GTG

DOES MENELIK A PERSON WHO IS A KILLER

A neftenya (Amharic: ነፍጠኛ, lit. ‘rifle-bearer’) was a feudal lord and expansionist settler who operated in the framework of the process of territorial expansion and creation of modern Ethiopia by the late 19th century.^[1] In its literal meaning, neftenya, referred to riflemen in the Army of the Ethiopian Empire^[2] who were known to have settled in Ethiopia’s peripheral regions, including parts of today’s Oromia Region, the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region, Gambela Region, Benishangul-Gumuz Region from the late 19th century onwards.^[3] The Shewan conquerors that were described as neftenya were originally a multi-ethnic group of aristocratic rulers of the Kingdom of Shewa mostly made up of Amhara people and Oromo people who were high ranking members of Menelik II‘s Royal Court and their soldiers.^[4][5][6] While upper class Amhara who came to the south as conquerors originated from all parts of the northern highlands, all came as vassals of the specifically Shewan state. Local people, whatever their origins, were also able to assimilate into the class, by virtue of marriage, or adopting the religion, language and cultural traits of the Amhara ^[7]

Neftenya is a name often used as an ethnic slur against the Amhara people, the second most populous ethnic group in Ethiopia. Historically the Shewan Amharas were not the only ones that were part of the Neftenya ruling class, however those who use it as a slur against modern populations of all Amhara sub-groups claim that it only consisted of Amhara people.^[8] Since local people, whatever their origins, were also able to assimilate into the Neftenya class, by virtue of marriage, or adopting the religion, language and cultural traits of the Amhara, ^[9] it also included Tigrayans, Oromos, and Gurages,^[3] a majority of which came from the Kingdom of Shewa. Shimelis Abdisa used the Amharic word neftenya (“riflemen” in English) to refer to the ruling class established in the wake of Emperor Menelik II’s conquest in southern Ethiopia in the late 19th century. Abdisa’s use of the term neftenya prompted backlash given that it is often used to refer to members of Emperor Menelik II’s army after TPLF came to power in 1991, ^{[10][11][12][13]} but Abdisa inaccurately identified the term with all populations of Amharas rather than the multi-ethnic aristocratic class of the Ethiopian Empire which the term originally stood for.^[8][5]

As a result of neftenyas settling in the southern regions, other ethnic groups assimilated by into royal court culture^[14] by adopting the Amharic language, Orthodox Christianity, and other aristocratic cultural traits found in royal court culture. Both peasant Amhara culture and Ethiopian Empire royal court culture have heavily influenced each other; ^[14] this Ethiopian royal court culture (that influenced and was influenced by Amhara culture^[14]) dominated throughout the eras of military and monarchic rule^[14] although Siegfried Pausewang concluded in 2005 that “the term Amhara relates in contemporary Ethiopia to two different and distinct social groups. The ethnic group of the Amhara, mostly a peasant population, is different from a mixed group of urban people coming from different ethnic background, who have adopted Amharic as a common language and identify themselves as Ethiopians”.^[14] Later on the term started to be applied to Amhara civilians as an ethnic slur, ^[15][16][17]even though the Shewan Neftenya leadership was multi-ethnic in nature and the very existence of a distinct and ethnically conscious Amhara ethnic group in that time period has been contested as an anachronism.^[18][19][20] The neftenya were made up different ethnic groups, clans and communities who had alliances with each other.^[19]

From the 17th to the 19th centuries, Oromos were the dominant politico-military influence on central and southern Ethiopia, and later on conquering portions of north-central Ethiopia (including Gondar, Amhara Region and Raya Azebo, Tigray Region – for a short period of time) during the Zemene Mesafint period.^[21][22][23]

In the 19th Century, the Shewans (included several sub-groups of Shewan Amhara and Shewan Oromo people) held prominent roles in the consolidation of the Ethiopian Empire under the rule of the Kingdom of Shewa as members of Menelik II’s Royal Court.^{[24][25][26][27][28]}

