Bishop Medhin: "The people in Tigray have experienced hell"

30/07/2024, Author: Clodagh Gallagher

ACN has spoken with Bishop Tesfaselassie Medhin about the terrible human rights violations that occurred in Tigray, Ethiopia from 2020 to 2022 - in particular the sexual violence against women and girls that occurred. Parts of Tigray are still occupied, with many roads unsafe to travel on. In more accessible regions of the diocese, he and his clergy, religious, and lay staff, are working on various projects - funded by ACN - to help heal the trauma of thousands of people.

On visit to the international headquarters of ACN, Bishop Medhin (of the Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat)  reveals that during the war, the phones and internet didn’t work, and “we could hardly leave our house, because there were armed groups everywhere,” and that because of that disconnect, it was almost impossible to know what was happening to the faithful in his diocese during those two years. Visiting ACN is the first time that Bishop Medhin has left his country since the end of the war, which ended in November 2022 with a peace agreement.

He describes the war as an intentional act of genocide against the people of Tigray. “The people in Tigray have experienced hell: there were gang rapes and murders in front of families – even children and old women were among the victims. Over one million people were killed. Torture and massacres took place; relief supplies were blocked,” shares the bishop, whose diocese encompasses the whole war-torn region of Tigray.

ACN food relief distribution in the mountains near Alitena, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, in 2017.

By June 2022, there were over 2.8 million displaced people in the Tigray region, out of a local population of seven million. The resulting suffering cause by such horrific violence is ongoing. Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian countries in the world, with many churches and monasteries, with Christians constituting 68% of the country’s population of 109.5 million people. In Bishop Medhin’s diocese, the Church suffered 37 million euro in structural and material damage to property. However, it is the damage to human life and the psychological effects on his people that Bishop Medhin is most concerned with: “Everybody is traumatised.”

The bishop is most concerned with the many rape victims who have not dared to return home, and among whom the risk of suicide has been very high: “These women have been physically and mentally destroyed.” Before the war, Bishop Medhin was already trying to build up a network of specialists to help people with their trauma and also to bring them medical assistance; “we were meeting together and rented a compound in the town that people could go discreetly for confidentially care.” Since the end of the war, the diocese has been running projects for trauma healing for the many who have been maimed and disabled by explosions, and for the countless people in need of professional help to process and begin to heal from the horror they experienced and witnessed.

Food and medical relief for the poor and sick in Mary Help of Christians parish, in Adwa, Tigray, in 2020.

Catholics make up only 1% of the seven million citizens of Tigray (with 95% of the Tigrayan population being Ethiopian Orthodox) but are significant for 25% of the population because of the commitment of the Catholic Church to the health and education systems as well as to society. In addition to professional medical help, Bishop Medhin is ensuring people have access to spiritual support, post-trauma: “Our trauma healing programmes are Bible-based, because in my opinion trauma healing is not complete without faith. In the courses, for example, we look at the suffering of Jesus on Good Friday, or we look at the Prodigal Son who – even if his suffering was his own fault – was traumatised at the end of his journey through isolation, rejection and the feeling of worthlessness.”

Bishop Medhin shares how the Church leads the way in serving and caring for the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed, sharing “I have the greatest appreciation for my colleagues in pastoral service. Because of the dangers, NGOs left the country in the middle of the conflict. But the religious– including more than 30 missionaries from overseas – and diocesan priests didn’t run away. They stayed there, serving the people of Tigray. They gave a perfect example of the ‘Suffering Servant’ from the Book of Isaiah, who gave his life for the salvation of others.”

Three generations of a Christian family from the Alitena mountains, in the Tigray region.

Despite the peace agreement of November 2022, the situation in Tigray remains tense. A third of the 130,000-square-kilometre diocese is still occupied, leaving the bishop with no access to these districts. Initially because of the Covid pandemic, and then because of the war, he has not seen many of his priests for four years. In the occupied regions, the schools remain closed, and the children have not received any education for four years. In Adigrat, where Bishop Medhin is based, there are still more than 50,000 displaced people who have been unable to return to their homeland. Freedom of movement is generally still very curtailed, because the streets are still unsafe. The bishop explained that thousands of people continue to die through violence, food shortages and a lack of basic care. “How can the world simply look on?” he asks.

ACN is committed to sustaining and growing these trauma healing projects with Bishop Medhin.