U.S. Ambassador Ervin Massinga greets Patriarch Abune Mathias of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, in a photograph the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa released on November 12, 2026. Credit: U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa (public domain).
U.S. Ambassador Ervin Massinga met Patriarch Abune Mathias of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church this week and discussed religious freedom and the right of all people to worship in peace, the embassy said.
In a post on Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa said Massinga discussed “the importance of advancing religious freedom, interfaith harmony, and the right of all people to worship in peace” with the patriarch, and “underscored how these core American values animate U.S. foreign policy in Ethiopia.” The post did not mention any specific attack, and the embassy’s photos show the two men greeting each other with church officials present.
The meeting came after a series of killings of Orthodox Christians in the Arsi zone of Oromia. The Human Rights Research Center, a U.S. based group, counted more than 90 dead in three attacks: 14 in Merti district on October 20, 46 in Shirka district on October 24, and 34 people, among them local militia members and civilians, on November 5. In a November 3 statement, reported by Addis Standard, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission put the Shirka toll at 48 and attributed 41 of those deaths to the Oromo Liberation Army and the other seven to informally armed people. The Human Rights Research Center, citing Reuters, said a source linked to the rebel group accused the Oromia regional government of carrying out the killings.
The church’s Holy Synod said 20 houses belonging to church members were burned and more than 20 people were seriously wounded, and the church said it had raised its security concerns with authorities at every level but that so far there had been no solution. The Oromia regional government said on November 2 that it had detained 73 people in connection with the attacks.
Many replies to the embassy’s post were angry. One user wrote that the ambassador’s statement should have been “no more killing Orthodox in Oromia,” not advice to be kind. Another accused the ambassador of praising what the user called fake reports by the human rights commission on the Arsi and Wollega killings, and a third said Washington must give the government an unequivocal warning. These are the views of individual users.
Mereja Media found no statement from the Patriarchate on the meeting by Thursday evening. Mereja Media has reported on the attacks that killed dozens in Arsi and in Benishangul.
Sources
- U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa on X, Ambassador Massinga meets Abune Mathias, Nov 12
- Human Rights Research Center, Escalating religious violence in Ethiopia, Nov 11
- Addis Standard via allAfrica, Rights Commission confirms 48 killed in Shirka attacks, Nov 4
- wolfnmga on X, reply to the U.S. Embassy, Nov 12
- k_aweke on X, reply to the U.S. Embassy, Nov 12
- Shakaro368015 on X, reply to the U.S. Embassy, Nov 12
- Mereja Media, Attacks kill dozens in Benishangul and Arsi