Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

At least one Rastafarian groupis viewing the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which came out victorious in Monday's general elections, as the force that will effect changes needed to push Jamaica into the new millennium.

According to the group, members of which visited The Gleaner's head offices at North Street, central Kingston, yesterday, it was through divine intervention and the order of a higher power that the people of Jamaica were led to vote the way they did on Monday.

The closeness of the elections, they said, highlights the movement of Jamaica into a new form of unified governance.

Ras Junior Manning of the Ethio-Africa Diaspora Millennium Union Council (EADMUC) said that September 2007 marks the millennium celebrations for Ethiopia and the Rastafarian community.

He explained that the month of September and the millennium have always heralded significant changes or events in world history, and so marks a momentous occasion for the nation.

According to Ras Manning, Ethiopia's millennium indicates a new beginning for Jamaica, in which both parties, the JLP and the People's National Party (PNP), will come together and unite for the betterment of the society.

"September is a very important time. It's a time when we remember a lot of mystery and history. September 11, or what they call 9/11, and even Hurricane Gilbert, are two of the significant events that took place in that month," he said.

The Rastas referred to the year 2000 in Ethiopia as the black people's millennium. They said that it is through the revelation of the 'mystic' that both political parties, the JLP and the PNP, have won almost an equal number of seats in Parliament.

The EADMUC is scheduled to host a press conference today at the Hilton hotel in New Kingston at 10:00 a.m. as it commences its Ethio-Africa Millennium celebrations.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com