WE PROTEST The VOA Amharic program labelling of Ethiopia as "Island of Christianity" We the undersigned, through this petition, protest the VOA Amharic program broadcasted on 12th oct 2009, over falsely claiming our country Ethiopia, as the "Island of Christian". This claim was first used during the monarch time to exclude and deny Ethiopian Muslims their natural civil rights. The system consciously chose to marginalize its Muslims population and denying their existence. As the result of this unfair treatment, millions of Ethiopian Muslims left in dark and even denied their educational civil rights. It has now been several decades since the monarch abolished and thanks to Ethiopian Muslims struggle for equal rights, such falsehood claim has no place in today's Ethiopia. The VOA Amharic program has brought many awful memories of Ethiopian Muslims by this false assertion which has strong ties with the system that has denied identity to its Muslim population and the era known as historical Dark Age by Ethiopian Muslims. Through deliberate use of this false assertion, the VOA Amharic program has violated the VOA charter which says: "VOA will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive" The VOA Amharic program acts inaccurate and irrational. Such incorrect claim, of course, goes to the opposite of the US principles; it damages enormously the co-existence of our people. The radio program should contribute its part for peaceful coexistence of Ethiopians belonging to different beliefs instead of attempting for restoring of dominance by one belief. * We demand apology from the Amharic service to the Ethiopian people, in particular to the Ethiopian Muslims. * Based on the existing state department data, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2859.htm , and the reality on the ground, half of Ethiopian population are Muslims. However their representation inside VOA is a neglected matter. Understanding regional psychology is under federal KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) guideline, based on this fact VOA should recruit and hire professional men and women from Muslim background in Ethiopia and USA. NOTE! NOTE! NOTE! ----------------- petition page is now closed. you can only view signatures. New signature will not be recorded any more.

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