The Ethiopian Orthodox Church buried 60 of its faithful in two weeks and called it a massacre.
Now the same rebel group accused of the killings is part of a coalition trying to topple the government.
What the Ethiopian government told the Ethiopian Orthodox Church after a year of warnings will make your blood boil.
The Two Attacks That Killed 60 in 10 Days
On October 20, gunmen descended on the Merti district in Ethiopia's Oromia region and killed 14 people.
Four days later, they came back.
On October 24, attackers hit the Shirka district and executed 46 more – five of them children.
Over 20 homes were burned to the ground.
A survivor described exactly how the ambush unfolded: "We were completely unprepared and had no prior knowledge. They surrounded us from all four directions."
Security forces arrived at the scene and still could not stop it.
A church official called it a "massacre."
The Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church confirmed the death toll and issued a formal statement condemning what it called a "reprehensible, inhumane deed" that violated Ethiopia's constitutional protections for religious freedom and the right to life.
The Synod had warned authorities this was coming.
"So far there has been no solution," the church said – a damning indictment of a government that watched these communities beg for protection and delivered nothing.
The Group Behind the Attacks
Oromia's regional government pointed blame at the Oromo Liberation Army – a rebel group that has been terrorizing Ethiopia's Christian communities since 2018.
The OLA broke from the Oromo Liberation Front after peace talks collapsed and chose armed insurrection instead.
Ethiopian lawmakers designated the group a terrorist organization.
UN investigators have previously accused the OLA of killings, rapes, and kidnappings across the region.
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