AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - The Bishops: "We plead to the human traffickers who are tricking the youth to leave their country through illegal means to stop their acts"

Friday, 24 April 2015

Addis Ababa (Fides) - "We the Ethiopian Catholic Bishops of Ethiopia condemn in unambiguous terms this barbaric terrorist act and call up on all international communities and Governments to provide protection to migrants where ever they live, so that such acts may never be repeated to the lives of innocent people": say the Catholic Bishops of Ethiopia in their message on the killing of thirty Christian Ethiopians and Eritreans in Libya by the Islamic State, documented in a video released on 19 April.
"These Ethiopian Martyrs were not politicians, nor military soldiers, or they were not armed people, considered to be dangerous people for security, rather they were young innocent migrants hopeful for a better future", the Bishops said. "We are saddened that these young people were killed, because they refused to change their faith in a world where every human being regardless of race, color, and religion should live in any Country with their human rights respected".
Referring to the authors of the massacre, the message continues: "these terrorist acts do not represent any religion; it is known that these are cruel killers who murder even followers of their own religion".
After recalling that Ethiopia welcomes tens of thousands of refugees from other States, the Bishops expressed the request that Ethiopian migrants are treated with respect for their rights and plead to human traffickers "who are tricking the youth to leave their country through illegal means to stop their acts". To young persons who "are still planning to migrate from their country" they ask "not to travel without making sure that your country of destination provides you protection or fall in the traps of the human traffickers and travel without the necessary legal documents".
The Bishops finally ask youth "to consider the option of working and prospering in your own Country and drop the idea of migrating to another country where there is no safety". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 24/04/2015)


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