Ethiopia, a South African country with Christianity as its primary religion, has been the site of a brutal civil war that intensifies daily. Consequently, a Christian ministry leader expressed the disappointment Ethiopian Christians feel over the international community's lack of concrete response on the matter.
'A Puzzling Inaction'
In a report by Mission Network News, Tigray Christians have voiced their bewilderment at the seeming inaction of the international community on the ongoing disturbance in the country.
"What you'll see now through people's cell phone videos and in citizen journalism is large-scale troop movement and tank movement into the area. The Tigray Christians are puzzled on why the international community is, at this point, still expressing concern but not taking any action," Mission Network News quoted The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) Korea's Eric Foley saying.
The report bared that Tigray is being pounded by armed forces from neighboring Eritrea and the country's military. The March 2022 humanitarian ceasefire had already ceased to exist, which paved the way for the ongoing armed dispute in the region.
Eritrea, Tigray's northern neighbor, recently ordered adult men up to 55 years old to gear up and join its attack on Tigray. The news website noted that the country had seen the heaviest armed skirmishes between the different groups over the past weeks.
Evangelical Christians Under Fire
The small population of Evangelical Christians in Tigray have been under the watchful eye of their neighbors, making the former wary of their actions.
According to Foley, while Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde is an Evangelical Christian, she ordered the government's armed invasion of Tigray. Because of the ongoing conflict, Foley said Tigray Evangelical Christians "feel stuck at the level of raising their voice to be heard" within the country and outside of it.
Despite the hostilities, Foley explained that their group's work persists.
He disclosed that a local hospital director, a Christian, sends reports to Foley's organization to keep them in sync with what's happening on the ground. In one of his reports, Foley said the hospital director told them they were already out of food and medicine for their patients.
'North Korea of Africa'
Foley and VOM Korea do not assist only Tigray Christians but Eritrean Christians as well.
According to the report, many Eritrean Christians have been imprisoned by Zewde's government. This harsh government treatment prompted the Christians to call Ethiopia "the North Korea of Africa."
In an earlier article, Mission Network News said envoys from the E.U. and U.S. have called for the resumption of banking and electricity services in Tigray amid the raging civil disturbance. The report noted that the hostilities have been going on for two months, with more than two million displaced from their homes.
"A comparison between North and South Korea is, I think, a good one. In North and South Korea, the war never ended. There is simply an armistice in place. But the two nations are technically at war," Foley told Mission Network News.
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