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The Ecumenical Council of Churches calls on the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to explore peaceful ways to resolve their disputes and pray for the people and churches of Ethiopia in the midst of the ongoing crisis.
By Lisa Zengarini
The fighting began in Ethiopia on November 4, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched military operations in response to an attack on federal troops by armed forces loyal to the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), resulting in heavy casualties and thousands of civilians. fleeing the region.
In a statement released after a virtual meeting, the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned “the numerous brutally violent attacks against churches and communities that particularly affect the Ethiopian Orthodox Church of Tewahedo, to members of any community defined by the religion or ethnicity, on churches and holy places, and on civilians by armed groups “and mourned” the death of so many people “.
Pray for all
The WCC also expressed concern over the many people displaced by the fighting: “We pray that they can be assured of their safety and religious freedom, so that they can return to their homes,” the statement read.
“We denounce those who seek to promote tensions, divisions, antagonisms and bloodshed among the Ethiopian people for their own political purposes,” the WCC added, urging all interested parties to “withdraw from the precipice of a new catastrophe and return instead to the dialogue than conflict, to cooperation rather than division “.
The executive committee also conveyed the WCC’s support and encouragement to all churches in Ethiopia to raise their prophetic voice for inclusive dialogue, peace, justice and unity against violence and hatred.
Aggravated challenges
Recalling that the current crisis stands against the backdrop of multiple simultaneous challenges, including regional tensions associated with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the worst locust invasion in 25 years, severe impacts on food production and the Covid-19 pandemic, the statement stressed that “such a constellation crisis underlines the need for cooperation in this critical moment “.
Finally, the declaration reaffirmed “the WCC’s commitment to supporting dialogue and cooperation between the churches and religious communities of Ethiopia and Eritrea in the interest of developing peaceful relations in the region”.
Spreading the conflict
Tensions between the federal government and the regional state of Tigray have been increasing for several months and are ethnic in nature. Many observers fear that the conflict could spread, involving other regions of Ethiopia but also neighboring Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia.
Following Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s decision to launch military operations in the Tigray region, the Catholic bishops of Ethiopia issued a statement urging the parties to amicably resolve their differences, “in a spirit of respect, understanding” and warning on the risks of a civil war.
After the Angelus prayer on November 8, Pope Francis also exhorted “to reject the temptation of an armed conflict” and invited “everyone to prayer and fraternal respect, to dialogue and a peaceful resolution of disagreements”.
The ongoing struggle between the federal government of Ethiopia and the forces of Tigray has also raised concerns among the bishops of the Association of Member Bishops’ Conferences in East Africa (AMECEA), who published a statement on Friday 13 November inviting the Ethiopian people to dialogue to end their disagreements.
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