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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000451 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E 
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KREL ET ER
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: CHURCH RIFT HIGHLIGHTS INTERNAL 
POLITICAL DIFFERENCES 
 
Classified By: POL/ECON Counselor Kevin Sullivan 
Reasons: 1.4 (B)and(D). 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: A recent decision by the Ethiopian Orthodox 
Church (EOC) in Addis Ababa to revoke the titles of former 
Patriarch Abuna Merkorios and four of his top bishops is the 
latest act in a widening feud between the church in Ethiopia 
and the "EOC in exile," based in the US.  A long history of 
conflict was aggravated by the 2005 elections in Ethiopia and 
subsequent violence.  The two EOC's are widely thought of as 
extensions of ethnic political structures ) the US EOC of 
the mostly Amhara (and former Derg) opposition and the Addis 
Ababa EOC of the ruling, Tigrayan-dominated EPRDF.  The post 
election violence and perceived lack of action on the part of 
the Addis Ababa EOC was detrimental to the latter's following 
in the US -- worsened by a subsequent public offensive 
launched by the US EOC against Addis Ababa EOC and the EPRDF. 
 The Addis Ababa EOC made attempts to win back support in the 
US, and the US EOC sought to counter and protect their gains, 
leading to the current boil-over of hostility between the 
two.  Unless there is an immediate cool down and approach 
toward reconciliation, the damage suffered may become 
irreparable.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) On February 6, Poloff and senior political FSN met 
with Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) officials Abuna 
Timotewos, Dean of the Trinity College (the EOC's school for 
top church officials), and Abuna Germina, the EOC's foreign 
relations officer to discuss reports of a deepening rift 
within the EOC.  Both bishops are members of the Holy Synod 
in Addis Ababa and are long-serving, senior members of the 
EOC.  On February 7 Poloff met with Bayabel Mulatu, a 
respected Ethiopian banker who is well-connected to the Synod 
and Patriarchs in both Ethiopia and in the US. 
 
------------------------------ 
DERG POLITICIZES EOC PATRIARCH 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) Abunas Timotewos and Gerima explained that the 
creation of dueling EOCs dates back to 1988, during the final 
years of the former Derg Regime in Ethiopia.  When the third 
Patriarch of the EOC, Abuna Tekle Haymanot, died in 1988, the 
Holy Synod of the EOC met to select a new Patriarch.  Derg 
officials put heavy pressure on Synod members to elect a 
Patriarch more accommodating to the political leadership, 
unlike the uncooperative Tekle, and specifically proposed 
Abuna Merkorios.  Merkorios was quickly elected as the fourth 
Patriarch of the EOC.  While Merkorios served as patriarch 
(1988-1991), he did double duty as a member of Parliament, 
unheard of for church officials. (NOTE:  Before Merkorios was 
selected as Patriarch, he was loyally serving as archbishop 
in Gondar when senior Derg official Melaku Tefara -- 
nicknamed The Butcher of Gondar for his role in the Red 
Terror (and recently sentenced to death under genocide 
charges) -- was administrator of the region. END NOTE) 
 
¶4. (SBU) After the TPLF ousted the Derg in 1991, Merkorios, 
according to the official version, declared to the Synod that 
he was too sick to continue to serve as Patriarch and 
resigned, the first time a Patriarch had ever done so.  The 
Holy Synod then elected the fifth Patriarch, the current 
Abuna Paulos.  Paulos, a Tigrayan (as are many of the current 
EOC elite), was serving as a bishop in exile in the US, after 
having been imprisoned for 8 years under the Derg regime. 
Merkorios, together with four top bishops, immediately fled 
the country after the election of Paulos.  They later issued 
statements saying that they had been threatened by the 
incoming TPLF government to step down from leadership of the 
EOC. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Merkorios and his allied bishops subsequently 
established an "EOC in exile" in the US.  The EOC in Addis 
condemned this, saying that there is only one church and 
that, according to church laws, a parallel structure could 
not be set up.  Merkorios argued that he was still the 
official Patriarch of the EOC, as he had abdicated under 
pressure, and furthermore canon law did not permit 
enthronement of a new Patriarch while the former was alive. 
In 1995 the EOC in Ethiopia countered by excommunicating the 
4 bishops, and consecrating 4 new ones (and adapting the same 
church-given names) in Addis Ababa.  At that time, however, 
the EOC in Addis Ababa did not officially rescind the title 
of Patriarch from Merkorios.  In 1996 Merkorios established a 
new Holy Synod and related church structures in the US. 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000451  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶6. (C) From 1996 to the May 2005 parliamentary elections in 
Ethiopia, the EOCs in the US and Ethiopia seldom went public 
with criticism of each other.  In fact, Embassy contact 
Bayabel Mulatu said that unofficial contact through 
intermediaries was regular.  Quiet criticism nevertheless 
remained, with the EOC in Addis Ababa claiming the new Holy 
Synod was illegitamate, and the EOC in the US condemning the 
EOC in Addis Ababa as an extension of the EPRDF government. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
2005 ELECTIONS POLARIZE FOLLOWERS, EMBOLDEN EXILED EOC 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) With the establishment of the "EOC in exile," three 
distinct groups of followers developed in the US: 1) those 
that supported the EOC in Addis Ababa; 2) those that 
supported the exiled EOC; and 3) those who remained neutral. 
Not surprisingly, political and church affiliation closely 
correlated (i.e. pro-EPRDF, anti-EPRDF, and neutral). 
Despite the fact that the religious teachings of each faction 
are identical, Ethiopian churchgoers in the US generally 
attend churches according to political affiliation of the 
priests. 
 
