Addis Ababa, February 2, 2022 (Walta) – Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Alemayehu Tegenu, conferred with His Holiness Hieromonk STEFAN, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of Russian Orthodox Church, Secretary for Inter-Religious Relations, and a Permanent Member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow on Tuesday and discussed multiple issues of common interests.
Ambassador Alemayehu gave a thorough briefing on the overall conflict situation in the northern part of Ethiopia, the atrocities committed by the TPLF that killed and displaced so many innocent people, destroyed basic infrastructure, razed to the ground educational and health facilities, and caused a humanitarian crisis in the Afar and the Amhara Regional States which need rehabilitation as a matter of urgency.
This requires a swift intervention by all peace-loving people across the globe, friends of Ethiopia, NGOs, and International Partners in mobilizing necessary resources that are needed to bring back the lives of the affected people to normalcy again.
In this regard, the Ambassador said that as the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church and Russian Orthodox Church are the two sisterly religious institutions with very close relations, it would be more appreciated by Ethiopian people at this point in time if the Russian Orthodox Church can join the wagon to do its part in the effort of saving many lives in northern Ethiopia.
His Holiness Hieromonk STEFAN on his part said that he was so happy for the Ambassador to convene the meeting in the Embassy’s premises and added that as a chairman of the department of external church relations, and secretary of inter-religious relations, he would try all his best to respond and use all the possibilities available at his disposal to assist those in need of humanitarian support at this trying moment.