VZCZCXYZ3493
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDS #0656/01 0661341
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061341Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9868
RUEHWD/AMEMBASSY WINDHOEK PRIORITY 0545
RUEHSB/AMEMBASSY HARARE PRIORITY 0469

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 000656 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/PDPA, IIP, IIP/S, IIP/SDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO KIRF ET
SUBJECT: Post Report of Visit of IIP Speaker Elbert "Bert" Ransom to 
Ethiopia (February 1 - 13) 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: IIP Speaker Rev. Dr. Elbert "Bert" Ransom completed a 
highly-successful, twelve-day visit to Ethiopia on the topic of "The 
Role of Faith Communities in Social Change: Contributions of 
Christians, Jews, and Muslims to the American Civil Rights 
Movement," as the main focus of post's Black History Month 
programming.  Ransom spoke to religious leaders in Addis Ababa, 
Harar, Bahir Dar, and Gondar, large audiences of students and 
townspeople in Bahir Dar, Gondar, and Dire Dawa, and opened post's 
photo exhibition, "Building Islam in Detroit."  Ransom's message of 
inter-faith cooperation was well-received in all locations, 
indicating a "huge wellspring of goodwill," as he put it, for 
cross-faith cooperation on social issues.  Ransom's experience and 
recollections of the Civil Rights Movement and his work with Dr. 
King were especially well-received and he engaged in extensive media 
outreach as well, to include Ethiopia's leading talk show Post will 
follow up this visit with a proposal to the Department for setting 
up interfaith councils to address local issues in Ethiopia as a 
means of fostering greater Christian-Muslim cooperation and mutual 
understanding across the country.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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PATRIARCH AND SHEIKH, PRIESTS AND IMAMS 
*************************************** 
 
¶2. Rev. Ransom's visit to Ethiopia launched post's new faith 
communities outreach strategy, drawing on the experience of the 
American Civil Rights Movement.  This new strategy lies not in 
"Muslim Outreach" per se, but rather in bringing all faith 
communities together to promote tolerance, mutual understanding, and 
inter-faith cooperation to address common issues of social concern. 
In doing so, post hopes to strengthen indigenous religious 
communities (especially Muslim groups) against outside/foreign 
influences and to build on Ethiopia's long tradition of tolerance 
and mutual respect between Christianity and Islam. 
 
¶3. Since faith communities are central to this strategy, Rev. Ransom 
met with His Holiness Patriarch Paulos, of the Ethiopian Orthodox 
Church, at the beginning of his visit.  The normal 30-minute 
audience stretched to over an hour as bishops and monks were kept 
waiting in the anteroom while the Patriarch described the role of 
the Church in Ethiopian history and culture, and Rev. Ransom 
discussed inter-faith cooperation in fighting segregation in the 
United States. Clearly moved by Ransom's interest in the Church, and 
elated when he learned that Ransom's grandson is named "Addis," the 
Patriarch telephoned the seminary where Ransom was to speak later 
that same day, instructing them to give Ransom a full display of 
Ethiopian Church chanting and dancing at its best.  That 20-minute 
experience of Orthodox liturgical dancing, chanting, and drumming, 
rich in African traditions and rhythms, moved Ransom to tears as he 
described his own spiritual connection to Ethiopia.  The audience of 
students, clerics, and professors engaged in hearty discussion of 
the Civil Rights Movement and Ransom's own experience of living and 
working with Dr. King, as well as the role of Faith in the 
African-American community. 
 
¶4. Ransom also met with the leaders of the Muslim Community in a 
well-attended roundtable near the Mercato section of Addis Ababa. 
With Sheikh Elias Redman, head of the Ethiopian Muslim Community 
presiding, Ransom interacted with the audience of more than fifty 
clerics and other Muslim leaders (including women Muslim leaders) on 
how Christians, Jews, and Muslims found common cause in fighting 
segregation.  Lunch afterward enabled Ransom and Embassy PD staff to 
engage the religious leaders and student leaders more intensively as 
discussion continued on the influence of Wahabis in Ethiopia, 
cooperation with the Christian community in addressing poverty and 
other developmental issues, and the life and work of Dr. King and 
Malcolm X.  After leaving the luncheon, Dr. Ransom commented how 
impressed he was with the "number of people of good will there are 
in Ethiopia." 
 
********************************************* ***** 
TALKING ISLAM IN HARAR - BUILDING ISLAM IN DETROIT 
********************************************* ***** 
 
¶5. Ransom met with 30 Muslim religious leaders at the Office of the 
President of Harar Region on February 6.  The meeting was organized 
by the head of the Harar Region Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, 
Sheikh Ibrahim Sharif, and included religious leaders from Harar and 
Oromia Regions.  Rev. Ransom spoke of the struggle of 
African-Americans to achieve civil rights, beginning with the bus 
boycott led by Rev. Martin Luther King in Montgomery, Alabama.  His 
story struck a responsive cord with the Muslim leaders who commented 
on how they could learn from the civil rights struggle and apply it 
to achieving a just and equal society and alleviate poverty in 
Ethiopia.   Another person, who had followed the civil rights 
movement with his Peace Corps friends in the 1960s, considered it a 
privilege to meet personally someone who had participated in the 
struggle. 
 