¶8. (C) After the May 2005 elections, when the EOC in Addis 
Ababa failed to protect followers or condemn the crackdown on 
opposition-oriented church members, the US-based EOC leaders 
became increasingly harsh and more public with their 
criticism.  The exiled EOC leaders reportedly believed that 
the EPRDF was going to fall, and therefore saw an opportunity 
to return to Addis Ababa to reclaim control of the church 
worldwide.  As part of their offensive, they stepped up 
public criticism of the Addis EOC, accusing it of being a 
puppet of the TPLF and of allowing followers to be killed by 
federal police. 
 
------------------------------ 
BATTLE TO CONTROL US FOLLOWERS 
------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (C) Following the elections, EOC followers in the US 
stQed shifting allegiance in large numbers away from the 
Addis EOC, greatly diminishing the size of the US-based group 
that had backed the Addis Ababa EOC.  In August 2006, in a 
move perceived to be an attempt to win back supporters in the 
US, the EOC in Addis Ababa brought 3 very prominent "neutral" 
bishops to Ethiopia, consecrated them as archbishops, and 
sent them back to the US.  Upon return, followers shunned 
them for taking sides.  One bishop, who was the leader of the 
large St. Michael's church in Washington DC, had his first 
service upon return to the US boycotted by former followers. 
 
¶10. (C) On January 21 and 28, 2007, in a retaliatory move, 
the US EOC consecrated 13 new bishops (9 in Washington DC and 
4 in Toronto), who are slated to assume leadership of major 
EOC churches around the US.  The Addis Ababa EOC took swift 
action, issuing a press statement on February 3 stating that 
the US EOC had no authority to make such appointments and, as 
punishment, stripped the former patriarch and the four 
bishops that followed him in exile of their titles and called 
for EOC believers worldwide to distance themselves from the 
leaders in the U.S. and not to attend their services.  As 
Bayabel pointed out to Poloff, "Revoking a religious title is 
not like removing someone from political office.  Their 
titles are for life and this has never been done. This is 
huge."  The US EOC fired back in a recent VOA interview, 
stating their disagreement with the Addis Ababa EOC's 
administration, going so far as to say that the Addis Ababa 
EOC is "smeared with blood." 
 
------------------------------ 
STILL HOPE FOR RECONCILIATION? 
------------------------------ 
 
¶11. (C) The leadership of each EOC has publicly stated that 
reconciliation is possible, but that the other group must 
"repent" first.  There are many people, both in Addis Ababa 
and the US, that are working to bring to two sides back 
together.  Indeed, in the weeks that followed the US EOC's 
nomination of the 13 bishops and prior to the Addis EOC 
excommunicating the leadership of the US EOC, word leaked 
about the Addis Ababa EOC's planned move.  In an effort to 
prevent furthering of the conflict, a group 20 prominent 
Ethiopians (including Olympian Haile Gebrselassie) together 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000451  003 OF 003 
 
 
with church elders, pleaded with the Addis Ababa EOC Synod to 
reconsider.  The Addis Ababa EOC heeded these requests and 
dispatched a contingent of high-level bishops to the US to 
negotiate with the Patriarch and archbishops.  However, the 
US EOC refused to receive them, and as a result, the Addis 
Ababa EOC went forward with their plans to strip them of 
their titles. 
 
¶12. (C) Bayabel told Poloff that he sees the EOC "in a 
situation unlike anything that has happened in the last 2,000 
years."  Though influential insiders continue to work with 
both sides (PM Meles held a meeting with the Addis Ababa EOC 
Synod on February 6), Bayabel believes that the rift will get 
worse before it gets better.  Indeed, the US EOC subsequently 
issued a statement officially stripping the Addis Ababa EOC 
Patriarch, Abuna Paulos, of his title and excommunicating him 
from the church.  Thus, each side has rescinded any official 
recognition of the other as church representatives. 
 
¶13. (C) Post learned that the Addis Ababa EOC plans to ask 
for Embassy/USG help "force the US EOC to give up using the 
name Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church" (the official name 
of the EOC), as well as to deport several top US EOC 
officials.  Post will emphasize to the Patriarch and Synod in 
Addis Ababa that such actions are illegal and will only serve 
to cause further damage. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
COMMENT: PATRIARCHS TAKING POLITICAL AND ETHNIC SIDES 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶14. (C) The rift in the EOC -- along ethnic lines -- 
parallels the tense political aftermath of the 2005 
elections.  The Patriarch of the Addis Ababa EOC is deeply 
disliked for not protecting his flock during the violence and 
arrests after the elections. He has done little to reach out 
to his constituencies. Complicating the Patriarch's task is 
the vocal US diaspora, which is using the split to criticize 
PM Meles and his government. 
WILGUS