Hawassa, 10 August, 2023 / 9:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia (CBCE) have decried fresh clashes between the military and local Fano militia in Amhara region barely a year after the November last year’s peace agreement, lamenting that Ethiopians can no longer bear the sight of violence.
In a Tuesday, August 7 statement, CBCE members say that the country that is in the Horn of Africa has better options at its disposal to resolve its conflicts and doesn’t always have to resort to war.
“While solving problems in our country by speech, discussion and reconciliation is our culture, it now seems a habit to take war as an option for our various misfortunes,” the Bishops say, and add, “Our capacity to bear war has been exhausted.”
Ethiopia’s Amhara region, which is the country's second-largest region has been experiencing protracted violence. The last two-year conflict was cooled down through a peace agreement in November last year.
However, another cycle of clashes broke out in the same northern region last week. The recent crisis between the military and local militia which is said to have quickly become Ethiopia's most serious security crisis compelled the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to declare a six-month state of emergency.
