Ethiopia: 10,000 Christians flee homes after 69 churches burned down

March 21, 2011

Muslim extremists have burned down 69 Protestant churches-- 46 of them Pentecostal-- in southwestern Ethiopia. The violence started in the town of Asendabo following reports that the Qur’an was being flushed down the toilet at one of the churches.

Thirty homes, a school, and an orphanage have also been burned down; the number of Christians who have fled their homes has risen in recent days to 10,000, according to International Christian Concern, a human rights organization that assists victims of persecution.

“I don’t know what will be next: first they burn our churches and houses,” said Wolde Giorgis, an elementary school teacher. “Are they going to kill us now?”

“I don’t care who started the violence,” he added. “The fact is that thousands of local Muslims, my neighbors, have participated in it. That’s why I don’t see a future for me and other Christians in this town anymore.”

1% of the nation’s 79.2 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics; 50% are Oriental Orthodox, 10% are Protestant, and 33% are Muslim.

 

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Further information:

• Ethiopian Christians flee after church burnings (Radio Netherlands)
• In Ethiopia, Muslims burn 69 churches (Baptist Press)
• Ethiopian leader says small Muslim sect carried out attacks on Christian churches (CWN, 3/14)