Gambella, 24 June, 2022 / 9:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia (CBCE) have condemned the reported killing of over 300 people, “mostly women and children” in the country’s Gambella and Western Wollega regions.
In their Friday, June 24 statement, CBCE members say that “the Ethiopian Catholic Church has been condemning the death, displacement and destruction of property” in the embattled regions of the Horn of Africa country.
“The Church still strongly condemns the killing of innocent people in Gambella and Western Wollega, mostly women and children,” Catholic Bishops in Ethiopia say, and add, “People should not be killed because of their identity and religion.”
Local media reports that the June 18 clashes that “resulted in severe civilian casualties, injuries, and property damages involved the government security forces and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA)."
An eye witness who maintained anonymity told the Associated Press, that after the June 18 attacks, witness “counted 230 bodies,” and that the tragic incident is the “deadliest attack against civilians we have seen in our lifetime.”
