 29 was the last day of the Mercury cycle (called 0 Creation), so 40 days later, Thu 15 Nov AD 29, again fell right on 1 Birth on the Mercury calendar.
The fact that both of the 40-day periods in the life of Christ occurred during the exact same interval on the Mercury calendar attests both of the correctness of the dates as well as of the importance of the precise 40-day intervals. Perhaps that day could be considered the beginning of the Savior's preparatory ministry.[27]
Three and a half years. One more alignment ties the Mercury calendar to the calendar of Enoch. The period of the evening/morning star cycle of the planet Mercury averages 115.88 days.
That means 11 Mercury cycles equals 1274 days which is exactly three and a half Enoch fixed years (3.5 x 364 = 1274). The three and a half year interval from the Savior's baptism until his resurrection exactly fits the Mercury cycle, with the resurrection occurring on the day 1 Creation of the Mercury cycle. Note that the Savior's birth also occurred on the day 1 Creation on the Mercury cycle, so that from birth to resurrection spanned exactly 104 Mercury cycles. (See Fig. 4).
Figure 4. Key events in Christ's life occurred on holy days on the Mercury Calendar.
Table 1 summarizes the multiple holy day alignments during the life of Jesus Christ.
Event Gregorian Hebrew <>Sacred Round Venus Mercury Enoch Fixed
Birth Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm* Passover
(15 Nisan) 1 Reed 1 Creation 1 Creation
Temple Offering Sun 14 May 1 BC 1 Grass 1 Birth Sheaf
(15 Spring)
Baptism Sat 6 Oct 29 Atonement
(10 Tishri) 13 Water 0 Prime 0 Creation Tabernacles
(14 Autumn)
Preparatory Ministry Thu 15 Nov 29 1 Water 1 Birth
Public Ministry Sat 6 Apr 30 Passover
(15 Nisan) 13 Monkey Passover
(14 Spring)
Resurrection Sun 3 Apr 33 am* Sheaf
(16 Nisan) 13 Temple 1 Resurrection 1 Creation Passover
(14 Spring)
Table 1. Celestial Timing of the Life of Christ. The proposed dates of key events in the life of Jesus Christ occurred on holy days on five different sacred calendars. Only holy days on those calendars are listed.
5.2 Modern Day Witnesses
So far we have only seen examples from the life of Jesus Christ indicating that there may indeed be a fixed calendar of 364 days which angels might actually employ. Is there any reason that we should believe that such a calendar has actually been used over a long period of time? Are there any events from modern history that could attest that this calendar is still actually used?
What are some events in our time that might qualify as being interesting to angels? There are some, but not a huge variety to choose from. The following two examples, chosen from the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not offered as proof, but only as supporting evidence for such a calendar.
L.D.S. Day of Pentecost. There was one day in the history of the L.D.S. Church which has sometimes been called the L.D.S. "Day of Pentecost" because of the similarity to events which occurred on the Day of Pentecost shortly after the Savior's resurrection.
It was the day on which the temple at Kirtland, Ohio was dedicated: Sun 27 Mar 1836. In order to appreciate the similarity, let us first review the events of the archetypal Day of Pentecost, which occurred on Sun, 22 May AD 33. That day was the day of Pentecost on the Hebrew, the Enoch, and the Enoch Fixed calendars, so it was a triple pentecostal alignment.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
Thus, there was a great outpouring of spiritual events, which were witnessed by many people who had gathered according to the law of Moses from many nations for this annual feast. Note three features in particular: the sound of a mighty wind, cloven tongues of fire, and the gift of tongues.
Now compare these events to those at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. Here is what one L.D.S. authority includes in his entry under the heading "Day of Pentecost":
"On Sunday, March 27, 1836, in the dedicatory service itself, an almost exact repetition of the events of the New Testament day of Pentecost took place. 'Brother George A. Smith arose and began to prophesy,' the prophet recorded, 'when a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation.
The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place.'" (History of the Church, vol. 2, p. 428.)[28]
This was surely a great outpouring of spiritual events. Note that it included all three of the distinguishing characteristics of the former Pentecost, namely, the sound of the mighty wind, the cloven tongues of fire and the gift of tongues.
