I might be wrong, but I suspect that Ethiopia is mostly Christian Orthodox.

On another level, if you pick up a map of east Africa you will see that Ethiopia lost all of its former coast to the new nation of Eritrea. Now that the islamists are running the show in Somalia, an Ethiopian invasion would be welcomed (probably even supported) by most of the western world.

Ethiopia has the best army in East Africa and over 60 million people, and the Somalis not made of the same stock as the tiny Eritreans who were forced to bleed heavily to secure their independence - and they did.

Posted by: cruzado at June 19, 2006 7:33 AM

Willing to bet Ethiopia did no more then send its troops to secure the border. Come to think of it, was there not a similar ploy, right before the Invasion of Poland by Germany? Falsified stories of the opposite happening, as a pretense here for launching their own attack on Ethiopia.

Posted by: Gary at June 19, 2006 7:34 AM

I hate to say "I told you so" so quickly, but didn't I predict a re-awakening of the jihad against Ethiopia, just a few days ago.

Here we have another example of the "defensive jihad" canard brought as a pretext for offensive jihad. And why is it such a good pretext for them? Because the border between the two countries is just a notional line in the sand. There is no physical boundry, there is no Rio Grande, there is no English Channel, just desert so who is to say that border patrols do, or do not, actually cross a line on the map?

Who will defend Ethiopia?

Posted by: Tziona at June 19, 2006 7:35 AM

Lets just all sit back and watch as Somalia becomes the example to all muslims. It will show how, and why Sharia and Islam goes about installing an Islamic state...

Europe, UK, US, take note...If they could, and they want to, THIS is what they hope will happen all across the planet.

moose

Posted by: Moose at June 19, 2006 7:44 AM

Cruzado,

Ethiopia is officially Ethiopian Orthodox, which is quite distinct from its nearest relative, the Coptic Church in Egypt, although they do share the same pope. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is unique and is one of the oldest forms of Christianity, one which is much more "old testament". Indeed it was considered so "Jewish" that in the 15th Century the Roman Catholic pope sent missionaries to Ethiopia (the fabled Land of Prestor John) to de-Judaize Ethiopian Christianity. One change, for example, demanded by the Roman Catholics was that the Ethiopians move their sabbath from the Jewish Saturday to the Christian Sunday, instead of abandoning their traditions and adopting the "new" ways without question, they kept both: the "lesser sabbath" and the "greater sabbath". Ethiopia was therefore the first country to adopt the two day weekend that we are all familiar with in the West today.

That said, Ethiopia also has a very high Muslim presence, some estimates put it as high as 50%, most of whom live on the plains between the Ethiopian highlands and Somalia, Djibuti, and Eritrea.

Posted by: Tziona at June 19, 2006 8:02 AM

I have an Ethiopian acquaintance, a gentle, kind soul who is proud of being an Ethiopian, but never spoke ill of the Muslims in Ethiopia, she being an Ethiopian Orthodox. She implied that Ethiopians Muslim amd Orthodox co-exist peacefully, and the common concern for them as Ethiopians, is protecting their borders. Both groups share the same pride for Ethiopia, and both will fight to the finish for any transgressor.

Posted by: Nola at June 19, 2006 8:42 AM

tzonia:

I haven't been following Ethiopia's trials and tribulations too closely, but Toronto is now home to about 30,000 Ethiopians who started leaving the country after the late emperor, "the Lion of Judah" Haille Selassi's death. There was a lengthy war between the communist "government" in Addis Ababa and Eritrean "rebels" that followed. I believe the communist government is no more, but these ex-pat Ehtiopians assure me that the country suffers terribly from political corruption.

As for the country's religious history, the first university in Africa was a Jewish university, over 5 centuries ago. HOwever, the Jewish population became embattled to the point of being driven into isolation by the Christian majority to the point of the Ethiopian Jews -- the Falasha -- thinking they were the only Jewish community in the world until they were ransomed out by Israel in the 1970s. Now, the Falash Mura -- the forced converts -- are being ransomed out and settled in Israel.

