This archive report was first published on 27 October 2019.
On Sunday, the influential Orthodox Church in Ethiopia criticized Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's response to ethnic and religious clashes that left nearly 70 dead, saying he was failing to protect its members.
Published on October 27, 2019, the clashes erupted in the capital Addis Ababa and the outlying Oromia region on Wednesday after a prominent activist accused security forces of trying to orchestrate an attack against him -- a claim police officials denied.
Violence quickly morphed into clashes, with a police official saying on Friday that 67 people had died in Oromia.
"People are dying and questions are being raised if the government even exists. The people are losing all hope," Father Markos Gebre-Egziabher, a leader in the Orthodox Tewahedo Church, told AFP following a memorial service at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa.
Orthodox Christians make up roughly 40 percent of Ethiopia's 110 million people.
Abiy, the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, waited until Saturday night to react, vowing to bring perpetrators to justice and warning that instability could worsen if Ethiopians didn't unite.
A church spokesman told AFP on Saturday that 52 Orthodox Ethiopians, including two church officials, had been killed -- a toll that AFP could not independently verify.
At Sunday's memorial service in Addis Ababa, hundreds of worshippers bowed their heads during a moment of silence for the victims.
"If they come with machetes, we will go with crosses," Father Markos said. "God is with us."
"People are dying and questions are being raised if the government even exists. The people are losing all hope," Father Markos Gebre-Egziabher, a leader in the Orthodox Tewahedo Church, told AFP following a memorial service at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa. — Father Markos Gebre-Egziabher