Moreover, angels were actually seen by many, so there is no question that this was an event which might have been a red-letter day on their calendar. Until now, no mention has been made of the calendrical significance of that day, other than the fact that the events of the week beginning that day seemed to parallel the last week of the Savior's life.[29]
Let us consider the date of the L.D.S. Day of Pentecost on the Enoch Fixed Calendar. It turns out that it occurred on the very of Pentecost on that calendar, being 4 Late Spring.
That is the same day that the Pentecost of Sun 22 May AD 33 also occurred on that calendar.[30] This coincidence seems significant because it was not just any holiday on the Enoch Fixed Calendar, but on the very one on which a similar experience occurred.
After this article was supposedly completed, it occurred to me that the power of a scientific theory is found in its ability to predict new results that were not known at the time the theory was developed. We have seen that the most important days on the Enoch fixed calendar during the Savior's life occurred on its Passover feast day.
So let's see what happened in L.D.S. church history on Sat 6 Feb 1836, which was 14 Spring (Passover) on the Enoch Fixed Calendar in the year of the above Pentecost experience. This was a date that was entirely new to me. Here is what the Prophet Joseph Smith recorded for that day:
"Called the anointed together to receive the seal of all their blessings. . . . to bring them to the order which God had shown me, . . . all the quorums were to shout with one accord a solemn hosanna to God and the Lamb . . . and if any obtain a prophecy or vision, to rise and speak that all may be edified and rejoice together.
". . . the quorum of the Seventy enoyed a great flow of the Holy Spirit.
Many arose and spoke, testifying that they were filled with the Holy Ghost, which was like fire in their bones, so that they could not hold their peace, but were constrained to cry hosanna to God and the Lamb, and glory in the highest. . . . And others were filled with the Spirit and spake in tongues and prophesied. This was a time of rejoicing long to be remembered. Praise the Lord." (History of the Church, 2:391-2)
The reader can judge how well these events qualify as events appropriate for a holy day on a calendar of God. It appears that a thorough study of dates using the Enoch Fixed Calendar might prove very interesting.
Gathering of Israel. The day on which President Brigham Young led the L.D.S. people into the valley of the Great Salt Lake was Sat 24 Jul 1847.
That day is celebrated as a Utah state holiday every year, and is very important to members of the L.D.S. Church. It turns out that the day was also the Feast of Tabernacles on the Fixed Enoch Calendar (14 Autumn). Again, the particular holiday involved may be significant, because the Feast of Tabernacles is associated with events of the latter-days.
It is also called the Feast of Ingatherings and seems to be symbolic of the gathering of scattered Israel in the last days. Indeed, the L.D.S. people believed they were to gather Israel to that area, and it commenced at that time. Thus these dates serve as two witnesses that the Enoch Fixed Calendar really exists and is still in use.
6. Conclusion
The Book of Enoch contains some advanced astronomical descriptions of calendars which merit further investigation. The volume was accepted as scripture by the Savior and still appears to be authentic. The combined witness of many calendars shows us how the birth, atonement, and resurrection of Jesus Christ had been carefully scheduled long ago and that a "record in heaven" has been kept for us in the motion of the sun, moon and planets. This is a strong witness of the correctness of these dates and that at least some of these calendars were important in the timing of key events in the life of Jesus Christ.
Notes
Quotations in this article from the Book of Enoch are from the original translation of Richard Laurence, The Book of Enoch the Prophet (reprinted by Wizards Bookshelf, Minneapolis, 1976) because he translates astronomical text the best. Since his time many other manuscripts have been discovered and the chapter/verse notation is now different. Laurence's notation is included in braces { }, complete with internet links.
Charles, R.H., The Book of Enoch (London: Oxford U. Press, 1913), p. xcv. His chapter and verse notation is the first one listed in quotations in this article. The entire text is easily accessible on the internet.
Nibley, Hugh, "A Strange Thing in the Land: The Return of the Book of Enoch," The Ensign (Oct. 1975), reprinted in Hugh Nibley, Enoch the Prophet, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS), 1986, p. 95.
Laurence, pp. xxv-xxxiii.
