Poems of the Prophesier Sheikh Hussein Jibril

By T, Staffer of De Birhan Media 

01 November 2011

The famous Ethiopian predictor/prophesier of the future Sheikh Hussein Jibril lived in Ethiopia from 1811- 1908. 

Most of his poems were predictions about the upcoming rulers of Ethiopia and socio-political situtaions of the country starting from the times of Zemene Mesfaent (Era of the Princes, of1769)  to the present regime. For one who knows Ethiopian history well, the prophetic poems hit a 100% right. The poems are colloquial in writing and double-edged in meaning so they need to be read between the lines and with a deep knwolege of the Amharic language,Ethiopian history and religions. For eg, he terms Christianity as Amhara instead of calling it Christianity and similar kinds of usages. 

Here I have selected few stanzas that I assumed relate to his prophesies of the present day Ethiopia and regime's fate.

ተፈሪ መኮንን የተያዘ እንደሆን

እንግዲህ ሐበሻ ምን ይበጀው ይሆን፣

(እህል ያልገዛ ሰው ምን ይበጀው ይሆን?)

አሥመራና ሸዋ ይሆናል እንዳይሆን

ወያኔ ተነሥቶ አሥመራ እሳት ሲሆን::

 ጋ*ና ጉራጌ የሸዋ ሙንኪር

ሌት እንቅልፍ የላቸው ቀኑን በነገር፣

ሸዋን ይይዙታል አንድ እንኳን ሳይቀር

ድንጋዩን በድንጋይ አድርገው ንብርብር፣

አጃኢቡን ሳላይ መሬት ስትሆን ብር::

-----

በአሥመራ ወያኔ ከመጣ ችግር

መጀመሪያ አሥመራ ትሆናለች ቀብር

አክሱም ትጠፋለች በአንድ ቀን ጀንበር

ግሼን ላሊበላ ትሆናለች ቀብር

ሁሉም ይሸፍታል ሴት እናኳን ሳይቀር::

-----

ስንት እጃኢብ ያያል በዱኒያ የቆየ?

እኛ ባንደርስበት የልጅ ልጅ ጉድ አየ

ጥበብ እንዳይለምድ አሻቅቦ እያየ

የነጮችን ሥራ ብልግናን ገበየ

(አባቷም ዝም አለ ፈርጇን እያየ)::

----

ነገሩ እማይገባ የተወላገደ

በአሥመራ በትግሬ ሄዶ እየነደደ

እንዴት ያለ እሳት ከሸዋ ነደደ

ቢያጠፉት እምቢ አለ እየተዛመደ::

---

የአሥመራ ጦርነት ታኅሣሥ ሲጀምር

ብዙ ሰው ይጠፋል ነገሩ ሳያምር

አይሰድም መስሏቸው ሸዋ ብዙ ጦር

ወዲያው ሰደዳቸው በሰማይ በምድር

ወያኔው ይሞታል አያገኝም ነስር::

ሷሊህና ቃሲም አብደላህና ዙበኗር

በወልቃይት ብቅ አሉ ትግሬ ሲበረበር

ኩታበር ገራዶ ትሆናለች ጠጠር

ጎጃም ትጠፋለች ሳትውል ሳታድር

ብዙ ሰው ይጠፋል ያውም ከባላገር::

 አሥመራ ተወግቶ ወልቃይት መርዙን ተፋ

ሽሬና መቀሌ ይሆናል የከፋ

እንቅልፍ እንዳይወስድህ እርብ ሳይጠፋ

ይመስላል ላየው ሰው ቂያማ የተደፋ

እርብ ስንቱን ጣለው ጠብቆ ወረፋ::

ጋይንት ንፋስ መውጫ ድራና ፎገራ

እርብ ላይ ሞልቶ ሲዘፍን ሲያጎራ

ነጋዴው ይጮሃል መቀሌና አሥመራ

ምን ይበጀው ይሆን ጅልጋና ፎገራ?

