Ethiopian believers celebrate Meskel Festival with calls for end to conflict

Millions of Christians in Ethiopia gathered in Addis Ababa’s Meskel Square and across the country to celebrate the annual Meskel Festival with prayers for peace amid ongoing regional conflicts. Attendees and religious figures used the sacred gathering to emphasize reconciliation and an end to internal violence that has caused displacement and hardship.

Celebrated annually on September 27, it also marks the end of the rainy season and the start of spring in the agrarian calendar.