The Parish Magazine June 2021

the parish noticeboard — 5
The Persecuted Church
The Parish Magazine - June 2021 15
A round-up of news items, features, and links by Colin Bailey. Please read for
awareness, and support by prayer and any further support — financial or otherwise.
Torture, killing and atrocities in a tragic Ethiopian war
Sudan
SHIRE
ERITREA
TIGRAY
Yemen
AFAR
REGION
Djibouti
ETHIOPIA
South
Sudan
Uganda
Kenya
Somalia
commons.wikimedia.org
This month we focus on Sky News
reports that more than 500,000
people of Tigray, Ethiopia have lost
their homes after 4 months of fighting
between the national defence force
of Ethiopia and fighters from Tigray
People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Around 300,000 Tigrayans are
camping in schools, a college and halfconstructed
buildings in the city of
Shire, Ethiopia. Almost 60,000 are now
refugees in Sudan.1
The fighting began, says BBC
Africa Eye, last November when the
government launched a military
offensive against TPLF — previously
the region’s ruling party. Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the
TPLF of attacking a government
military base. According to Africa Eye,
TPLF is opposed to Mr Abiy’s efforts
to increase the power of the federal
commitment and is, it says, committed
to 'extended resistance'.2
GROWING CRISIS
Ethiopiaid (http://www.ethiopiaid.
org.uk), a charity working with
partners in Ethiopia to improve the
lives of the poorest communities in
the country, launched an emergency
appeal in March. In a recent podcast
series, Ethiopiaid Behebret (Together),
recognised that there is a growing
humanitarian crisis in the region —
electricity has been shut off, violence
has escalated, food and water are
scarce, and hospitals have run out of
medicine and been unable to restock.
The charity reported thousands
of people in Tigray have fled to the
Afar Region and some to Sudan, many
with just the clothes on their back.
Many are traumatised and many have
lost contact with family members
The Chapel of the Tablet at the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. Colin Bailey (February 2020)
remaining in Tigray. The refugees
includes Eritreans who fled Eritrea.3
Africa Eye says that, according to
Tigray’s interim administration, the
conflict has displaced more than 2
million people (1 April) and left more
than 4 million in need of aid.2
Barnabas Fund reports that, by
December 2020, hundreds of Christian
civilians had been massacred by
Eritrean forces in Axum, central Tigray
and according to Amnesty International
it could amount to a crime against
humanity.⁴
Human Rights Watch reported in
November, that Ethiopian and Eritrean
forces had indiscriminately shelled
Axum, killing and wounding civilians.
They pillaged and destroyed property
including healthcare facilities. Tigray
militia and Axum residents attacked
the forces and, in apparent retaliation,
the Eritrean forces fatally shot and
summarily executed several hundred
residents, mostly men and boys.5
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church claims to possess the Ark of
the Covenant, in Axum. The object
is currently kept under guard in a
building near the church of Our Lady
Mary of Zion. Hundreds of people
hiding in the church were brought out
and shot — The Observer. ⁶
A senior research fellow at the
Institute of Commonwealth Studies,
reported that fleeing civilians said
the aim of the attack was to remove
the Ark to Addis Ababa, He said that
Eritrean troops were looting, and
had gone through some monasteries
and churches, taking Bibles and icons
across the border.⁶
Eritrea is often considered to
be the second worst country in the
world for Christians, after North
Korea. 'Torture, killing, atrocities and
the overall deteriorating situation
in Tigray region became day-to-day
events', said a church leader from
Tigray who emailed Barnabas Fund.⁴
HOW TO HELP
For more from Barnabas Fund,
and to support its appeal to help
Christians in Tigray who need food,
water, clothes, bedding, medicines and
trauma counselling: https://barnabasfund.
org/latest-needs/displaced-christians-intigray-ethiopia-need-urgent-food/
To donate by phone, call 0800
587 4006 and specify project 13-659
'Victims of violence in Ethiopia'.
Sources and further reading
1. Sky News https://news.sky.com/story/ethiopias-tigray-conflict-a-human-tide-of-refugees-with-little-to-keep-them-alive-12250952
2. BBC Africa Eye https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cn7qxrpl2ylt/tigray-peoples-liberation-front
3. Ethiopiaid podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/2TIHmkF4NvJTjAAletCDKK
4. Barnabas Fund https://barnabasfund.org/latest-needs/displaced-christians-in-tigray-ethiopia-need-urgent-food/
5. Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/05/ethiopia-eritrean-forces-massacre-tigray-civilians
6. The Observer https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/24/fabled-ark-could-be-among-ancient-treasures-in-danger-inethiopias-deadly-war