Ethiopian patriarch pleads for international help to stop rape and genocide by government troops

Orthodox priest releases video statement on suppression of Tigray district

Ethiopian government forces and their allies are committing genocide in the country's war-torn northern province of Tigray, the head of Ethiopia's Orthodox Church has claimed in a videoed statement demanding urgent international intervention.

The appeal by Abuna [Patriarch] Mathias follows fresh allegations of ethnic cleansing, gang rapes, extrajudicial killings and other atrocities by soldiers loyal to Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who ordered an invasion of Tigray last November.