Both the imperial and the Derg government relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia where they served in government administration, courts, church and even in school, where Oromo texts were eliminated and replaced by Amharic.^[29][30][31] Until 1991 the Amhara dominated politics of Ethiopia^[32] The Abyssinian elites perceived the Oromo identity and languages as an obstacle to the expansion of Ethiopian national identity.^[33] Under the Haile Selassie Regime Oromo was banned from education, and use in administration.^[34][35][36] In 1967, the regime of Haile Selassie I outlawed the Mecha and Tuluma Self-Help Association and later instigated a wave of mass arrests and killings of its members and leaders.^[37][38] Prominent military officer and leader of the association, Colonel General Tadesse Birru, was also arrested.^[39][40] This reaction by the regime had been caused by the popularity of the organization among the Oromos and its links to the Bale Oromo resistance movement.^[41]

Establishment of administration[edit]

In Illubabor in the 19th century, the semi-feudal system of neftenya, balabats, and gebbars was introduced. The Shewan officials and soldiers who settled in Illubabor, known as neftenya, were assigned to a number of peasant households, or gabbars depending on their rank and position. A Dejazmach was granted 1,000 peasant households, a Fitawrari 300, a Kenyazmach 100 to 150; a Shambal 70 to 90; a Mato Alaqa 40 to 60, Hamsalaqa 25 to 35 and an ordinary soldier 5 to 10. Each peasant household had to go to the land owned by the overlord and contribute his labor as a form of tax. The overland provided food and drinks. At the end of the work, each peasant went back to their land or business. Taxes were collected from every married couple. In addition to the tax (gabbar sometimes the local farmers built the fences and homes of the overlord. They had to supply honey, butter, chicken and fattened sheep or goat on holidays. Each household had to produce fifty kilos of grounded cereals to each neftenya every month. Furthermore, the peasants had to transport grain crops to the nearest government granaries. If a gabbar failed to fulfill his duties, he would be summoned to the court.^[42] As C.F. Rey had noticed^{[citation needed]} “[…] the judges are the sub governor creatures of course take the side of the plaintiff in nine cases out of ten.” The neftenyoch could pass any judgment they wanted, short of capital punishment, which required Emperor Menelik’s approval.^{[citation needed]}

The Oromo recount a long history of grievance which casts them as colonial subjects violently displaced from their land and alienated from their culture.^[43] Beginning from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the adjacent Amhara community engaged in constant voracious attacks and raiding expeditions against the surrounding Oromo nation.^[44] In 1886, the city, then known as Finfinne, was renamed to Addis Ababa by Menelik II as the capital of Ethiopian Empire.^[45] Under the Haile Selassie regime Oromo was banned from education, and use in administration.^[46][47][48] The Amhara culture dominated throughout the eras of military and monarchic rule. Both the Haile Selassie and the Derg governments relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia where they served in government administration, courts, church and even in school, where Oromo texts were eliminated and replaced by Amharic.^[49][50][51] The Abyssinian elites perceived the Oromo identity and languages as hindrances to Ethiopian national identity expansion.^[52]

Certain sub-sets of Oromo society were faced with forced assimilation into the dominant political system with their traditional political administrative system being abolished or banned. Certain non-Shewan Oromo had been branded by Naftenyans as outsiders and called the derogatory term “galla”, meaning “savage”, “slave”, or “enemy,” the term was originally used by Somalis to refer to non-Somalis (as a term for foreigner or outsider) and applied to non-Muslims (as a term for infidels).^[53] The term “Galla” was also used by Northern Oromo clans against Southern Oromo clans for having different social class characteristics from each other. Tigrayans were also known for calling Amhara people “galla” or “half-galla” because Amhara majority regions of that time period (mostly in modern day Amhara Region) in Northern Ethiopia were ruled over by Northern Oromo clans such as the Yejju Oromo clan and the Wollo Oromo clan with the Amharas being subjects of the Oromo rulers,^[54] especially during the Zemena Mesafint in which the Yejju Oromo ruled over the Northern Ethiopian portion of Ethiopian Empire. During the 17th century, the Yejju dynasty (more specifically, the Warasek dynasty) ruled much of the Ethiopian Empire during the Zemene Mesafint or “Era of Princes”, changing the language in the court of Gondar (in modern day Amhara Region) to the Oromo language. Throughout the era, different ethnic groups, clans and communities made short-term alliances to acquire economic advantage and political power.^[55] The neftenya were also made up different ethnic groups, clans and communities who had alliances with each other.

