Ethiopians pray for peaceful vote ahead of key election

Draped in sacred white cloth, the procession drifted silently towards a priest calling the faithful to celebrate the Archangel Michael, a revered saint in Ethiopia.

Around dawn, thousands of worshippers gathered at the church in Amhara, the second-largest region of Ethiopia, which is staging long-awaited elections on June 20.

The devotees - some bent over canes and others clutching children - offered prayers to Saint Michael in a church bearing his name and topped with metal crosses and a soaring Ethiopian flag in the city of Bahir Dar.

Saint Michael is one of the major saints in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, a centuries-old faith at the heart of an ancient and proud civilisation that has evolved into Africa's second-most populous nation.

"This is a great day for us... In our faith, we pray to Saint Michael to bring us peace, and to protect us from evil," said Huluager Kinde, a 27-year-old worshipper.

The silence is broken when the priests present a replica of the Ark of the Covenant - the chest that housed the laws of God handed to Moses.

The crowd erupted into cheers at the arrival of the ark, the original of which is believed by Orthodox Ethiopians to be housed in Axum, an ancient town in the war-torn and famine-scarred region of Tigray.

No mention is made of the conflict that has ravaged the mountainous northern region for seven months, or the violent ethnic unrest that afflicted other parts of the country, including Amhara.

But a popular chant taken up by the congregation called over and over for peace and unity - a timely and poignant message in a multi-ethnic country of 110 million on the brink of a historic and tense election.

"Peace on Ethiopia, peace on our country, God please make our...