Pope Leo XIV has made a “heartfelt plea” for warring parties in Tigray “to choose the path of dialogue” after fighting between rebels and Ethiopian government forces. Source: The Tablet.
Church leaders in Tigray, the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia, had already appealed for peace after hostilities broke out in recent weeks, including an attack on a humanitarian convoy.
“Armed conflict never solves problems but only worsens them, leaving in its wake a trail of death, destruction, and resentment,” Pope Leo said after his general audience in St Peter’s Square yesterday .
“Only honest engagement can lay the foundations for lasting peace. It is my fervent hope that the international community will offer its generous and timely contribution, to ensuring that all humanitarian aid be provided to those in need,” Pope Leo said.
Bishop Tesfasellassie Medhin, who leads the Ethiopian Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat in Tigray, made an appeal last week for unhindered humanitarian access to local communities, repeating a message he first issued on September 20 after the first signs of fighting.
The crisis escalated around the Demera, Ethiopia’s annual festival on September 26 and which celebrates the finding of the True Cross by St Helena in the 4th century. Known as the Maskel – “the Cross” in Amharic – the festival is one of the country’s most important celebrations and unites Ethiopians across cultural, social and geographic lines.
While thousands poured into the Maskel Square in the capital Addis Ababa, fighting intensified in Tigray. Last week the rebel Tigray People Liberation Force (TPLF) captured three airports and pushed deep into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions.
The TPLF says it is fighting a defensive war after the Ethiopian army attacked its forces with drones. The government forces have since launched a counterattack.
The war in the region in 2020-22 killed an estimated 600,000 people and displaced millions of others. It ended with a peace agreement signed in South Africa, which mandated a ceasefire, disarmament of the TPLF and unhindered humanitarian access to the region.
However, the TPLF has since allied with six other armed groups to form the Ethiopian Peoples’ Alliance for Survival, with a declared agenda to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali’s government.
FULL STORY
Plea for humanitarian access as Tigray again descends into war (By Fredrick Nzwili, The Tablet)
