The bishops of Africa are deeply concerned about the dangers of escalation across the region of the conflict in Ethiopia, where the national Addis Ababa army is confronting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The TPLF was recently ousted from its dominant position in the federal government by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
“We have followed with deep concern the deteriorating situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia,” said Burkina Faso Cardinal Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo, Archbishop of Ouagadougou on behalf of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) last week. The Cardinal reported that Africa’s bishops are concerned about a growing humanitarian and security crisis “not only in Tigray but in neighbouring Eritrea and Sudan”.
Last month Pope Francis and Ethiopia’s bishops called for an end to the violence and for peaceful dialogue. The SECAM bishops joined them, “in passionately pleading for the immediate laying down of arms, and that all parties resolve their differences amicably through open dialogue". They called on Church and civil organisations to provide basic needs to displaced people.
The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned that the situation was “spiralling out of control with appalling impact on civilians”. A million people are displaced and thousands killed after fighting broke out between federal troops and local forces on 4 November. Last weekend the first international aid convoy arrived in Tigray’s capital, Mekelle. The International Committee of the Red Cross said seven trucks brought medicines and medical equipment for the city of half a million. Catholic Relief Services have distributed food to displaced populations in Amhara, northern Ethiopia, along the border of Tigray, and in parts of western Tigray.
Meanwhile, 25 Salesian missionaries are reportedly stranded without communications in Tigray, and were last heard from two weeks ago.
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