ሸዋ ደፈረሰ እህሊን ሳይዘራ::

---

መግዛቱን ይገዛል የዮሐንስ ዘር

ወዲያው ለጥቂት ቀን ይላል ፈንጨርጨር

ተፈሪን ጥላ አርጎ ሲያሳድድ ሲቀብር

ቢያዝ ደግ ነበር አገሩን ሳይቀብር

በቀር ሸዋ አይረጋም አትጠራጠር::

---

ይኸ ቻይና እሚሉት ዘራቸው ካልጠፋ

ችግር ይፈጠራል ይሆናል የከፋ

ማጥፋት ይሻል ነበር በአገር ሳይስፋፋ

ወልደን ሳንጥለው ልጃችን ሳይጠፋ

ጠብቀው ዘመኑን እስኪታይ በይፋ::

---

ምን መላ ይገኛል ጦር ቢያከማቹት

አልገዛም ካለ ከወንድም ከሴት

ሸዋ ካልመከረ ይሆናል ወንፊት

እባብ መርዙን ከተፋ ይመጣል ፍጅት

ይህን እየሰማህ እንዳትገባ እሳት::

 በድርቡሽ ሲገርመኝ የመተማ እልቂት

የማይጨው ሲገርመን የአድዋ ጦርነት

መቀሌን አየሁት አረሁ በልቶት

ሸዋ በገዛ እጁ በጫረው እሳት

ስንቱ ሰው ይነዳል ውቅሮ አዲግራት::

---

አሥመራና ትግሬ ስትል ሰገደይ

እባብ ከተፍ ይላል ማምጫው ሳይታይ

ሸዋ የዚያን ጊዜ ይላል ዋይ! ዋይ!

ጀርባውን ምች መታው ወደ ትግሬ ሲያይ::

---

ዘመን ተለውጦ ጥቅምት ሲደርስ

በአሥመራ ከተማ ይነፍሳል ነፋስ

የዚያን ቀን ሐበሻ ይላል ፈረስረስ

ሃምሳ ቀን ይቆያል ሴት ወንዱ ሲያለቅስ

ወንፊት ጉድ እስኪወልድ እስኪሆን አራስ::

RCBP completes, What was gained?

By T, Staffer of De Birhan Media

30-10-2011

The Rural Capacity Building Project (RCBP) a Project run by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOARD), launched with the loan from the World Bank, and jointly financed by the Canadian International Development Agency to assist Ethiopian rural development will cease tomorrow, October 31, 2011. The Project was started in 2006 with the objective of strengthening agricultural services and systems to make them more responsive to client needs. The World Bank estimates the total project cost to be over US$ 71 million. The major components of the Project are:

1)  Capacity building for Agriculture Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET).

2)  Capacity Building and support for Agricultural Extension systems

3)  Agricultural Research

4) Improving information and communication system within MOARD

5)  Development of Agricultural Market Intuitions

This and similar kinds of Projects funded by the Bank with the aim of reducing poverty or for food security purposes have often been criticised for failing to meet their targets. The targets were unachieved mainly due to the politicisation and corruption of the funds by the main implementing body that is, the Ethiopian government. The RCBP, one of these many WB funded projects in rural development areas, is another Project that just completed without any tangible progress i.e. achieving food security or rural development, in the opinion of this writer. Ethiopia with this many funds and projects in place still begs the world for more food aid and assistance to its framers who nominally have been “benefiting from these agricultural and rural development projects”.

Sequence 11 of the Implementation Status Results Report of the Bank published in May 2011 (here) states that the Overall Implementation Progress (IP) of the RCBP was Moderately Satisfactory. This writer also acknowledges the level of progress seen in training more Ethiopian rural development scholars in merited Western Universities. However, the same Report states

 

Implementation progress over the last six months is mixed (before May 2011). Disbursement continues to be high relative to earlier years, particularly on Components 2 and 3 (Strengthening Agricultural Extension Services and Enhancing Institutional Capacity of the Agricultural Research System) which constitute the bulk of the Project but other Components are delayed, some seriously. Furthermore, some key weaknesses are observed in financial management and procurement; and, land for the construction of a Livestock Quarantine Station previously used by 12 households has been acquired without a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP).

