ADDIS ABABA — A wave of deadly attacks targeting Orthodox Christian Amhara communities in Ethiopia’s Arsi Zone, located within the Oromia Region, has drawn urgent condemnation from major religious bodies and human rights observers, as violence in the area continues to mount with little accountability.
According to reports documented by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and covered extensively by Borkena, districts including Shirka, Merti, Guna, and Holonto have endured repeated armed assaults over the past six months, leaving civilians dead, homes burned, families displaced, and a number of survivors abducted with their whereabouts still unknown.
In a joint response that underscored the gravity of the crisis, three of Ethiopia’s most prominent religious institutions, the Permanent Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Inter-Religious Council of Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, all issued separate statements condemning the killing of at least 21 civilians in Shirka Woreda, East Arsi. Each body called for swift and transparent investigations, warning that the attacks risk destroying generations of inter-faith coexistence and must not be allowed to incite further sectarian conflict.
Responsibility for the violence remains deeply contested. Ethiopian federal and regional authorities have consistently attributed the attacks to the Oromo Liberation Army, while the OLA has denied targeting civilians and instead accused unidentified armed actors, potentially government-affiliated militias, of deliberately stoking ethnic and religious tensions to justify military operations.
Human rights analysts warn that the cycle of mutual accusations, combined with restricted humanitarian access to affected areas, has made independent verification extremely difficult and has created dangerous conditions for impunity to take root. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has confirmed a persistent pattern of civilian casualties in the Oromia region stretching back through 2025.
Writing in Borkena, Professor Girma Berhanu of the University of Gothenburg drew stark historical parallels, arguing that the international community’s prolonged silence in the face of documented atrocities against Amhara communities carries echoes of broader failures to respond to mass civilian suffering throughout history. Critics of the piece, however, cautioned against inflammatory comparisons, stressing the need for sober and fact-based analysis.
What observers across the political spectrum do agree on is the urgent need for credible independent investigations, protection of civilian populations, and renewed international attention to what is increasingly being described as one of Ethiopia’s most underreported humanitarian emergencies.
Source: Borkena, March 16, 2026 — Analysis by Prof. Girma Berhanu, University of Gothenburg
