The Official Website of The Crown Council of Ethiopia

HIH Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, President

Coming Together, Staying Together

And Emerging Triumphant

A Statement from the Crown Council of Ethiopia by its President,

His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie

April 7, 2020 / 29th Mägabit 2012

Now, as the world is falling victim to a global and indiscriminate virus and has entered into a new era of economic dislocation, the People of Ethiopia are being challenged as never before.

And yet we shall prevail.

It seems as if the Almighty, in His Infinite Wisdom, is giving one more test to the Ethiopian People, who were emerging from almost a half-century of suffering. We were given a moment to breathe, but only so that we could gain strength to face the coming period.

This is our true test. We believed we had thrown off the shackles of communism and tyranny. We believed we were set to resume the path toward true democracy. Then this new crisis beset us, and all the world.

We had been given the past two years to grasp the gift we were given: the freedom to work together as Ethiopians, as true brothers and sisters, regardless of our region, our language, or our beliefs. Yet many of us still had scores to settle after 44 years of communist “divide and rule” tyranny.

Now we need to set aside the bitterness of those years. We must set them aside. We are one great People, made up of many equal clans and tribes and regions. And we will only survive this latest plague of economic and physical hardship, and start again on the road to prosperity, if we focus on the importance of unity and discard the small things.

We know that we can and will prevail in this new crisis. We can and will conquer not only the temporary scourge of this virus, which has already taken its first Ethiopian lives in Ethiopia itself and in the Diaspora, but we will come together as never before. Those we have lost to this virus, and those we are still yet lose, are indeed martyrs who cause us to pause in humility, to cease our quarreling and come together again; in sorrow for the lost souls and lost time, but united and proud.

Their deaths — and the sacrifices of our healthcare professionals at all levels, and all those who volunteer to help those suffering because of this combined biological and economic virus — will not be in vain if we cease our bickering and rejoice in our ability to make our peoples once again greater than the sum of their parts.

We have been given a great opportunity to set aside our petty differences — indeed, we have been given a wider world view in which our differences as Ethiopians can be celebrated and respected — in order to create a new Ethiopia which shows the world our three and a half millennia of unique strengths.

The Government has wisely attempted to introduce practical measures which will limit the spread of the coronavirus, and to enable our healthcare professionals to show us their skills, valor, and commitment.

But what this period also gives us is time to reflect on the possibility that we can emerge from this period of challenge, restored as a true family of Ethiopians.

This must be a time for us to innovate a new Ethiopia. We must strive to grow our own food in abundance, and feed all Ethiopians. We must seek ways to open our internal trade so that our own food crops and manufactures can be distributed to all corners of Ethiopia. And this must include all the members of our historical family, such as Eritrea and Djibouti.

We must all take heart and joy in the songs and symbols of our neighbors. We must give thanks that no Ethiopian can be set above another. And that no other people can set themselves above Ethiopians, just as we do not wish to set ourselves over others. We must give respect to the differences of faith through which each of us in our separate ways shows service to our Creator. And it is time for us to pray together.

No land has greater opportunity than Ethiopia. No people has a history deeper and richer than Ethiopia. We have each other to share and celebrate our triumphs — and there will be triumphs to come — just as we have each other to strengthen us through our trials.

In all of this, the Crown of Ethiopia is only a symbol of your greatness, your potential, your strength, and your compassion.

It is yours.

God Bless You, and God Bless Ethiopia.

CLICK FOLLOWING FOR A PDF OF THIS STATEMENT   [ENGLISH]   [AMHARIC]

Victory of Adwa Weekend

HIH Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie Haile Selassie,

President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia's

Podcast Interview with Australia's SBS Amharic Section

1 March 2020

Interview with Australia's SBS broadcasting system and its Amharic channel.

Click HERE for link to full interview.

The Caribbean and Ethiopia Must Be Beacons of Democracy

A Statement from the Crown Council of Ethiopia by its President,

His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie

November 13, 2019

The security, stability, and prosperity of much of Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia is presently being challenged, almost as never before, by changes occurring around the world. We must all look beyond the immediate to do what is right for our societies and for the future of them through the next phase of history. And we must mourn for the recent losses of innocent lives in these conflicts which defy historical reason. Our hearts go to the grieving families.

The Crown Council of Ethiopia is not a political entity; nor does it wish to shape the will of the people. It cannot, and would not, venture interference in the governance of Ethiopia, nor of those societies around the world which are home to so many who value the historical role of Ethiopia and have been inspired by the millennia of symbolism of the Solomonic Crown.

But neither would the Crown wish to be seen to be silent out of lack of care for those who look to it as a symbol of hope, unity, and compassion and as repository of all our ethical values.

We have been approached for comment on the great upheavals which the Government has inherited inside Ethiopia, but we can only urge our People to remember the humanity of their Fellow Ethiopians. Unity, courage, and inspiration can solve many things, and we are engaged with you, as we have been these past five decades or so of hardship. We will never abandon the Ethiopian People: Not any one of them, regardless of language, origins, or beliefs.

We have been approached to comment on forthcoming elections in the Caribbean, but we can only urge those there who look to the Solomonic Crown for guidance to act with calmness, in good conscience, and with a will to put the interests of their nation ahead of petty issues and short-term gratification. Like the People of Ethiopia, so many of you in the Caribbean have suffered the indignity of seeing society transform through transactional politics. But voters, too, have their part to play. You must play it. It is more than voting; it lies in preserving dignity.

The Caribbean can be a beacon of democracy. So, too, can Ethiopia. Nobility of spirit can be achieved by us all, and it can transform our societies. Together we can be a beacon of tolerance, and that will lead to true prosperity and a better world.

God Bless Ethiopia, and God Bless our Brothers and Sisters in the Caribbean and around the World. His late Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, whom God has blessed, bound Ethiopia and the Caribbean — and the Americas — together. Let us honor him with Peace.

[CLICK HERE FOR A PDF OF THIS STATEMENT]

The Prime Minister’s Nobel Peace Prize

A Statement from the Crown Council of Ethiopia by its President,

His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie

October 13, 2019

Ethiopians around the world share with joy the news that our Prime Minister, Dr Abiy Ahmed Ali, has been named the recipient of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

The 27-year old journalist credits Abiy’s peace deal with Eritrea last year for reuniting him with his father. Like thousands of other families they had been separated by two decades of hostility with Ethiopia’s longtime enemy.The Award was specifically to recognize Dr Abiy’s “efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea”.

We recognize that he took a vital step in the reconstruction not only of Ethiopia, but of our entire region of peoples of our common family. Dr Abiy’s gesture toward restoring familial relations with Eritrea was a genuine and spontaneous act of reconciliation between the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It was immediately reciprocated by the Eritrean People and leadership. It was a gesture based on the restoration of justice for individual people of our family of nations, and, as such, certainly merited recognition by the international community.

Dr Abiy’s action restored the unity of many families, and restored hope to so many people. It was, indeed, a vital early step in the reconstruction of the dignity, history, and mutual respect of all of the peoples of our great family.

The Crown Council not only applauds Dr Abiy and congratulates him for the Nobel Peace Prize, but urges that we all see this as the start of the restoration of the mutual respect with which all Ethiopians – and those of our extended family in Eritrea, Djibouti, and the Somali peoples – greet and treat each other. We join in urging respect for the great traditions and languages which make distinct each society of our family, knowing that we all share a common value and identity – our Ethiopianness, formal or informal – under which we can value the distinct pride of our various regions and their respective governments.

God Bless Prime Minister Abiy. God Bless Ethiopia.

[CLICK HERE FOR A PDF OF THIS STATEMENT]