There has also been criticism of the terminology the OLF uses; since its formation, the OLF has used the terminology “Abyssinian colonialism” to describe the alleged colonization of ethnic Oromos by Amhara (Abyssinians) during the 1880s conquests by Emperor Menelik II. However, both Oromos and Amhara Ethiopians alike have disagreed on such strict use of the word “Abyssinians” as exclusively meaning Amhara Ethiopians, because Oromo conquests^[56] since the 1500s have led to northern Oromos being part and parcel of the Abyssinian empires centered in Gondar.^[57] One particular example used by Ethiopianist Oromos, like Merera Gudina, against OLF is the historical accounts on Oromo rule of Ethiopia in the 1700s, including the Yejju Oromos “controlling the imperial seat at Gonder for about eighty years.”^[58][59] Ethiopianists claim that since Oromos were citizens of Abyssinia for several centuries (both as peasants and in its leadership), Abyssinia itself is made up of its Oromo citizens.^[60][61] Thus northern Oromos were Abyssinians, long before Emperor Menelik was born to lead the alleged “Abyssinian conquest of Oromos.”^[59] Therefore, since an ethnic group cannot colonize itself, both the incorrect use of the word “Abyssinia” and the claim of “colonization of Oromo” terminology has been disputed by Ethiopianists.^[59]

Ethnic makeup of Menelik’s government and forces

Ethiopian fighters from all parts of the country rallied to the cause and took up positions on the battlefield that allowed them to come to each other’s aid during combat. Armies who participated in the these battles includes Negu Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam‘s Amhara infantry and cavalary; Ras Mengesha Yohannes‘ and Ras Alula‘s Tigrayan army; Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael‘s Harar army that included Amhara, Oromo and Gurage soldiers; Fitawrari Tekle’s Wallaga Cavalary and infantry; Wag-shum Gwangul’s Agaw and Amhara from Wag and Lasta; and Ras Wolle Bitul’s Gondar army. The mehal sefari or central fighting unit included mostly Shewan Amhara, Macha Oromo–Tulama Oromo (Shewan Oromo) cavalary, Gurage as well as Taytu Bitul’s Yejju armies.^[62][63][64]

Ethnic slur

Allusion to Amhara, the second most populous ethnic group in Ethiopia, as “neftegna” or “neftenya” (meaning “musketeers“) by the government and local officials was described as “inflammatory” by Human Rights Watch in 1995.^[65] Officials of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, including, those from the ANDM (Amhara National Democratic Movement) used the term “neftenya” (gunslinger), as well as “chauvinist”, “oppressor” , “Yekedmo sre’at nafaqi” (English: “one who pines for the old order”), in a “derogatory” sense during their period of rule according to Amanuel Tesfaye,^[66] and usage in the context of the Hachalu Hundessa riots in 2020 was called “inflammatory” by Terje Skjerdal and Mulatu Alemayehu Moges, as part of their paragraph on hate speech predominating in Ethiopian media at the time.^[67] In the context of interethnic conflict, the term is used as a reference toward extreme Amhara nationalists, in which the suppression of the identities, languages, cultures, traditions, histories and religions of the annexed lands and conquered peoples are placed under a One-Nation, One-Language, One-Religion imperial rule based on the Amhara culture, ^[68][3] as well as against politicians or portions of the general public regardless of ethnicity perceived as Ethiopian nationalists who support multicultural civic or liberal nationalism in order to move Ethiopian politics and governmental administration away from ethnicity-based identity politics in order to support the individual rights of each person; which politically vocal ethnic federalists and ethnic nationalists who oppose such views claim it to be a ploy towards taking away group rights-based political powers from various ethnic groups

WHO IS MINILIK?

