At Least 60 Reportedly Killed in Attacks on Christians in Ethiopia's Oromia Region
The Facts
- At least 60 people were killed in two attacks in Ethiopia's Oromia region, south of the capital Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church said Monday. It reported 14 deaths in Merti district on Oct. 20 and 46 in Sherka district on Oct. 24, with more than 20 homes burned.
- Witnesses said the assailants went house to house, shooting and stabbing residents, with elderly people and children among the dead. One resident whose 75-year-old father was killed said the attackers surrounded them from all four directions.
- The holy synod urged government institutions to publicly condemn the killings, strengthen civilian protection and bring those responsible to justice, saying it had repeatedly raised insecurity concerns with authorities without receiving a solution.
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The Spin
Pro-government narrative
An armed coalition that can't agree on anything beyond toppling a government has no business calling itself a liberation movement. Villages burned and innocent worshippers slaughtered are the predictable result when rebels with no shared vision or political purpose turn religion into a battlefield. Accountability belongs with the gunmen first, and the dangerous fantasy that violence and chaos somehow bring freedom deserves to die.
Government-critical narrative
Pinning these massacres on rebels without a shred of credible evidence is a convenient way to dodge a basic duty — keeping ordinary citizens alive. A state pouring its energy into border brinkmanship and foreign feuds while unarmed worshippers are slaughtered is failing at the one job that matters most. Grieving communities are owed real protection, accountability and honest investigations, not excuses and political blame-shifting.