🕯 Somebody made that stretcher. Somebody cut the poles, lashed the frame, walked to where he was lying, and carried him back. That is what happens after. The gunmen leave, and the village comes out and collects its dead — by hand, on biers they build that morning, because there is no ambulance coming to Tereta or Chole or Birbo. 📊 WHAT HAPPENED THERE 20 October — 14 killed at Gora Silingo, Angada kebele, Merti district. 24 October — 46 killed at Tereta, Chole and Birbo, Shirka district. Sixty in five days, counted by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Holy Synod. Carried by the BBC, AP, AFP and Al Jazeera. More than twenty seriously injured. Twenty homes burned. Witnesses say the attackers went house to house with gunfire and knives. AFP reports elderly and children among the dead. ⛪ AND THEN THE BURIALS In this zone the dead are carried to the church and buried the next day. In earlier attacks in Arsi, three farmers killed on their own land — Zeneba Negash, Samuel Wasse, Biruh Abera — were buried the following morning at Lalo Maryam. That is the part nobody photographs. The walking. The digging. The same people doing it again four months later. 📈 AND THE COUNT BEHIND IT 458 killed and 38 still missing in East Arsi since 2021 — the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, July 2026, thirty-seven pages, names included. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has logged renewed attacks across five Arsi districts since October 2025. This is the fifth year of it. ⚖️ Nobody has claimed responsibility. The Holy Synod named no one, and neither will I. The Oromia regional government says it will pursue those responsible. Hold them to that sentence. ‖ Sixty people. Two districts. Five days. ‖ And a village that had to build the stretchers itself. #Arsi #Ethiopia #Oromia #PersecutedChristians

🕯 She could not run. That is what "they went house to house" means, in a village in Arsi. 20 October, Gora Silingo. 24 October, Tereta, Chole and Birbo. Sixty people killed in five days — counted by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Holy Synod, carried by the BBC, AP, AFP and Al Jazeera. Witnesses say the attackers moved door to door with guns and knives. Twenty houses were burned. The people who could run reached the churches in the next villages. 👵 AND THE ONES WHO COULD NOT AFP reports that the elderly and children were among the dead. Think about what house-to-house killing selects for. It does not select for fighters. It selects for whoever is still inside — the old, the small, the sick, the ones who would have needed someone to carry them. Nobody carried them. 📊 AND THIS HAS A COUNT The Ethiopian Human Rights Council documented 458 killed and 38 still missing in East Arsi since 2021. Thirty-seven pages. It names them. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has recorded renewed attacks across five districts of Arsi since October 2025 — Shirka, Guna, Merti, Aseko, Onkolo Wabe. This is the fifth year. ⚖️ AND NOBODY HAS CLAIMED IT No group has taken responsibility. The Holy Synod named no one. I am not going to name anyone either, because nothing has been established and a wrong name is how the dead get argued about instead of counted. The Oromia regional government says it will pursue those responsible. Hold them to that sentence. ‖ An old woman in a village with gunmen at the door has nowhere to go. ‖ Sixty people. Five days. Learn the name Arsi. #Arsi #Ethiopia #Oromia #PersecutedChristians

🕯 Sixty people were killed in Arsi in five days. 20 October — 14 at Gora Silingo, Angada kebele, Merti district. 24 October — 46 at Tereta, Chole and Birbo, Shirka district. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Holy Synod counted them. The BBC, AP, AFP and Al Jazeera all carried it. More than twenty seriously injured. Twenty homes burned. 👁 WHAT THE WITNESSES SAY The attackers went from house to house, with gunfire and knives. A church was damaged. Churches in the next villages took in the people who ran. Children were among the dead. One eyewitness told the BBC that five of them were children. There is no verified count of the children. I am not going to invent one, and you should distrust anyone who gives you a number today. 📊 AND THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has documented renewed attacks across five districts of Arsi since October 2025 — Shirka, Guna, Merti, Aseko, Onkolo Wabe. The Ethiopian Human Rights Council counted 458 killed and 38 still missing in East Arsi since 2021. That report is thirty-seven pages and it names the dead. ⚖️ AND ON WHO DID IT Nobody has claimed responsibility. The Holy Synod named no one. I am not going to name anyone either, because nothing has been established — and because a wrong name is how the dead get argued about instead of counted. The Oromia regional government says it will pursue those responsible. Hold them to that sentence. ‖ Sixty people. Two districts. Five days. ‖ The attribution is contested. The dead are not. #Arsi #Ethiopia #Oromia #PersecutedChristians