The introduction to the Laurence translation summarizes: "Reverting to the second century of Christianity, we find Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria citing the Book of Enoch without questioning its sacred character. . . . Tertullian, who flourished at the close of the first and at the beginning of the second century, . . . speaks of the author as 'the most ancient prophet, Enoch' an of the book as the divinely inspired autograph of that immortal patriarch, preserved by Noah in the ark. . . .
Tertullian adds [that it was] 'disavowed by the Jews like all other scripture which speaks of Christ.' . . . Origen (AD 254) assigns to the Book of Enoch the same authority as to the Psalms [but] affirms that the work of the antediluvian patriarch was not accepted in the Churches as Divine." (Laurence, pp. iv-v). Thus, by the third century the work was beginning to be questioned. R.H. Charles notes that "from the fourth century of our era onward it fell into discredit; and under the ban of such authorities as Hilary, Jerome and Augustine, it gradually passed out of circulation, and became lost to the knowledge of Western Christendom . . ." (The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913, vol. 2, p. 163.)
Laurence, p. vii.
Laurence and Charles are referenced in footnotes 1 and 2. The translation by George H. Schodde, (Andover: Warren R. Draper, 1881) is also on the internet. Isaac's translation is in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth, (New York, Doubleday, 1983), vol I, pp. 5-89.
Laurence, p. x.
Charlesworth, p. 7.
Nibley also suggests this possibility: "Instead of ever seeking for sources to Enoch, which never turn up, why not do the sensible thing and accept Enoch himself as the source, as the writers of Jubilees and the XII Patriarchs do?" (Nibley, p. 123).
As does Charles in footnote 8 on p. 238.
Jubilees 6:36-38. (Charles, p. 23).
The four season markers are technically the 31st day of the last month of each quarter (Enoch 72:19 {71:17}), but Enoch tells us not to count them as such, but to consider them as special seasonal markers (Enoch 82:5 {81:5}), on which the sun rises with the star which will rule for 91 days. Hence that day is counted as part of the season it heralds.
That makes sense astronomically because the season marker would be the day of the actual equinox or solstice, and the first day of the new month and quarter would be the first full day of the new season. The transition day is counted in the season it begins, hence it would seem improper to number it as the 31st day in the last season. I propose the notation "0 Spring" for the spring equinox, the 0 emphasizing it is really the last day of the last month, and Spring emphasizing the quarter to which it belongs.
A good discussion of six variations of the World Calendar can be found in Mapping Time, E.G. Richards (Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 1998), pp. 177-120.
The author is indebted to John Lefgren for sharing his discovery that the Qumran calendar used this method, contrary to a common interpretation that no days were intercalated into that 364-day calendar (personal communication of 12 Feb 2000).
He had not, however, noticed that this very procedure is described in the Book of Enoch. It only became apparent to me after the first draft of this article was complete, so this section was rewritten to include this discovery.
In support of this interpretation, note that the text quoted from Enoch also speaks of alignments in five and eight years. Those are both intervals in the Hebrew calendar which approximately align with the solar year, and also with the fixed Enoch year. In those intervals, however, the agreement is not to the very day, as with the three-year period, suggesting that those might be good intervals for intercalating one full week to achieve both years which average 365.24 years and also approximately align with the moon. An extra week is needed on the average every 5.6 years.
Our Gregorian Calendar intercalates a leap day in years evenly divisible by four, but skips years divisible by 100, unless they are also divisible by 400. Thus 1896 was a leap year, 1900 was not (divisible by 100), 1904 was, 1996 was, and 2000 was (divisible by 400).
Pratt, John P., "Mapping Time," American Mathematical Monthly (Jan. 2000), pp. 92-99, (section 6). The scheme proposed in that article is not very clever because it sometimes intercalates two weeks in a row, which means it gets unreasonably out of sync with the seasons. It was suggested only as an example of how accurate the calendar is.
The Qumran calendar is based on the first day of each quarter beginning on a Wednesday, because the greater light appeared on the fourth day of creation.
The proposed Resurrection date was published in "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part 1: Dating the First Easter,"Ensign 15, No. 6 (June, 1985), pp. 59-68. Dates for the Savior's birth and beginning of public ministry were published in " Passover: Was it Symbolic of His Coming,"The Ensign 24, 1 (Jan, 1994), pp 38-45. The date of his baptism is in "What Every Mormon Should Know About Astronomy," Meridian Magazine (12 May 2000).
