International alarm mounted on Tuesday 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 seen by AFP on Tuesday.
The rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) claimed this week it had taken a town just 220 kilometres (135 miles) 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.
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
Source: eNCA
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