For instance, one of the major components of the Project, agricultural extension has been one of the areas identified by researchers as a component that lacked improvements and was full of challenges such as a client-oriented extension system than being client-driven, lack of cooperation between farmers and extensionists and political roles of the extension workers.

The Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum, a.k.a. Medrek, in its press statement last week accused the Ethiopian government of using its Development Agents and Extension Workers for political and spying purposes disabling the social capital, fabric, and trust at the grassroots.

 In 2005, the World Bank and other donors suspended direct budget support to the Ethiopian government following a post-election crackdown but aid was soon resumed under a new program, "Protection of Basic Services” that channelled money directly to district governments. 

On a recent investigative report conducted by Human Rights Watch (HRW) entitled  "Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia,"  a World Bank staff member was quoted as saying "Which state are we building and how? It could be that we are building the capacity of the state to control and repress."  With the knowledge of the misuse of aid for corrupt and political purposes , channelling the fund through the regime is farcical.

News Brief

Artiste/ Comedian Yiradaw Tenaw

* Artiste/ Comedian Yiradaw Tenaw has reportedly sought asylum in Canada. More to come after reconfirmation.

Teddy Afro  

*ቴዲ አፍሮ ኢትዮጵያዊውን ወጣት በ700ሺህ ብር ከሞት አተረፈ

Tewodros Kassahun aka Teddy Afro the youngest Ethiopian music sensation and one of the most successful singers has surprised the nation by paying 700,000 Ethiopian Birr for the release of an Ethiopian prisoner in Puntland Somalia who was sentenced to death. The prisoner named Asmerom Hailesellasie left for Puntland Somalia from his homeland Mekele, Ethiopia for work but found himself incarcerated for being involved in a case of manslaughter. The Puntland local court sentenced that he be excuted or pays $40,000 and be free. Asmerom did not have the money, thus beseeched Ethiopians to help him. Teddy Afro answered his appeal by paying the money that frees him from the foreign prison. 

Ethiopia's latest Facebook Statistics

By T, Staffer of De Birhan Media 

29-10-2011

The number of Ethiopians on Facebook has increased by around  100,000 in four months,according to the social media statistics portal, http://www.socialbakers.com. The total number of Ethiopians on Facebook was 310 940 in June 2011.Currently, there are 401 160 Facebook users in the Ethiopia, which makes it #98 in the ranking of all Facebook statistics by country. Ethiopia still has one of the least penetration of the online population i.e. 0.46%.

Facebook is one of the most dynamic,interactive and convenient new media tools that may play a role in democratic transitions.  

Ethiopia General info

Total Facebook Users:	401 160
Position in the list:	98.
Penetration of population:	0.46%
Penetration of online population	90.07%
Average CPC:	$0.12
Average CPM:	$0.05

Users & Demography for the Ethiopia

Last week

Last 2 weeks

Last month

Last 3 months

Last 6 months

Our social networking statistics show that Facebook penetration in Ethiopia is0.46% compared to the country's population and 90.07% in relation to number of Internet users. The total number of FB users in Ethiopia is reaching 401 160 and grew by more than 108 260 in the last 6 months.

Comparing these Facebook stats with the nearest countries by number of Facebook users shows that Ethiopia has 0.07% higher FB penetration than Guinea and 0.07% lower FB penetration than Guernsey.

User age distribution on Facebook in Ethiopia

Ethiopia Facebook demographics is other social media statistics we monitor. The largest age group is currently 25 - 34 with total of 164 476 users, followed by the users in the age of 18 - 24.

