The United States has called for an investigation and for those responsible to be brought to justice after a wave of killings of civilians in the Arsi Zone of Ethiopia’s Oromia region. The statement was posted on Saturday, Oct. 31, by the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs on the social media platform X.
The bureau said Washington was deeply concerned about recent reports of targeted killings of civilians in Arsi. It said the United States condemns violence motivated by religion, ethnicity or politics, and that such attacks against any group must stop. It also called on the Ethiopian government to investigate and hold the perpetrators accountable.
One line stood out. While saying the United States is trying to understand what happened, the bureau urged against characterizations that could deepen division. The statement as posted did not name the victims’ faith, and it did not name any suspected perpetrator. It also gave no casualty figure.
The killings behind it took place over two attacks in the zone. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church’s Holy Synod says 14 people were killed on Oct. 20 in Merti district and 46 on Oct. 24 in Shirka district, a total of at least 60 Orthodox Christians. The Synod also reported more than 20 people seriously wounded and about 20 homes burned. Residents of Shirka who spoke to Addis Standard counted at least 48 dead there by Monday, and described armed men going door to door, shooting and stabbing people over roughly six hours.
The American response was more cautious than that of some members of Congress. The Republican majority of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote on X on Oct. 27 that continued targeted attacks against Christians in Ethiopia were completely unacceptable and that perpetrators must be punished. Ethiopian outlet Borkena reported that the committee condemned what it called recurring massacres of Orthodox Christian civilians in Arsi and demanded accountability.
Who carried out the attacks is disputed. The Oromia regional government’s spokesman, Hailu Adugna, has told the Associated Press he believes the Oromo Liberation Army is responsible and accused it of trying to stoke ethnic and religious conflict to distract from battlefield losses. Addis Standard reported that he blamed a group called “Tsimdo.” The OLA has denied similar accusations in earlier cases. Residents quoted by Addis Standard alleged that local police backed the attackers, a claim the paper said it could not verify.
Questions have also been raised about the aftermath. Residents told the BBC and the outlet Wazema that security forces detained people who helped rescue the wounded and bury the dead, and activists on social media have put the number of arrests at more than 50 or more than 100. Those figures have not been independently confirmed, and the authorities have not given an account of any detentions.
The Arsi Zone has seen repeated bloodshed. In July the Ethiopian Human Rights Council reported that at least 432 civilians had been killed in targeted attacks across East Arsi since 2021, with Orthodox Christian communities disproportionately affected. No reaction from the Ethiopian government to the American statement had been reported at the time of writing. Death tolls differ between sources and may rise as more victims are counted.