¶6. Rev. Ransom also opened the photo exhibition, "Building Islam in 
Detroit," with Mayor Arif Hussein of Harar.  This superb exhibit, 
which post obtained on its own initiative from the University of 
Michigan, shows Muslim life in Detroit and how faith communities in 
Detroit have lived and worked together for more than a century. 
Ransom noted in his remarks that the exhibition showed the variety 
of Muslim life in America and how it reflected favorably on the U.S. 
and freedom of religion for all Americans. 
 
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A PACKED HOUSE AT BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY 
************************************** 
 
¶7. Before speaking at the university, Ransom met with a group of 
about 25 Muslim leaders (both male and female) in Bahir Dar. 
Greeting everyone with a hearty "As salaam a laikum," a huge smile, 
and a warm hug or handshake, he immediately broke the ice and put 
everyone at ease as he spoke of Muslim-Christian relations, our 
common social concerns, how faith groups must work together to make 
life better for everyone in society, etc.  The imam of Bahir Dar's 
main mosque, a young graduate of a Sudanese university, invited him 
to visit the mosque later that day, which Ransom gladly accepted. 
As a result of this contact, post will follow up with this young 
imam in the hope of doing more programs with the Muslim community in 
Bahir Dar, something he asked us to do in his own hope of 
strengthening our relationship. 
 
¶8. After lunch, over 600 Muslim and Christian students, including 
one lone female, packed a large lecture hall to hear Rev. Ransom at 
Bahir Dar University, near the shore of beautiful Lake Tana, the 
headwaters of the Blue Nile.  For almost two hours, all eyes in the 
packed house were riveted on Ransom as he described how Rosa Parks 
refused to give up her seat on the bus, his work with Dr. King, how 
he managed Resurrection City, and marched with Whites, Blacks, Jews, 
Christians, and Muslims across the South and in Chicago in the 1950s 
and '60s.  After his introduction by the university President, 
Ransom's preaching in the rhythmic cadences of his beloved Baptist 
Church captivated the students and drew in many more from the plaza 
outside who caught his voice over the loudspeakers.  Within minutes, 
the lecture hall was packed and many more students were standing 
outside, craning their necks to see and hear this champion of the 
American Civil Rights Movement.  When question time came, dozens of 
students clamored for a chance to speak while Ransom and the PAO 
jointly fielded questions on the African-American experience, USG 
Africa policy, Kenya, democracy in Ethiopia, etc. 
 
************************************ 
PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED IN GONDAR 
************************************ 
 
¶9.  The next day, Ransom headed to Gondar, the old imperial capital 
of Ethiopia, where he spent a free day visiting the old palaces and 
churches.  Then on Sunday morning, sitting on the steps of the 
oldest church in Gondar, Ransom was the guest of honor at a special 
church service with honorary poems recited in the ancient Ge'ez 
language, liturgical dancing and chanting, and then an invitation to 
preach/speak to the large crowd sitting on the grass in front of the 
church.  The hundreds of people in attendance clearly appreciated 
this visit by an associate of Dr. King, but surprisingly enough, 
many of the clerics and those educated in religious schools had not 
even heard of Dr. King!  Unfazed, Ransom described how this great 
Martyr of African-American rights and advocate of the downtrodden 
around the world touches our lives even today - a message that 
resonated very well with the many poor people in attendance. 
 
********************************************* ***** 
BERT RANSOM - A GREAT SPEAKER WITH A GREAT MESSAGE 
********************************************* ***** 
 
¶10. PAO knew Ransom well from previous assignments, having 
programmed him twice in Kosovo and once in Ireland before coming to 
Ethiopia.  This was also Ransom's first visit to Africa, and 
Ethiopia was his first country in Africa to visit, surely a great 
way to start his trip!  Ransom relates very well to his audiences 
wherever he goes and he especially knows how to relate to people of 
faith, whatever their faith tradition.  One idea that developed out 
of his visit is to start "Inter-Faith Councils" in one or two cities 
to bring religious leaders together purely to address social issues 
and, in doing so, to address and reduce religious tensions that may 
be developing in their own communities.  Post will explore this 
possibility for future programming as it is a natural corollary to 
our strategy of "Faith Communities Outreach." 
 
¶11.  Post enthusiastically endorses Rev. Elbert "Bert" Ransom for 
further programming by IIP; in fact, this post may request him again 
if the idea of the councils continues to develop.  Besides being an 
intrepid traveler of infinite patience and a ready laugh, Ransom is 
also a great "citizen diplomat" for America who can charm and engage 
substantively virtually any audience you throw at him.  He is simply 
 
superb.  Post thanks IIP for making this program happen and we hope 
to host him again here in Ethiopia. 
 
YAMAMOTO