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Your Excellencies, Distinguished Leaders, Human Rights Organizations, and People of Goodwill,
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| Priest Ephream Eshete Ephream |
I, a priest of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church, pleading on behalf of the beleaguered Orthodox Christian community in the East Arsi Zone of the Oromia Regional State in Ethiopia, write to you today with a heavy heart and a desperate plea for intervention. We are facing a systematic and brutal campaign of persecution that threatens our very existence, and our cries for help within our own country have gone unheeded.
The situation on the ground is not merely one of isolated incidents but a coordinated campaign of violence and terror. The most harrowing evidence of this is the chilling statistic that, on average, at least seven or eight of our faithful are killed in the region daily. These are not casualties of a generalized conflict; they are targeted assassinations, extrajudicial killings, and massacres aimed at cleansing the land of its ancient Orthodox Christian presence.
I must state with profound distress that the perpetrators of these atrocities are not acting alone. The violence is enabled and amplified by a sinister alliance between government officials and armed Islamist militants in the area. Local government structures, which have a duty to protect all citizens, have been weaponized against us. It is with grave concern that we report that zone government officials actively assist the Islamists, providing them with a cloak of impunity, intelligence, and at times, direct logistical support.
This collusion reaches the highest levels of local authority. The Head of the East Arsi Zone Administration, Ibrahim Kedir, who bears the ultimate responsibility for the security and well-being of all people in the zone, is not a neutral figure. He has been directly implicated in previous mass violence against Christians. Specifically, he was the deputy mayor of Shashemene during another mass killing of Christians, a tragedy that foreshadowed the current crisis and for which no justice has been served. His current leadership role in Aramsi signals that the campaign of persecution has official sanction and is being directed from within the government itself.
The Orthodox Christians are therefore facing a dual threat: the sword of the extremist and the seal of the bureaucrat. Our people are being murdered, our churches are being desecrated, and our communities are living in a state of constant fear.
I do not believe the international community is aware of the scale and organized nature of this humanitarian catastrophe. We appeal to you:
1. To the United Nations and its Human Rights Council: Urgently launch an independent international investigation into the atrocities in the Aramsi Zone and hold all perpetrators, including government officials, accountable.
2. To the African Union and Regional Bodies: Use your diplomatic leverage to pressure the Ethiopian federal government to intervene immediately, disarm the militias, and hold the Oromia regional government accountable for its constitutional obligations to protect all citizens.
3. To the Governments of the United States, the European Union, and All Nations of Conscience: Impose targeted sanctions and travel bans on individual officials, including the Head of the Aramsi Zone Administration, who are implicated in these crimes against humanity. Condition all non-humanitarian aid on verifiable steps to end the violence and protect religious minorities.
4. To International Human Rights and Humanitarian Organizations: Amplify our voice, document the crimes, and provide emergency support and monitoring to vulnerable populations.
Silence in the face of such evil is complicity. I am not asking for special rights, only for the fundamental right to life and the freedom to practice our faith in peace-rights enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution and international law.
Time is running out. Please, do not abandon us.
Respectfully and urgently,
Fr. Ephrem Eshete Ephrem,
A clergy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church
San Antonio, Texas
* Email: ephremeshete@gmail.com
* X (Twitter): @EphremKesis
For the voiceless Orthodox Christian Community of Arsi Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia.
November 3, 2025
የተዋሕዶ ቤተሰቦች በመላው ዓለም
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