The date of the Sheaf Offering was a point of contention between the Pharisee and Sadducee sects at the time of Christ, based on different interpretations of Lev. 23:11. The text says the waving of the sheaf (of barley) should occur on the day after the sabbath. The Sadducees interpreted that to mean that the offering should always be on a Sunday, the day after Saturday, the weekly sabbath.
That is the same as we now celebrate the equivalent Christian holiday: Easter always occurs on a Sunday. But the Pharisees interpreted "sabbath" to mean the special holy day of Passover (15 Nisan). Thus they offered the sheaf on 16 Nisan, no matter what day of the week it was (the same as on the modern Hebrew Calendar).
In the year AD 33 of the Resurrection, both agreed because 16 Nisan fell on Easter Sunday. These results also affect the date of Pentecost (Feast of Firstfruits or Feast of Weeks) because that festival always fell exactly 7 weeks after the Sheaf Offering (Lev. 23:15). Thus the Pharisees held it on 6 Sivan and the Sadducees held it seven Sundays after the Sheaf Offering. Again, both agreed in AD 33 because 6 Sivan was on Sun 22 May.
See Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Grand Rapids, Mich., Zondervan, 1977, pp. 83-4). On the proposed Enoch Calendar, there would be no debate because Passover would always be on a Saturday, and hence the Sheaf Offering would always be Sun 15 Spring and Pentecost on Sun 4 Late Spring.
The reason that the date is on 10 Tishri, rather than 15 Tishri, is that it falls half a solar year before the public ministry, but the Hebrew calendar uses lunar years of an average of 354 days. Thus, half a solar year (182 days) is five days more than half a lunar year (177 days), so it fell five days earlier than 15 Tishri.
The day 10 Nisan is a minor holy day on the Hebrew calendar, the day on which the Passover lamb is chosen (Ex. 12:3). It could possibly correspond to 11 Spring, but that seems unlikely, and would need more evidence to justify declaring that 11 Spring was the day to set apart the lamb on the Enoch Calendar.
The jubilee is a Hebrew unit of 7 "weeks" of years, or 7 x 7 = 49 years. It is often mistakenly thought to have been a fifty year cycle, because the fiftieth year was celebrated (Lev. 25:10). But the fiftieth was the same as the first, so there were only 49 years in the cycle.
Pratt, John P. " A Native American Easter: How the Ancient American Calendar Testifies of Christ," Meridian Magazine (28 Mar 2001), section 3.
Another witness of the date Sun 14 May 33 being correct is that it was 1 Grass on the Sacred Round of the Native Americans (discussed in the article referenced in footnote 25). Grass was the symbol of the Resurrection (grass growing out of a skull), which was a symbol of the Savior. An important feature of these many calendrical alignments is not only that they were holy days (all days numbered 1 were holy on the Sacred Round) but also the meaning of the specific day seems to be important.
This is a very difficult area to quantify for statistical studies, but it is still possible.
Note also that the Native American Sacred Round emphasizes the importance of the 40-day interval by even having a special name for it, the "foot." When one counts by feet on the Sacred Round, the day name advances by one on the 13-day trecena count. For example, 40-days after the day 1 Water, is 2 Water. The Savior was baptized on the day 13 Water on the Sacred Round. Forty days later was the day 1 Water, on Thu 15 Nov AD 29. The day 1 Water seems to support the proposal that the day began the preparatory ministry because "water" may represent "living water."
McConkie, Bruce R., Mormon Doctrine, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1966) "Day of Pentecost", p. 182.
Pratt, John P., "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part 2: Symbolism of Passover and of Elijah's Return," Ensign 15, No. 7 (July, 1985), p. 64 (section 4.3).
Astronomers employ what is called the Julian Day, which is simply a continuous day count, to facilitate such calculations. The Julian Day number of 22 May AD 33 was 1,733,255 and of 27 Mar 1836 was 2,391,731. The difference between them of 658,476 days is exactly 1,809 years of 364 days each.
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