Ethiocross Blog

Addis Neger Online:- Angry Muslim mob set twenty-five protestant churches on fire in Western Ethiopia towns of Assendabo, Nada, Soga, Agaro and Yebu.

The violence was erupted on March 3, 2011 in Assendabo town, 55km from Jimma and it spread to its vicinities. The mob burnt down the churches after they have got information about ripped and torn apart Holy Quran found in Kale in a protestant church known as Jimma Kale Hiywot Church.

The informants were two Muslim daily laborers who used to work on the expansion project of the church, an eye witness told Addis Neger online. Their claim coupled with intense Islamic religious conferences held in the four Western Ethiopian towns led to violence, according to the eye witness.

The conferences, led by invited Muslim preachers, demands “autonomous Islamic Jimma” and “independent Islamic schools and universities.” The preachers said that schools and universities should be free from any non-Muslim interference. They also proposed the evacuation of all non-Muslim residents from the towns.
“At the end of the conference, the participants were highly motivated by the inflammatory themes,” the eye witness said. “The mob came fiercely chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ [God is great] while holding their machine guns on their hands.”

The mob first targeted Kale Hiwot, Meserete Kirstos and Mekane Yesus protestant churches. The eye witness said that the mob fire bullets and injured those who were in the church. The violence then spread to Nada and Dimtu towns as well as an area called “Ako” kebele.

During the conflict, the regional and federal police and the national army refrained from taking actions. “They said that they had received an order from the federal government not to fire on public demonstrators in case of any uprising,” the eye witness explained the reason behind the refrain. However, some members of federal police were heavily injured by stones thrown from the mob. Some of them were taken to Addis Ababa for further treatment.

Eye witness claimed that in addition to the police’s detrainment, administrators of the towns kept silent. The witness alleged most senior woreda officials in these towns are Muslims and they do not want to take fierce measure against mob instigators. The eye witness mentioned previous cases to support his argument. “Instigators of previous conflicts were arrested for not more than two or three months,” the eye witness claimed. “After their release the instigators have been texting a message saying ‘Fellow Muslims in Jimma wake up!!! You are asleep.”

Jimma and its vicinities are not new for such religious conflicts. Hundreds were killed after clashes between Muslims and orthodox Christians six years ago. Currently a number of Protestants are fleeing the conflict areas and sheltered in the compound of the office of Union of Evangelical Churches Ministry in Jimma. Kale Hiwot church is hosting another 27 families who fled from the violence. Some people are also sheltering in Mekane Yesus church.

Source:- Addis Neger Online