DaSilva
Omar Anderson, Staff Reporter
LOCAL RASTAFARIANS say they will not participate in what is supposed to be the official burial of His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I in November in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, calling the event a fake.
According to Ras Sydney DaSilva, president of the Rastafari Centralisation Organisation (RCO) in Kingston, the RCO strongly objects to the funeral.
"We nuh have nutten to do wid dat. If Ras (Selassie) die , I and I die also," he said, noting there is nearly a million Rastafarians in Jamaica and 8.4 million globally.
According to Ras Sydney, Selassie, who was born in 1892, is not dead, but residing in Teman, Africa, preparing a place for his sons and daughters.
Last week, a Reuters wire service story out of Addis Ababa reported that an Ethiopian royalist group, the Emperor Selassie I Foundation, is planning to hold an official funeral for the late icon on November 2 - a quarter of a century after Selassie's reported death, and on the 70th anniversary of his coronation. The story stated that the Foundation needed around US$1 million to organise the reburial ceremony of the late emperor and called on all Ethiopians at home and abroad to contribute.
Rastas have not acknowledged that Selassie is dead. However, a priest at the local Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa, but which has more than 100,000 followers in Jamaica, said his organisation has no objection to the ceremony. Kes Fitzgerald, from the church in Kingston, told The Sunday Gleaner last week that he thinks his church would attend Selassie's burial service if formally invited.
"We have nothing against going but we have to get permission from Archbishop Abuna Yesahaq," he said.
Unlike the Rastafarians, Kes Fitzgerald said his church believes Selassie is dead. "There's no man that take on human flesh that cannot pass away," he said. "Regardless of who he is, the life can leave the body. However, Selassie was a great man who lived a decent life."
