💭 The Orthodox Christians were killed in attacks on a church in southern Ethiopia on Saturday, according to reports by a religious media outlet.
The violence erupted against a backdrop of tensions in the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church after rebel bishops created their own synod in Oromia, the country’s most populous region.
Abune Henok, Archbishop of Addis Ababa Diocese, described the incidents in the Oromia city of Shashamene as “shameful and heartwrenching”, according to the Church-affiliated Tewahedo Media Center (TMC).
The TMC said two Orthodox Christian youths had been killed, and another four people injured, when Oromia special forces attacked the church in Shashamene, which lies about 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of Addis Ababa.
It later said there had been sniper fire on the church from nearby high-rise buildings that had killed a woman and injured others.
Abune Henok called on the authorities in Oromia, also the largest geographic region in Ethiopia, to stop the “persecution” of Orthodox Christians, according to the TMC.
A statement issued by the Holy Synod later urged clergy and the faithful to wear black in protest, and called for peaceful demonstrations at churches at home and abroad on February 12.
At Least 500 Ethiopian Christians Reported Slaughtered in Relentless Door-To-Door Attacks Since June
Muslim militants have killed hundreds of Christians, including pregnant women, children, and whole families in Ethiopia’s most populous regional state, aid workers told BosNewsLife.
The coordinated killings of more than 500 Christians in Oromia reportedly began after famous Oromo singer Hachallu Hundessa was shot dead June 29 while driving on the outskirts of the nation’s capital Addis Ababa.
“The attackers are from the Oromo ethnic group, which has traditionally been Muslim, “explained Barnabas Fund, a Christian aid and advocacy group. “They are members of Qeerroo (meaning, “bachelors”), an Oromo male youth movement, “Barnabas Fund added.
Local Christians and aid workers said the militants arrived in cars armed with guns, machetes, swords, and spears for door-to-door attacks on Christian households.
They “sought out and slaughtered Christians,” said well-informed Barnabas Fund in a statement. “Children were forced to witness their parents being brutally murdered with machetes.”
BEHEADED FOR FAITH
Among those killed were Oromo Orthodox Christians and believers from other ethnic backgrounds, several Christian sources said. At least one Oromo Orthodox Christian was reportedly beheaded for refusing to deny his faith in Christ.
The militants killed him while tearing off the thread around his neck that is worn by many Ethiopian Christians as a sign of their baptism, Christians said.
His widow told Barnabas in a statement: “The attackers said that it is only he or she who prostrates with us before Allah for prayer, which is considered an Oromo.”
An Ethiopian Christian leader, who was not named amid security concerns, called for an international inquiry into the mass slayings. The leader and other Christians were not immediately identified amid security concerns.
But Barnabas regional contacts confirmed attacks in numerous towns such as Arsi Negele, Ziway, Shashemane, Gedeb Asasa, Kofele, Dodola, Adaba, Robe, Goba, Bale Agarfa, Chiro, Harar, Dire Dawa, Adama, Dera, Asela, and Kembolcha, reaching to the far south-east and east of the African nation.
LISTS OF CHRISTIANS
“Some of the Qeerroo fighters held lists of Christians and were helped by local authorities, often run by Muslims in the Oromia region,” Barnabas Fund explained. They used the lists “to find individuals, particularly those actively involved in supporting the Church,” the group said.
Local witnesses said that police stood by and watched as the murders unfolded. However, Barnabas Fund also noted that in Bale Agarfa area, “some Christians were saved by the intervention of courageous local Muslims who risked their own lives to protect them.”
Besides the killings, Christians’ business premises and houses were burnt, vandalized, or otherwise destroyed by the extremists, Barnabas Fund recalled. “Billions of dollars of damage was caused to property, including businesses owned by internationally renowned Christian athlete, Haile Gebreselassie, in Ziway and Shashamahe towns.”
The severity of the atrocities shocked local witnesses. In Dera, a witness reportedly described how killers desecrated corpses by “dancing and singing, carrying the chopped or hacked body parts of those they slaughtered.”
Another witness reported how the hacked bodies of an elderly Christian couple, who were beaten to death in their home, were dragged through the streets in Gedeb Asasa.
MANY ARE TRAUMATISED
“Thousands of traumatized survivors have fled for their lives, including orphaned children, and many are being sheltered in churches and community centers,” Barnabas Fund told Worthy News.
A regional contact was quoted as saying: “Many still live in fear. Christian leaders from all denominations visited the areas. I watched news where priests and pastors physically wept in tears while listened to horrors from the victims’ families.”
The Ethiopian government reportedly suspended the internet in the region for several weeks in an “attempt to reduce incitement” to violence through social media channels.
But Christians say government security forces have been slow to intervene to halt the mass killings.
Christians compared the increase in murders to the period that led to the Rwandan genocide of hundreds of thousands of people in 1994.