I do not know what role Islamofacism plays in the current problems Ethiopia faces, internally as well as externally, but expect that it is substantial.

Posted by: waterdragon52 at June 19, 2006 9:44 AM

Tziona, you wrote an interesting post but I think you made one or two incorrections:

You wrote
"Indeed it was considered so "Jewish" that in the 15th Century the Roman Catholic pope sent missionaries to Ethiopia (the fabled Land of Prestor John) to de-Judaize Ethiopian Christianity."

I may be wrong, but as far as I know the first (Christian) Europeans to reach Ethiopia by land (1486-15??) were two Portuguese explorers/spies that were called Afonso de Paiva and Pêro da Covilhã that were trying to gather information for Portugal regarding the fabled kingdom of Prester John (Prestes João). This happened in the late XV century and it preceeded the voyages of Bartolomeu Dias (1487-1488) and Vasco da Gama (1497-1499) by a few years.

A few decades later, in the XVI century, the Portuguese (the only Europeans operating in the Indian Ocean until the 1590s) built a few settlements in the Ethiopian coast and even organized a few military expeditions to HELP the Ethiopians against the Arab incursions. The largest of those expeditions involved about 500 Portuguese, most of whom were killed in battle against the Muslims. The few survivors were rewarded with places in the Ethiopian royal court and married into Ethiopian nobility which shows that the relations between the two parties were excellent.

All this to say that while there was some Catholic intolerance against the St Thomas Christian sect from India, I never read anything that claimed that there ever was Catholic intolerance concerning the Ethiopian Christians, mostly because there was little economic interest for Portugal in the region. The Ethiopian kingdom was too weak and too poor to be useful, they constantly needed to be bailed out of trouble, and their only usefulness was that they too were fighting a common Muslim enemy. Like I said, the European country active in the region throughout the XVI century was Portugal.

Posted by: cruzado at June 19, 2006 6:51 PM

Ah yes the Battle of Wayna Daga in 1543??

Ethiopians and less the hundred Portuguese musketeers crushed a army of Arabs, Muslim Africans and who were backed up by some Ottoman musketeers. It was a complete defeat for the muslim forces. Afterward the catholic portuguese tried to "convert" the Ethiopians to their view that the pope was all powerful. Did not go over very well....

Posted by: greatcometof1577 at June 19, 2006 9:16 PM

"Ah yes the Battle of Wayna Daga in 1543??"

No, I don't think we are speaking of the same battle (there were several in East Africa involving the Portuguese). The one I am speaking of involved hundreds of Portuguese and tens of thousands of Muslims, and the Ethiopians allies ended up fleeing the field of battle while the Portuguese held their ground (and died there).

On a diferent note, I researched and found out that the Portuguese did try to convert the Ethiopians to Catholicism and ended up being expelled in the 1630s. My mistake.

Posted by: cruzado at June 19, 2006 9:57 PM

Interesting history about Portugese contact. As I understand it, the Ethiopian Kingdom and church did have some limited contact with the other parts of the Christian world after the rise of Islam cut them off from any direct contact. An ambassador was sent to the court of Charlemagne, and there were sporadic contacts with the Byzantine world.

About two years ago, there was a fascinating, brilliantly decorated Codex on display in the Art Institute of Chicago that I just stumbled across during a visit to that city. It was started in the 400s and finished a thousand years later. While the vast majority of this large volume consisted of biblical accounts, prayers, etc. - all in Amharic - with the appropriate Ethiopian Orthodox iconography, there were also portraits of some fellow Christians who visited from Rome (obviously Europeans) in the late fifth century, along with an account of their visit.

At any rate, the latest info at the CIA World Fact Book indicates that Ethiopia ia about 50% Muslim. Eritrea and Djibouti are majority Muslim already of course. The country appears to have never really recovered from the disasterous - and murderous - regime of Mengistu.

Posted by: Carolus at June 20, 2006 2:04 AM