Fourteen deaths on October 20, then 46 four days later. According to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, at least sixty of its followers were killed in two attacks in the Arsi area of Oromia. Victims which are added to the dozens of others recorded this year. Attacks are increasing across this immense territory, without always succeeding in making headlines in France. Located more than 5,000 kilometers from Paris, Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa with some 130 million inhabitants, is in the grip of several armed conflicts. As is often the case, civilians are the first victims. And in this corner of the continent, especially Christians, although they represent almost 70% of the population.
A matter of symbols which dates back to the upheavals of the 1970s and the overthrow of the emperor, according to Paul*, a fine expert on Ethiopia, who worked closely with the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) and prefers to remain anonymous. “Long linked to the Solomonic dynasty, the Orthodox Church remains associated with the ancient power and those who embodied it”he explains to us. Its followers thus represent a form of elite to be destroyed for some. Just like the Amhara people, who played an important role in the construction of Christian kingdoms, then in the political and administrative structuring of modern Ethiopia, today organized in the form of an ethnic federation. A “very fertile ground” for identity attacks, underlines our interlocutor.
Since the start of the year, at least three massacres have taken place. At the end of February, 21 faithful were killed, according to the Holy Synod, which also reported survivors kidnapped and property burned in more than ten homes in East Arsi. Between May 30 and June 1, around 40 Christians were killed around Teleta Gebriel, in the Aseko district, according to the World Council of Churches. The NGO Acled, specializing in the collection and analysis of data on armed conflicts around the world, reports the fire of more than 200 houses, most of them Orthodox, as well as that of the century-old Teleta Saint-Gabriel church.
UN accused of turning a blind eye
“It’s not new”breathes Paul. From July 2018 to September 2019, around thirty churches were attacked, more than half of which were burned, according to a count from the Amhara Professionals Union cited by The World. In 2020, after the assassination of the famous singer Hachalu Hundessa, violence particularly hit Shashamene: attackers went from house to house, checking identity cards to target Amhara residents, reports Associated Press. Minority Rights Group also describes attacks prepared using lists of names and households, targeting in particular the Amharas and the Guragés. On November 24 and 27, 2023, at least 36 people, including babies, were killed in three villages in Shirka district. “They targeted Orthodox Christians”testifies a farmer interviewed by Reuters, who says he lost seven members of his family.
“An evil man will burn his own nation to the foundations and rule from the ashes”
And things are not getting better, insists our source: “We are in the most acute phase of the religious cleansing of the Orthodox undertaken in the Arsi zone for three years. » The horror intensifies as the region burns. The borders between regions, drawn in the 1991 Constitution, fuel conflicts. Federal forces have been confronting rebel movements in the two most populous regions, Oromia and Amhara, for several years. After months of tension, fighting has resumed in the north, where the government is increasing drone strikes against the rebels of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Last Thursday and Friday, at least 25 people died under fire from these offensives. At the same time, frictions with neighboring Eritrea raise fears of a new war.
“It’s chaos”summarizes with Tangwall Campagin Thibault van den Bossche. Responsible for advocacy for religious freedom at the ECLJ, he contacted the UN Human Rights Council and the special advisor for the prevention of genocide in September 2023. Apart from an acknowledgment of receipt, this alert did not really have any effect… On June 2, the collective of jurists once again sent a letter to the United Nations, which remained a dead letter for the time being.
At the government level, indifference seems to prevail. In a statement published on Facebook, the Orthodox Church claimed to have repeatedly alerted the authorities, at different levels of power, about the insecurity reigning in the country, without any solution having been found so far. In May, federal authorities, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, himself from Oromia, accused theOromo Liberation Army (OLA), a armed opposition group, to be responsible for the killings. According to Paul, the designated culprits vary depending on what suits the government. “An evil man will burn his own nation to the foundations and rule from the ashes”he blurted, acerbically. Arriving in power in 2018, Abiy Ahmed was initially praised for his openness: he had freed numerous political prisoners as well as journalists. His extended hand to neighboring Eritrea, with which relations were historically tense, had earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. An image of a reformer and diplomat which now belongs to the past.
*The first name has been changed.
