Ethiopia (MNN) — Last Wednesday, the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front agreed to end the two-year-long civil war. Negotiations took place in South Africa.
The war has devasted the Tigray region, killing hundreds of thousands. Millions of people lost their homes, and a blockade has largely cut the region off from communication and aid.
Roughly 5.2 million people need aid in the region. The United Nations says the Ethiopian government has used starvation as a weapon of war.
Eritrea
Notably, Eritrea was not involved in the peace talks. Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “Eritrea and soldiers have been invited into Tigray on the side of the Ethiopian government. There have been allegations of atrocities committed by Eritrean soldiers. And yet the peace deal doesn’t address if they are going home.”
The Eritrean government harshly persecutes Christians, arresting and imprisoning them without trial. Some believers have endured decades in underground cells or metal shipping containers.
We reported previously about Eritrean soldiers attacking refugee camps in the Tigray region. Nettleton says, “Eritrean Christians who have fled Eritrea have crossed into Ethiopia and were living in those camps. So that has been a big concern of ours as Eritrea has become involved in this.”
“We want to know the status of Eritreans that have been in those camps.”
Pray the peace deal will hold. Ask God to strengthen Christians in the Tigray region. Nettleton says, “Tigray has been very isolated, very cut off. The Ethiopian government has cut off the internet, and they’ve cut off electricity. They have not allowed reporters or humanitarian aid groups into the area. I don’t think we even know how desperate the needs are.”
The header photo shows an Ethiopian woman shortly after she helped bury the bodies of many civilians killed in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Yan Boechat/VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
