woke up Sunday, July 3, unaware of Live 8 concerts around the world to give them hope and a better future. The Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM) Canada said it remained concerned about "severe persecution of Christians in rural Ethiopia," particularly in the Alaba region, where at least one child was reportedly killed by Muslim militants in recent days.
In a statement to BosNewsLife News Center VOM Canada, which investigates the plight of persecuted believers, stressed "violence is continuing unabated" in the troubled area.
32 believers who were expelled from the village of Besheno in January are still unable to return to their homes and Muslim leaders "interrogate any stranger to ensure that no Christian enters the area," the organization added.
STABBED TO DEATH
It cited sources in the Alaba area as saying that an 8-year old girl, identified only as Denkenesh, was stabbed to death on June 5 by a witch doctor "who had repeatedly told her Christian family that their prayers hindered his contact with the spirits."
As a result, the witch doctor allegedly lured the girl into his home and killed her. "When blood-soaked cloths were found in his home, he admitted to the attack and was arrested. The Christians in the area are [however] skeptical that the trial will bring about a fair verdict," VOM Canada added.
Also in the Alaba region, in the village of Colicha, a government official led a mob in raiding a church service on June 12, VOM Canada investigators reported. "Those present were forced from the home where they were meeting. The governor has written a letter to the owner of the house, forbidding further church services."
CONVERTED MUSLIMS "BEATEN"
In another incident on June 19, eleven former Muslims who converted to Christianity were beaten while on their way to a church service, the organization said. VOM Canada said its
workers visited at least one family of a Christian who was killed for his faith.
"VOM [Canada] met with the family of Serkalem, a young man martyred on February 1. Since the attack [by Muslim militants] in February, the family’s house has been damaged by Muslim attackers and their crops ruined. But the family remains firm in their faith." VOM quoted Serkalem’s 11-year-old brother, Adane, and his friends as saying that they too are "prepared to pay the cost of following Christ."
These are no isolated incidents, claim human rights workers. Evangelicals in Ethiopia, who may account for as much as twenty percent of Ethiopia’s roughly 71-million people, face especially severe persecution, VOM Canada sources say. Young people who convert from Islam to Christianity have reportedly been expelled from their homes and forced to live on the streets or work as house servants.
POVERTY CONTINUES
Poverty has apparently fuelled Muslim radicalism in several areas of the African nation and few expect this weekend’s simultaneous Live 8 concerts of famous artists in 10 cities to result in any quick relief for those suffering.
However some are grateful that Ethiopia and Africa have been pushed to the top of the political agenda once again, ahead of the upcoming G-8 summit of industrialized nations in Scotland, reported the British newspaper The Telegraph from the area.
"There are small signs of change and reasons for hope," added Netsanet Demissie, the head of Ethiopia’s Organization for Social Justice told the newspaper. Officials cite as positive trends economic growth last year of 10 per cent and attempts to bring about democracy in the African nation that for years suffered at the hands of a Marxist dictator who slaughtered tens of thousands of people.
HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERN
However "while this government is an improvement over its brutal predecessor, its human rights record is nonetheless extremely grim," said Chris Albin-Lackey of Human Rights Watch in an article to be piblished Monday, July 4, in the International Herald Tribune newspaper.
"In Ethiopia’s most populous region, Oromia, the government routinely subjects its critics to harassment, imprisonment and torture. Police and military officials often imprison such people on charges of involvement with "anti-peace" or even "anti-people" groups, but convictions and even trials are rare," he added.
"After a low-level insurgency broke out in the remote Gambella region two years ago, the Ethiopian military responded by killing, raping and torturing hundreds of indigenous Anuak civilians." He said the 1985 Ethiopian femine that came to symbolise the suffering of Africa with actions such as Live Aid and, 20 years later with Live 8, "wes brought about by the [than] military regime in the first place."
VOM Canada warned that especially impoverished Christians will suffer for some time to come because of violence and the related a lack of food. It urged supporters to "pray for Christians in Ethiopia who are facing continued persecution at the hands of those opposed to the Gospel" and to pray "for strength and the healing of those beaten or mourning the loss of a loved one." VOM Canada also requested prayers "for the safety of Christians working to spread the Gospel of Christ to those around them." (With: Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Ethiopia).