Menelik II (Ge’ez: ዳግማዊ ምኒልክ dagmawi mənilək^{[nb 1]}; horse name Abba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው abba daññäw); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም sahlä maryam) was King of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Ethiopia^{[nb 2]} from 1889 to his death in 1913. At the height of his internal power and external prestige, the process of territorial expansion and creation of the modern empire-state was completed by 1898.^[2]

The Ethiopian Empire was transformed under Emperor Menelik: the major signposts of modernisation were put in place, with the assistance of key ministerial advisors. Externally, Menelik led Ethiopian troops against Italian invaders in the First Italo-Ethiopian War; following a decisive victory at the Battle of Adwa, recognition of Ethiopia’s independence by external powers was expressed in terms of diplomatic representation at his court and delineation of Ethiopia’s boundaries with the adjacent kingdoms.^[2] Menelik expanded his realm to the south and east, into Oromo, Kaffa, Sidama, Wolayta and other kingdoms or peoples.^[3][4]: 2

Later in his reign, Menelik established the first Cabinet of Ministers to help in the administration of the Empire, appointing trusted and widely respected nobles and retainers to the first Ministries.^[5] These ministers would remain in place long after his death, serving in their posts through the brief reign of Lij Iyasu (whom they helped depose) and into the reign of Empres

Menelik was the son of the Shewan Amhara king, Negus Haile Melekot, and probably of the palace servant girl Ejigayehu Lemma Adyamo.^[6] He was born in Angolalla and baptized to the name Sahle Maryam.^[7] His father, at the age of 18 before inheriting the throne, impregnated Ejigayehu, then left her;^[8] he did not recognize that Sahle Maryam was born.^[9] The boy enjoyed a respected position in the royal household and he received a traditional church education.^[10]

In 1855 the Emperor of Ethiopia, Tewodros II, invaded the then semi-independent kingdom of Shewa. Early in the subsequent campaigns, Haile Malakot died, and Sahle Miriam was captured and taken to the emperor’s mountain stronghold, Amba Magdela. Still, Tewodros treated the young prince well, even offering him marriage to his daughter Altash Tewodros, which Menelik accepted.

Upon Menelik’s imprisonment, his uncle, Haile Mikael, was appointed as Shum^{[nb 3]} of Shewa by Emperor Tewodros II with the title of Meridazmach.^{[nb 4]} However, Meridazmach Haile Mikael rebelled against Tewodros, resulting in his being replaced by the non-royal Ato^{[nb 5]} Bezabeh as Shum. Ato Bezabeh in turn rebelled against the Emperor and proclaimed himself Negus of Shewa. Although the Shewan royals imprisoned at Magdela had been largely complacent as long as a member of their family ruled over Shewa, this usurpation by a commoner was not acceptable to them. They plotted Menelik’s escape from Magdela; with the help of Mohammed Ali and Queen Worqitu of Wollo, he escaped from Magdala on the night of 1 July 1865, abandoning his wife, and returned to Shewa. Enraged, Emperor Tewodros slaughtered 29 Oromo hostages then had 12 Amhara notables beaten to death with bamboo rod

Bezabeh’s attempt to raise an army against Menelik failed; thousands of Shewans rallied to the flag of the son of Negus Haile Melekot and even Bezabeh’s own soldiers deserted him for the returning prince. Abeto Menelik entered

On 10 March 1889, Emperor Yohannes IV was killed in a war with the Mahdist State during the Battle of Gallabat (Metemma).^[13] With his dying breath, Yohannes declared his natural son, Dejazemach Mengesha Yohannes, to be his heir. On 25 March, upon hearing of the death of Yohannes, Negus Menelik immediately proclaimed himself as Emperor.^[14]

Menelik argued that while the family of Yohannes IV claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba through females of the dynasty, his own claim was based on uninterrupted direct male lineage which made the claims of the House of Shewa equal to those of the elder Gondar line of the dynasty. Menelik, and later his daughter Zewditu, would be the last Ethiopian monarchs who could claim uninterrupted direct male descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (both Lij Iyasu and Emperor Haile Selassie were in the female line, Iyasu through his mother Shewarega Menelik, and Haile Selassie through his paternal grandmother, Tenagnework Sahle Selassie).^{[unreliable source?]}

In the end, Menelik was able to obtain the allegiance of a large majority of the Ethiopian nobility. On 3 November 1889, Menelik was consecrated and crowned as Emperor before a glittering crowd of dignitaries and clergy by Abuna Mattewos, Bishop of Shewa, at the Church of Mary on Mount Entoto.^[15] The newly consecrated and crowned Emperor Menelik II quickly toured the north in force. He received the submission of the local officials in Lasta, Yejju, Gojjam, Wollo, and Begemder.