Ethiopia in the Crosshairs

Mohamed Mokhtar/AFP/Getty Images

Ethiopia in the Crosshairs

The armies of radical Islam are circling Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.

The Trumpet does more than simply analyze blockbuster headlines. We also write them—often months, years, decades even, in advance.

Here’s a blockbuster headline soon to come out of Ethiopia: Islamists gain control of Ethiopia, Eritrea.

It’s easy to glance at Ethiopia, a pro-Western, comparatively stable, predominantly Christian country that rarely makes prime-time news, and think that’s absurd. But if you look closely, and consider the broader perspective, Ethiopia’s future is grim, very grim. In fact, Ethiopia is in jeopardy right now.

First, consider Islam’s control over the region. We’ll start in Morocco, the western gateway into the Mediterranean, where last month the Islamist Justice and Development Party, which represents the Muslim Brotherhood, came out on top in parliamentary elections and will now lead the nation’s coalition government. Islam’s victory in Morocco occurred less than a month after the Ennahda Party, another outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, dominated national elections down the road in Tunisia. Next door in Libya, where Col. Muammar Qadhafi was recently ousted and killed, Islamist parties, some of which are associated with radical terrorists, are gaining the upper hand.

Head a little farther east and we come to Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood and hardline Islamist political parties in the first round of parliamentary elections last week won more than 60 percent of the vote. It’s now abundantly clear, lamented Caroline Glick this week, that “Egypt is on the fast track to becoming a totalitarian Islamic state” (emphasis added throughout).

Travel north from Cairo and we hit Gaza, the stronghold of Iranian proxy Hamas. Farther north still are Lebanon and Syria, where there are an assortment of Islamic terrorist organizations, one of which recently lobbed two missiles into Israel. Syria is led (still) by Bashar Assad, a stalwart ally of Iran, and is a key staging ground for radical Islam’s war on Israel. North of Syria is Turkey, a nation that has in recent years slid toward the radical Islamist camp.

East of Turkey are Pakistan and Afghanistan, two bastions of radical Islamic terrorism. Turn south and there’s Iran, the command center of global Islamic terrorism, a nation on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons, led by mullahs determined to create a nuclear apocalypse. Across the border in Iraq, Iranian proxies are right now filling the power vacuum created by the departure of U.S. forces.

Farther south, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are all alarmed by the rise of Iran-sponsored Islamic terrorism. Head south from Riyadh and we come to Yemen, a chaotic, headless state where Islah, the Islamist political party created by the Muslim Brotherhood, will likely get the victory when Yemenis finally get around to voting. From Yemen we hop the Gulf of Aden to get to Somalia, where Islamist pirates routinely hijack vessels in the Indian Ocean and the newly created and fragile Transitional Federal Government (tfg) routinely wards off attacks by al-Shabaab and its terrorist partners.

Finally, we come to Ethiopia, a nation standing in the path of this barreling, Iran-steered, radical Islamist freight train! Is it any surprise that the Ethiopian government recently discovered a plot by Wahhabi Muslims to turn the country into an Islamic country governed by sharia law?

Meanwhile, radical Islamist forces have gotten a foothold in Eritrea, Ethiopia’s regional adversary and a nation strategically situated at the gateway of the Red Sea. In 2006, the United Nations accused Iran, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Hezbollah of providing arms, training and financing to Islamic militants in Somalia via Eritrea. In December 2008, reports emerged that Iranian naval vessels had visited the Eritrean port of Assab and deposited an undisclosed number of Iranian troops and weapons there, including long-range and ballistic missiles. A few months later, an official in Somalia’s tfg government accused Iran of arming al-Shabaab via Eritrean middlemen.

Most recently, Kenyan media reported that a shipment of arms, the third of its kind, had been delivered via Eritrea to al-Shabaab in Somalia. Eritrea’s support of al-Shabaab, and of Islamic terrorism in general, is so serious the UN Security Council this week imposed sanctions on the country. The sanctions, stated U.S. ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, will send the message to “Eritrea that it will pay an ever higher price” for its support of Iran and radical Islamist groups. Truth is, it could also drive Eritrea more firmly into the Iranian camp.

In addition to the radical Islamist problem festering inside its borders, and the growing threat from Eritrea, Ethiopia is also alarmed by the radical Islamist presence in Somalia. Mogadishu’s Transitional Federal Government is frail and politically immature, two issues made worse by the fact that it is under near-constant attack from al-Shabaab and its regional supporters, including Iran. Ethiopia’s border with Somalia is nearly 1,000 miles, and the risk of the Islamist war spilling over into Ethiopia is real, which is why it supports the tfg. By doing so, however, Ethiopia risks becoming a target of al-Shabaab and its radical Islamist partners.

That’s not all Ethiopia has to worry about. In August, Iran’s foreign minister visited Somalia and met with President Sharif Ahmed and other leaders in the tfg. The official purpose of the visit was to discuss Iran providing humanitarian aid. Thing is, that’s generally above the pay grade of a foreign minister. According to Stratfor, relations between Ethiopia’s leaders and Ahmed are strained. It’s possible, explained Stratfor, that the meeting between the Iranian foreign minister and the president of Somalia “could have been used to explore other sources of political backing.

No doubt, the visit to Somalia by the foreign minister of the number one state sponsor of Islamic terrorism gave more than a few Ethiopian officials nightmares!

No matter what angle you view it from, the picture is the same: Ethiopia is under extreme pressure to come under the influence of radical Islam!

When you look at a map, it’s not hard to see why Iran wants to ramp up its presence in this region. It wants control of the southern entrance to the Red Sea! To get this, the regime in Tehran needs sympathetic Islamic governments in Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia. This is what makes the Islamist encroachment on Ethiopia so significant!

Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and via its Islamic allies in Egypt is fast gaining decisive influence over the Suez Canal. When it eventually gains influence over Ethiopia and Eritrea, Iran will control the Red Sea!

When that happens, Iran will have the power to lock down virtually the entire Middle East!

There’s another reason we can tell Ethiopia and Eritrea will soon fall to Iran. Thanks primarily to Bible prophecy, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry was able to warn as far back as April, long before the Islamic winter set in, that both Libya and Ethiopia (including Eritrea and Djibouti) would soon align with Iran. You can read his prophecy in “Libya and Ethiopia Reveal Iran’s Military Strategy.”

In his article, Mr. Flurry explained the prophecy in Daniel 11:40-43, which foretells an end-time clash between a German-led Holy Roman Empire and an Iranian-led Islamic coalition called the king of the south. In verse 33, Daniel lists the “Libyans and the Ethiopians” as part of the king of the south alliance. “This verse states that Libya and Ethiopia are also going to be closely allied with Iran!” explained Mr. Flurry.

“Watch Libya and Ethiopia,” he wrote. “They are about to fall under the heavy influence or control of Iran, the king of the south.”

It’s amazing, though not surprising, that since Mr. Flurry penned that article radical Islam’s grip on North Africa and the Middle East has tightened immensely. From Morocco to Yemen, Istanbul to Cairo, Iran and radical Islam have grown, albeit to varying degrees, in power and influence. Believe the facts, believe Bible prophecy and believe Gerald Flurry. It won’t be long now till you read this headline: Islamists gain control of Ethiopia, Eritrea.

Not on the front page of the Trumpet, but on the front page of the New York Times.

When you do, remember who wrote it first.