US gov't sends special envoy to Ethiopia amid rising violence in Christian region of TigrayThe U.S. government has sent an envoy to Ethiopia amid escalations in the predominantly Christian region of Tigray, where Eritrean forces have escalated a conflict days after the government, led by authoritarian President Isaias Afewerki, took over a Catholic-run technical college in that country. Afewerki’s policy of restrictions is more about his fear that religion will mobilize people as a political force than religion itself. Catholic bishops in the Horn of Africa nation have said that the church’s social services do not in any way oppose the government. Organizations, including Amnesty International, CNN and Sky News, have previously published investigations into massacres committed against civilian populations in the Tigray region. Fighting began after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front attacked an Army base as part of an uprising in the region, which sparked military responses from Ethiopian forces joined by defense forces from neighboring Eritrea in November 2020.

Source: Ethiopian News September 05, 2022 02:10 UTC