Blog Post
A H Harry Oussoren • Dec 12, 2019
A Champion of Peace in Eastern Africa
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 was awarded to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali. After only 18 months in office, this political leader has led his country on the way to peace with Eritrea. Years of fighting resulted in the death of 100,000 people on both sides of the embattled border between these countries, with countless others maimed and displaced. The PM himself had been a soldier, who barely, by a stroke of personal good fortune, avoided the annihilation the comrades in his platoon suffered.
Upon election to head of government, Abiy Ahmed Ali was driven by the Ethiopians cultural concept of MEDEMER, an Amharic word meaning to add onto what one has, as opposed to MEKENES which means to lose what one has. He set to the task of building bridges of friendship, ending torture and releasing political prisoners and transforming war implements into tools for prosperity. Inspired by faith convictions, including the understanding that all must be their siblings' keepers, he was able to convince the Eritrean "enemy" to become partners in the quest for peace.
Abiy Ahmed Ali is a model for a plethora of bullying and self-enriching political leaders of serving his people to participate in a visionary quest for peace through justice, cherished diversity. He believes jn Jesus' words that peacemakers are blessed and shall be called the children of God, and in the Quran's wisdom that there is only one family ("brotherhood") and therefore peace is a must!
Watch and listen to his speech at this month's Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo and pray that Abiy Ahmed Ali and the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia may be strengthened to continue on the path toward durable peace in Africa and towards God's shalom for the ONE human family.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jESA8MLAuCw
Pilgrim Praxis
The genocide in apartheid and settler colonial Palestine urgently calls for urgent discernment and action. Could the ongoing rounds of blood letting and destruction finally end to begin a journey toward truth, and justice-based peace? I hope so for the sake of all who dwell in this (un)Holy Land.