In 2019, prime minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize. The committee noted that he had given amnesty to thousands of political prisoners, discontinued media censorship, fought against corruption, and legalized previously outlawed opposition groups. Abiy also received attention for his religious reconciliation work which included mending a split in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and bringing together Christians and Muslims. The son of a Muslim father and Orthodox mother, Abiy is a Protestant Pentecostal, or “Pentay,” like many Ethiopian politicians.
But, as of late, things have been tense. CNN recently reported that scores of people were murdered last November by whom survivors believe are soldiers from nearby Eritrea, whose presence they blame on the Ethiopian government. The massacre occurred in the Tigray region, the northern part of the country and one which shares a border with Eritrea. It came just weeks after the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front attacked Ethiopia
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February 19th, 2021 in Health. Closed
A woman receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine during an equity clinic held at Saint Mary’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Aurora, Colorado on Feb. 13, 2021. (Photo: KUNC)
KUNC
For months, the halls of Saint Mary’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church have stood mostly empty.
COVID-19 restrictions prevent the congregation from sharing meals. Services are mainly held online. Holidays come and go without the usual mass celebrations.
But on a recent, chilly morning, the church’s cafeteria was once again buzzing with activity. On the menu: 300 COVID-19 vaccines specifically reserved for congregants and other immigrant and refugee residents from the community.
In remote eastern Sudan, refugee activists are keeping the flame burning for the former rebels who once dominated Ethiopian politics but were ousted from their regional stronghold last year.
For nearly three decades, the Tigray People s Liberation Front marked its February 18 anniversary with military parades and march-pasts in Addis Ababa and Tigray regional capital Mekele.
But since it was sidelined from power beginning in 2018, and then ousted from Mekele by federal forces in a devastating offensive last November, the TPLF has been pushed back into the bush.
Its top leaders are in hiding and some have been killed, as the party has returned to the guerrilla existence it maintained from its foundation in 1975 to its victorious entry into Addis Ababa in 1991.