Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Jul 22, 2021 / 18:01 pm
As the war over control of Ethiopia's Tigray region expands into neighboring regions, the country's bishops on Saturday urged an end to the violence.
“It saddens our hearts hearing about war while we all would like to hear about peace and reconciliation,” read a July 17 statement from the Ethiopian bishops' conference. The conference had held its ordinary assembly July 13-16 in Mojo, about 50 miles southeast of Addis Ababa.
Fighting has been taking place in Tigray since November 2020 between the regional government of the Tigray People's Liberation Front and federal forces.
In the last week, the Tigray war has expanded into the neighboring Afar region; it had already crossed into the Amhara region.