United States begins to evacuate its embassy in Addis Ababa

The United States ordered Saturday the departure of its non-essential personnel from its embassy in Ethiopia, where fighting has redoubled this week in the north of the country between government forces and Tigrayan rebels who threaten to march on the capital.

The decision was taken “due to the armed conflict, civil unrest and possible shortages,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

In recent days, several countries (Saudi Arabia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark …) have asked their nationals to leave the country, which is in the grip of an escalating war.

The Ethiopian federal government, led by the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed, has been at war for a year against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the north of the country.

After retaking the Tigray region in June, the TPLF has made progress in recent months, particularly in the neighbouring Amhara region, where it claimed last week to have taken two strategic towns.

Abiy Ahmed said Saturday morning that Ethiopians must be ready for “sacrifices” to “save” the country.

“There are sacrifices to be made, but these sacrifices will save Ethiopia,” he wrote on Twitter, assuring: “We have more allies than those who have turned against us.”

These statements come a day after the creation of an alliance, built around the TPLF, between nine rebel organizations from various regions and ethnic groups in Ethiopia.

This “united front” aims to “overthrow the regime” of Abiy Ahmed, said Berhane Gebre-Christos, representative of the TPLF, at the signing of this alliance in Washington.