Funeral services for victims of mass murders in the city of Mai-Kadra, held at Abu Aregawi Church. By Yonatan Zebidewos – Public Domain, via VOA Amharic (https://amharic.voanews.com/a/may-kadra-1-1-2021/5721428.html), Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107209787).
Since September 2025, there has been a wave of attacks against Ethiopian Orthodox Christians in the Arsi zone of the Oromia region. In Sherka district alone, 144 people have been killed. The violence has also affected Catholics, prompting the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia to condemn the attacks.
On October 24, militants identified as members of the Oromo Liberation Army attacked the historic Asebot Monastery in West Hararghe Zone and nearby residents. One believer, Anbes Felate, was killed, and his son, Betre Anbes, was critically injured. Two others were abducted. Asebot Monastery has faced repeated assaults since the early 1990s. This attack was separate from the killings in Arsi zone.
Between October 24 and 28, coordinated attacks struck multiple districts in Arsi and nearby areas. In one attack, 24 Orthodox Christians were killed, including a toddler and an 86-year-old. Seventeen Orthodox Christians were killed in the Guna (Nono Jawi locality) and Merti districts, three were killed in the Hela Zebaba locality of Sherka district, and five were killed in the Qeqsa locality of Honkolo Wabe district. Victims included entire families, with ages ranging from two to seventy-six, and several faithful and church servants were abducted.
In early November, three more were killed, including a 10-year-old boy. In a separate attack in Merti district, at least five Orthodox Christians were killed while working on teff (a type of grain) farms. Local witnesses reported that the victims included a husband, a wife, and a neighbor. Armed men believed to be linked to the perpetrators of the previous week’s killings carried out the assault.
Three individuals who had been missing since the previous attack were later found dead. A child who survived the previous attack underwent a leg amputation at a hospital in Wolaita after suffering severe gunshot wounds.
Additional incidents were reported in the East Arsi Diocese. More than a dozen churches have been closed or forced to suspend services over the past five years because of security threats, and at least three churches have been looted. The region has become one of the epicenters of anti-Orthodox violence.
Local residents have repeatedly voiced their concerns to diocesan and regional authorities, but their appeals have gone unanswered. Clergy in Arsi told DNE Africa that more than 200 believers have been killed in Merti district alone in recent years, and they have called for an urgent investigation and federal protection.
On October 30, 2025, the Acting Synod led by Abune Matthias issued a press statement condemning the attacks, though it did not name the perpetrators. Local government authorities have denied the killings. Officials in the Oromia region said that “no one was killed” and that the area remains “peaceful.” Arsi Zone Administrator Ibrahim Kedir also denied that the attacks occurred, calling the reports “false with a political goal to instigate instability.”
Ethiopia has an estimated 77.5 million Christians and is home to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC), one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with roots dating back to the fourth century. Around 330 AD, King Ezana of Aksum converted to Christianity, making it the state religion.
Ethiopian Orthodoxy is practiced by about 44 percent of the population, with Protestants making up a further 23 percent. Tigray is the cradle of African Christianity, the land of the Queen of Sheba, the Kingdom of Axum, and the Ark of the Covenant. Ethiopia’s Christians continue to face persecution from ethnic militias, extremist groups, and what some describe as state-sponsored violence.
The broader context includes the Tigray Genocide (2020–2022). International experts have characterized the events as genocide against Tigrayans during the two-year conflict in northern Ethiopia. A June 2024 report by the New Lines Institute concluded that Ethiopian forces and their allies committed genocidal acts during the Tigray war, including mass killings, causing serious bodily harm, starvation tactics, and measures to prevent births among Tigrayans.
More than 1 million people have been killed since 2020 in the Tigray region, with reports of systematic sexual violence, including soldiers telling rape victims, “A Tigray womb should never give birth.” In the same year, outside the Tigray conflict, more than 500 Christians were killed in coordinated door-to-door attacks following the death of an Oromo singer.
The post Ethiopia, Another Country Where Christians Are Being Targeted and Killed appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.