Ethiopian government soldiers ride in the back of a truck on a road near Agula, north of Mekele, in the Tigray region ADDIS ABABA, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — International alarm mounted over the escalating war in Ethiopia as Tigrayan rebels claimed to be edging closer to the capital Addis Ababa and more foreign citizens were told to leave. US envoy Jeffrey Feltman spoke of some progress in efforts to reach a diplomatic settlement to end the brutal year-long conflict, but warned it risked being jeopardised by “alarming developments” on the ground. France became the latest country to tell its citizens to get out of Ethiopia, while the United Nations has ordered the immediate evacuation of family members of international staff, according to an internal document. The rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) claimed this week it had taken a town just 220km from the capital, although battlefield claims are hard to verify because of a communications blackout. On Monday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday vowed he would head to the battlefront to lead his soldiers in what the government has described as an “existential war” in Africa’s second most populous nation. “We are now in the final stages of saving Ethiopia,” said Abiy, who only two years ago was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for securing a peace deal with neighbouring Eritrea. The latest developments cast doubt on hopes of a peaceful solution to the conflict, despite frantic diplomatic efforts led by the African Union to secure a ceasefire. Thousands of people have been killed since the fighting erupted in northern Ethiopia in November 2020, triggering a deep humanitarian crisis that the UN says has left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine and displaced more than two million. “While there’s some nascent progress, that is highly at risk of being outpaced by the military escalation on the two sides,” Feltman, special envoy for the Horn of Africa, told reporters in Washington after returning from a mission to Addis Ababa. A scramble to evacuate foreigners was continuing, three weeks after the government declared a state of emergency. An internal UN security order said that “eligible family members of internationally recruited staff” should be evacuated by Nov 25. France also advised its citizens in an email to leave “without delay”, following similar advisories by the US and the UK in recent weeks. But officials in the capital said at a briefing to diplomats that security forces, including youth groups, were working to ensure the city’s safety. “The propaganda and terror talk being disseminated by the Western media fully contradicts the peaceful state of the city on the ground, so the diplomatic community shouldn’t feel any worry or fear,” said Kenea Yadeta, head of the Addis Ababa Peace and Security Bureau. The conflict erupted when Abiy sent troops into the northern Tigray region to topple TPLF after months of seething tensions with the party which had dominated national politics for three decades before he took power in 2018. Abiy said the move was in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps and promised a swift victory, but by late June the rebels had retaken most of Tigray including its capital Mekele. Since then the TPLF has pushed into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions and earlier this week claimed control of Shewa Robit, just 220 kilometres northeast of Addis Ababa by road. The government has not responded to requests about the status of the town. Some TPLF fighters were also believed to have reached Debre Sina, about 30 kilometres closer to Addis Ababa, diplomats briefed on the security situation said. In Pretoria, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta added their voices to calls for the two sides to commit to an immediate ceasefire. But Abiy himself has cast doubts on the prospects for a peaceful solution. “Starting tomorrow, I will mobilise to the front to lead the defence forces,” he said in a statement Monday. “Those who want to be among the Ethiopian children who will be hailed by history, rise up for your country today. Let’s meet at the front.” Meanwhile, the United Nations on Tuesday launched a major drive to deliver food aid to two towns in northern Ethiopia despite the looting of warehouses. The UN’s World Food Programme said the “major food assistance operation” would serve more than 450,000 people over the next two weeks in the Amhara towns of Kombolcha and Dessie which lie at a strategic crossroads on the main highway to Addis Ababa. Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday reportedly joined the front line where government forces are battling rebels from the Tigray region, prompting U.S.-led international calls for a diplomatic solution and an immediate cease-fire to the conflict.
The fighting in the north of Africa’s second-most populous country has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands into faminelike conditions.
Foreign governments have told their citizens to leave amid the escalating war and fears the Tigrayan rebels could march on the capital, Addis Ababa.
Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, “is now leading the counter-offensive” and “has been giving leadership from the battlefield as of yesterday,” Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported.
It was not clear where Abiy, a former radio operator in the military who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, had deployed.
State media did not broadcast images of him in the field, and officials have not responded to requests for details about his whereabouts.
Addressing reports of Abiy at the front, the U.S. State Department late Wednesday warned “there is no military solution” to Ethiopia’s civil war.
“We urge all parties to refrain from inflammatory and bellicose rhetoric, to use restraint, respect human rights, allow humanitarian access, and protect civilians,” a State Department spokesperson said.
A day earlier Washington’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, said that “nascent progress” risked being “outpaced by the military escalation by the two sides.”
Other foreign envoys also have been frantically pushing for a cease-fire, though there have been few signs a breakthrough is coming.
On Wednesday, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called for a swift end to the fighting, comments made while on a visit to Colombia to mark the fifth anniversary of a peace deal between the government and former FARC rebels.
“The peace process in Colombia inspires me to make an urgent appeal today to the protagonists of the conflict in Ethiopia for an unconditional and immediate cease-fire to save the country,” he said.
The war erupted in November 2020 when Abiy sent troops into Tigray to topple its ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
He said the move was in response to TPLF attacks on federal army camps and promised a swift victory, but by late June the rebels had retaken most of Tigray, including its capital Mekele.
Since then, the TPLF has pushed into neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, and this week it claimed to have seized a town 220 kilometers from Addis Ababa.
Abiy’s announcement Monday that he would deploy to the front “has inspired many to … join the survival campaign,” Fana said Wednesday.
Hundreds of new recruits took part in a ceremony held in their honor Wednesday in the capital’s Kolfe district.
As officials corraled sheep and oxen into trucks bound for the north, the recruits broke into patriotic songs and chants.
“When a leader leaves his chair … and his throne it is to rescue his country,” Tesfaye Sherefa, a 42-year-old driver, told AFP.
Feyisa Lilesa, a distance runner and 2016 Olympic silver medalist, told state media the rebels’ advance presented “a great opportunity” to defend the nation.
The marathon runner gained political prominence by raising and crossing his arms as he finished the marathon at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, a gesture of solidarity with fellow ethnic Oromos killed while protesting abuses committed during nearly three decades of TPLF rule.
Even as it rallies citizens to fight, Abiy’s government insists the TPLF’s gains have been overstated, criticizing what it describes as sensationalist media coverage and alarmist security advisories from Western embassies.
The war has triggered a humanitarian crisis, with accounts of massacres and mass rapes, and on Wednesday the United Nations expressed worry over reports of large-scale displacement from western Tigray, where the U.S. has previously warned of ethnic cleansing.
“Tigray zonal authorities report of 8,000 new arrivals, potentially up to 20,000,” the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said, adding that it could not immediately corroborate the figures.
Several witnesses have told AFP of mass roundups of Tigrayan civilians in western Tigray in recent days.
Amhara forces occupied the fiercely contested area a year ago, with Amhara officials accusing the TPLF of illegally annexing it three decades earlier.
As Amhara civilians have poured in over the past year, Tigrayans have fled in the tens of thousands, either west into Sudan or east, deeper into Tigray.
Source: Voice of America