Professor Hassan Makki and extremism in the Horn of Africa

(MoFA 01/23/09):-Ethiopia is fully aware that the stability of its neighbors and the nature of its relations with them have tremendous impact on the success of internal policies, on the result of its war on poverty and on ensuring sustainable economic development which remains the core of its foreign policy. Globalization has made this all the more valid today than ever before. Peaceful coexistence and good neighborly relations are an imperative if a country’s endeavors are to be successful. Ethiopia’s foreign policy has been informed by these fundamental principles for the last seventeen years. They are not shared by everybody. Professor Hassan Makki is currently head of the Center of Research and African Studies at the International University of Africa in Khartoum. His center’s publication, Dirasat Ifriqiyya, is a pulpit for sermons of doom and gloom about the Horn of Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular. Dr. Hassan also writes op-ed pieces for the Arabic daily, Al Raay Alam, a private newspaper that makes a habit of demonizing Ethiopia while praising Eritrea unstintingly. Much of what Dr. Hassan writes is not the stuff of serious scholarship. Most of his articles are full of factual inaccuracies, gross contradictions, and the sort of sloppy analysis that smacks of muddled thinking. Dr. Hassan prides himself on being a prominent Islamic scholar and often prefers to be addressed accordingly. His sympathy with NIF extremists is all too clear; his attitude towards southern Sudanese borders on downright racism. Of greatest concern, perhaps, have been his diatribes against Ethiopia, blaming it for everything that he might think has gone wrong either in the Sudan or the whole sub-region.

His mendacious accusations are far too numerous to raise here, but two common threads run through Dr. Hassan’s obsessive mudslinging. First, Dr. Hassan is very clear about his vision for a united Islamic movement in the entire sub-region and the negative role, he claims, Ethiopia has always played in derailing this process. Whether writing about conflict between and/or among the Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia or in Somalia, Dr. Hassan sees a conspiracy against Islam concocted and spearheaded by “Christian Ethiopia”. In its December 28, 2008 issue, Al Raay Alam newspaper carried an article by Dr. Hassan claiming peace in Somalia is unachievable because Ethiopia “which represents a Christian entity surrounded by an Islamic environment from outside and Islamic trend from within” sees a peaceful and unified Somalia as a threat. Dr. Hassan has for a long time advocated an Islamic movement for the entire region and claims the only challenge to this comes from “Christian Ethiopia”. He acknowledges Ethiopia actually has more Muslims than the Sudan, but believes they are oppressed, and, indeed, that despite their numbers Ethiopian Muslims are not Muslim enough. Indeed, in an Article published in Dirasat Ifriqiyya, entitled “Eritrean Ethiopian Conflict (1997-1998): An analytical point of view”, he asserts “Ethiopian Muslims are abundant in quantity but not in quality.” He wants them to get back their usurped position so they can represent a “cornerstone of stability and peaceful coexistence in the region.” Dr. Hassan appears entirely unaware that much of Ethiopia embraced Islam long before the rest of the world even heard about it and that Muslims and Christians lived in harmony for centuries. Ethiopian Muslims need no liberator from outside, much less a racist professor masquerading as a consummate cleric.

The second point that Dr. Hassan repeatedly makes relates to his belief in collusion between Ethiopia and the West against Sudan and Islam dating back to the early 1990s. He seems to be convinced that the US has always sought to scuttle the rise of Islam in the Horn of Africa by creating an axis made up of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda against Sudan. In his article on the Ethio-Eritrean Conflict, he delights in the eruption of hostilities between the two ‘American Satellites’: “Alas, the era of dreams & longing for integration has elapsed forever [because] the experience of peaceful coexistence [between Eritrea and Ethiopia] has collapsed for good.” For Dr. Hassan, “Christian Ethiopia” may act on its own, but it also being used, along with others, by the US to challenge the expansion of Islam in the region. Similarly, he claims the West is supporting Ethiopia with an agenda based on the annulment of the activities of the Somali National movements and because “western states wanted the Somali issue to remain a western partnership with Kenya and Ethiopia.” While asserting “Christian Ethiopia” has reason to work against the expansion of Somali Nationalist movements, Islamic or otherwise, he also seems to suggest that it is doing the West’s bidding in Somalia. Logic is not Dr. Hassan’s strongest point.

Indeed, it raises the question as to what exactly Dr. Hassan is driving at, whose bidding is he doing and whose agenda is he promoting? Ethiopia believes its national interest is better served in the context of neighborly relations based on peaceful coexistence, mutual respect and benefit as well as regional cooperation to ensure stability. Significant results have been achieved in this regard with all our neighbors except Eritrea. Ethiopia has consistently made efforts to resolve conflicts between and within neighbors in an amicable manner. Our support for the CPA in Sudan has always been consistent and solid whatever Dr. Hassan would try to have us believe. Our efforts to aid the peace making process in Somalia is something we have paid dearly for. Today, Ethiopia enjoys excellent relations with Sudan, with Djibouti, and with Kenya and is doing its level best to promote peace efforts in Somalia. The areas of cooperation range from economic relations, the expansion of infrastructure and transport facilities all the way to working together on regional security, peace and stability. There have been setbacks. Despite the best of intentions and some magnanimous gestures, Ethiopia’s efforts to build peaceful neighborly relations with Eritrea have made no progress. Peaceful relations with Eritrea have been elusive in the face of continued bellicose posturing by the leadership in Asmara and its obsession with the use of violence towards its neighbors. The attempt on the life of President Hosni Mubarak certainly created a misunderstanding between Ethiopia and Sudan. Ethiopia did everything in its power to resolve it in a responsible and civilized manner. The fact that we overcome the crisis long ago and today have a very good relationship with the Sudan government bears witness to the success of Ethiopia’s foreign policy towards its neighbors.

We certainly believe in the sincerity of President Omar al Basher’s recent remarks on his government’s foreign policy; that Sudan conducts a policy “based on trying to befriend all countries and strengthening relations particularly with African Neighbors including brothers in Chad.” We are also mindful of the potential harm some elements can do to our relations if they are not held in check. The agenda against Ethiopia revealed by Dr. Hassan’s writings and behavior suggests there are those who would do anything to achieve their objectives. It is with this in mind that we call upon concerned authorities not to allow the likes of Professor Hassan Makki’s repeated anti-Ethiopia campaigns and that of others, whose bidding he appears to be doing, to affect policy making at any level. It was, after all, people like these who created the problems between Sudan and Ethiopia in 1995