Ethiopia: Messages of Solidarity from Christians for Muslims · Global Voices
Endalkachew Chala

As Ethiopian Muslims pursue their peaceful protest in a bid to end the Ethiopian government’s meddling in their religious affairs, messages of unity from their compatriot Christians have gone viral in the Ethiopian digital space.
Many Ethiopian Christians have changed their Facebook status to announce their allegiance to Ethiopian Muslims.
There is no better summary than Abiye Teklemariam’s message of unity:
I don't like when you trample upon my basic right to worship. I don't like when you shove your version of my religion down my throat. I don't like when you intimidate, arrest and jail my leaders without any legitimate reason or due process. I don't like when you defile my place of worship. I don't like when you stoke the flames of suspicion and fear between Christians and Muslims in this beautiful country of mine. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. I am Abiye Teklemariam. And today I AM A MUSLIM!
Jawar Mohammed posted:
“Muslims in Ethiopia respect our Christian brothers and sisters and are hopeful that the recent fights and violence will not lead to a larger conflict between Muslims and Christians. We have other more important issues to deal with now in Ethiopia.”
I may add that despite ill wishes by some ‘international’ actors and deliberate provocation by our evil dictators, we, citizens of that country will never allow conflict between our Muslim and Christian communities. Indeed we have better things to do such as getting rid of dictators and pulling our country out of poverty, rather than fight among ourselves.
Obang Metho's message of unity included a verse from the Qur'an:
Meles and his TPLF are trying to steal the real Ethiopia from us and make us to be divided. How can we stop him from breaking up our families and keeping future generations in bondage? We can stop him by loving our neighbor as ourselves. We can do it by refusing to tolerate hate, corruption, injustice, genocide, greed, lies or doing nothing. As it says in the Qur’an, [2:263] “Kind speech and forgiveness is better than charity followed by injury; and Allah is Self-sufficient, Forbearing.”
On Twitter, Welansa Asrat advised her Muslim compatriots to keep up their protest. She tweeted:
@Dr_Asrat: Ethiopia #EthioMuslims Keep up the Protests & Know That Christians around the World Support You – Centuries Of Love & Respect Between Us.
Mohammed Ademo used HashTracking to measure the impact of tweets with Ethio-Muslims hashtag:
@OPride: 323 tweets tagged #EthioMuslims generated 140K + impressions, reaching 50,671 followers in 24 hrs via @hashtracking
Ethiopian Muslims peaceful protest is now well over half a year and still counting.
Islam is the second-most widely practiced religion in Ethiopia after Christianity. In Islamic history and tradition, Ethiopia is known as the “Haven of the First Migration or Hijra.”