Humanitarian Aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray Region “severely affected”, Not Suspended: Bishops

During the meeting, he said, “we mentioned that the Church is trying hard to use various possible alternatives like using UN logistic clusters to send food items and using the UN flights to send Cash to Adigrat.”

“We would like to express our regrets for any inconveniences due to the past communications and confirm that there is no suspension of implementation of humanitarian support in Tigray,” Mr. Habtamu says in the September 2 statement shared with ACI Africa.

On August 20, AMECEA delegates paid a visit to Berhaneyesus Cardinal Souraphiel and delivered a solidarity message with the Church in Ethiopia following months of violence in Tigray. 

Violence erupted in Tigray on November 4 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed-led government ordered a military offensive against the authorities in the state. The military attack was in response to the alleged attack on Ethiopia’s largest military base located in Tigray’s capital, Mekelle by forces loyal to the region’s government.

Last month, the leadership of the Catholic Church in the Horn of Africa nation announced a week of prayer for an end to the country’s instability.

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The Catholic Bishops called on those at the helm of all Catholic institutions in the nation to facilitate collections on the first day of the week of prayer.

The collections, CBCE members said about the initiative spearheaded by the Inter Religious Council of Ethiopia (IRCE), are to be channeled to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

“We request that all Dioceses and parishes know that a prayer week is officially declared from September 6 to 10, 2021 and especially on September 6 all offices will be closed and all faithful will pray at their respective parishes pleading to God for his fatherly providence,” the Catholic Bishops in Ethiopia said in their August 28 statement.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.