VIOLENCE STILL CONTINUES
Though police detained thousands, including local officials implicated in the attacks, violence continues. Local Christians say “targeted genocide” of Christians by militants continued in the south, south-east, and east of Addis Ababa.
Ethiopian Christians have urged fellow believers worldwide to pressure Ethiopian embassies to take immediate action to end the killings.
Barnabas Fund told Worthy News that these are no isolated incidents. “High-profile Oromo media mogul, Jawar Mohammed, provoked unrest in Ethiopia in October 2019 when he criticized the government in tweets to his supporters. Violent protests ensued, leading to 67 deaths,” it recalled.
“Around the same time, two pastors were beheaded in Sebeta, in the Oromia region to the south-east of Addis Ababa. A Barnabas contact added that many churches were burnt that year,” Barnabas Fund said.
Since September 2018, violent ethnic clashes have led to some two million Ethiopians becoming internally displaced, according to Christian aid workers
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on August 20, 2020
👉 Noble Peace Prize = License for Genocide
A silent world remains merely just another helpless spectator to the ongoing ethnic, political and religious extermination of Orthodox Christianity in Ethiopia. The ongoing tussle in Ethiopia under all unfortunate circumstances is a well crafted and promptly executed genocide.
Genocide of Orthodox Christians and Minorities in Ethiopia
Call it by any name, Oromo radicalism or religious extremism, Orthodox Christians suffered the most and they undoubtedly continue to suffer the most. Churches burned, faithful murdered, local business intentionally destroyed.
Some people believe that troubles within Ethiopia do not retain a religious colour. But figures speak otherwise. After the murder of Hachalu Hundessa, more than 3362 Orthodox Christians were displaced. Many Orthodox Christian schools, clinics, entrepreneurial ventures, vehicles were also destroyed. Last year alone, fanatic Oromo groups attacked and killed a large number of Non -Oromo and destroyed more than 30 Orthodox Churches and institutions. Such direct attacks were visible even before 2019.
Hachalu Hundessa’s deliberate murder constitutes just another apparent reason for radicals to wage war against the non-Oromo population. Ironically, Hachalu Hundessa was an Orthodox Christian.
It is not merely Amhara, but it is a war waged to undermine Ethiopian national unity and against Orthodox Christianity in particular. The radical’s attacked and killed Amhara Christians, Oromos Christians and the Gurages community. They demolished property, did lynching and beheadings in the region. Oromo radicals attacked towns and cities in south-eastern Oromia and brutally murdered many non-Oromo, non-Muslim families in the region.
World Media’s who hauls a lot on the persecution of Christians and minorities seems to be silent on the sufferings of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians and minorities. Off course some of them (especially Ethiopian and African media’s) circulated a couple of reports. However, these published reports have not surfaced in a proper manner. Such a dire scenario has inevitably undermined the apparent seriousness of the social and political situation.
Ilhan Omar (U.S. Representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district) and other politicians retweeted a New York Times story about Hachalu’s killing.
But how many politicians will tweet or retweet the story of Meron Tesfaye who was killed while she was nine months pregnant? She was executed before her husband and their two children who were made to kneel down to witness the brutal murder? Who will speak for Brihanu Ziqargachew who was brutally slaughtered by the Ormo extremists?
They are just two among the 335 (or more) people who were martyred in the name of ethnicity and religion. They were brutally executed for their faith and ethnicity.
Who will prevent the Ormo speaker who publicly called for the extermination of Amhara’s in her local neighborhood? Which leading politician will promptly stop the propaganda broadcasts by the Oromo Media Network? At least keep aside the active propaganda of OMN and listen carefully to established facts.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Holy Synod – Rise up and stand firm behind the faithful to staunchly defend them as they voluntarily risk themselves for Christian Orthodox faith.
Look at the Ethiopian government. How can they be so vulnerable? Ethiopians undoubtedly have Prime Minister who was decorated with Nobel peace prize for striking a deal with Eritrea. The Prime Minister and his local government, however, miserably failed to properly check the radicals to reinstate lasting peace in the Country. The government isolated the people of Ethiopia by terminating the internet during the crisis. It is clear they want to hide reality from the rest of the world. What an unspeakable shame!
The Ethiopian diaspora groups like the ‘United for brighter Ethiopia’ are working hard on the critical issue. However, the fragility of the complex situation in Ethiopia reasonably requires urgent attention and humanitarian intervention.
It is not about the mortal leaders like Jawar Mohammed or Ahmed Abiy, but it is about the unfortunate Ethiopians who undoubtedly suffer for their faith and ethnicity, it is about the common man in Ethiopia who is toiling hard to rightfully earn his bread and butter, it is about paving a more decent future for all Ethiopians and it is all about re-establishing lasting peace in Ethiopia.
Indeed, this is a planned and an ongoing ethnic, religious and political to subtly undermine and severely disrupt the national unity of Ethiopia.
A silent world, Ethiopians inevitably require your valuable help and support. Please do not disregard them!!!
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 