Male/Female User Ratio on Facebook in Ethiopia

There are 70% male users and 30% female users in Ethiopia, compared to 62% and 38% in Cambodia and 69% and 31% in Tanzania .  Ethiopia ranked 13th out of 49 African countries in May 2011 and currently stands 12.

List of countries in Africa on Facebook

#	Country	Users	Change	(± %)	Pen.
1.	Egypt	8 929 740	+1 790 940	+25.09%	11.10%
2.	South Africa	4 567 640	+777 300	+20.51%	9.30%
3.	Nigeria	4 076 160	+986 280	+31.92%	2.68%
4.	Morocco	3 926 740	+548 580	+16.24%	12.42%
5.	Tunisia	2 738 180	+270 220	+10.95%	25.86%
6.	Algeria	2 721 620	+640 840	+30.80%	7.87%
7.	Kenya	1 235 800	+150 020	+13.82%	3.09%
8.	Ghana	1 124 160	+183 100	+19.46%	4.62%
9.	Democratic Republic of Congo	836 940	+283 840	+51.32%	1.18%
10.	Senegal	594 680	+75 420	+14.52%	4.22%
11.	Cameroon	442 940	+81 720	+22.62%	2.30%
12.	Ethiopia	401 160	+108 260	+36.96%	0.46%
13.	Tanzania	379 060	+100 640	+36.15%	0.90%
14.	Uganda	331 100	+33 580	+11.29%	0.99%
15.	Libya	316 460	+276 620	+694.33%	4.90%
16.	Angola	303 280	+111 420	+58.07%	2.32%
17.	Mauritius	289 020	+23 780	+8.97%	22.33%
18.	Madagascar	207 460	+47 000	+29.29%	0.97%
19.	Mozambique	169 120	+57 340	+51.30%	0.77%
20.	Zambia	162 460	+39 800	+32.45%	1.35%
21.	Botswana	149 820	+35 200	+30.71%	7.38%
22.	Benin	130 900	+29 000	+28.46%	1.45%
23.	Namibia	129 100	+6 720	+5.49%	6.07%
24.	Mali	125 880	+28 660	+29.48%	0.91%
25.	Malawi	101 780	+22 040	+27.64%	0.66%
26.	Rwanda	101 640	+12 980	+14.64%	0.92%
27.	Central African Republic	96 660	+27 200	+39.16%	2.00%
28.	Burkina Faso	89 220	+18 700	+26.52%	0.55%
29.	Gabon	86 840	+19 900	+29.73%	5.62%
30.	Mauritania	77 780	+11 820	+17.92%	2.43%
31.	The Gambia	74 320	+9 220	+14.16%	4.07%
32.	Republic of the Congo	73 300	+23 560	+47.37%	1.78%
33.	Cape Verde	73 180	+14 300	+24.29%	14.39%
34.	Togo	69 780	+15 300	+28.08%	1.13%
35.	Djibouti	62 740	+6 880	+12.32%	8.47%
36.	Swaziland	47 680	+19 780	+70.90%	3.52%
37.	Sierra Leone	45 220	+9 660	+27.17%	0.86%
38.	Niger	40 240	+12 320	+44.13%	0.25%
39.	Guinea	39 420	+10 480	+36.21%	0.38%
40.	Chad	34 040	+20 240	+146.67%	0.32%
41.	Somalia	34 020	+12 900	+61.08%	0.34%
42.	Burundi	28 020	+7 300	+35.23%	0.28%
43.	Lesotho	24 140	+5 500	+29.51%	1.26%
44.	Eritrea	18 460	+1 860	+11.20%	0.32%
45.	Seychelles	18 420	-1 000	-5.15%	20.85%
46.	Equatorial Guinea	16 400	+6 180	+60.47%	2.52%
47.	Comoros	12 820	+2 760	+27.44%	1.66%
48.	Mayotte	8 020	-680	-7.82%	3.47%
49.	São Tomé and Príncipe	3 380	+1 360	+67.33%	1.92%