“Shock, sorrow difficult to measure”: Catholic Entity after Employees Killed in Ethiopia

The CRS country representative in Ethiopia acknowledges the service of the slain workers, saying, “These colleagues were an integral part of the CRS team and the larger community of humanitarian workers. We honor their sacrifice and deeply mourn their deaths.”

He says that despite the latest setback of loss of lives, the Catholic entity will "continue working in support of the people in Ethiopia.”

In the statement, Mr. Zewdie discloses that “details of the murder are still unknown.”

In a Tuesday, April 11 report, CRS Director of Communications, Kim Pozniak, says that the killing of the two employees happened in Kobo town in the country’s Amhara region.

Ms. Pozniak says that the residents of the town “reported heavy artillery fire on Sunday but did not say whether the shootings were linked to the protests.”

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According to the April 11 report, thousands have protested across Amhara since Ethiopia’s government announced plans to integrate regional special forces into the federal army on April 6 and residents reported gunfire in at least two towns on April 9. 

The report also indicates that politicians and activists have condemned the government’s plan “that requires special forces from each of Ethiopia's 11 regions which enjoy a degree of autonomy, to integrate into the police or the federal army.”

They argue that disbanding Amhara's special forces “would leave the region vulnerable to attacks by neighboring regions including Tigray, whose leaders agreed on a truce with Ethiopia’s government in November to end a two-year war that killed tens of thousands.”

On his part, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, is said to have argued that the integration is necessary on the ground that it will “ensure national unity in a country with a long history of inter-ethnic conflict.”

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.