The USA ordered parts of its diplomats to leave Ethiopia with their families – SME.sk

WASHINGTON. The US State Department has ordered parts of its diplomats in Ethiopia to leave the country with their families.

Thus, only a few key US diplomats and workers will remain in Ethiopia. The AFP agency informed about it on Saturday.

“The State Department has ordered the departure of all US federal government employees and their families, except for personnel whose work is essential (for the running of a diplomatic mission),” the diplomatic ministry said in a statement released Saturday night.

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The announcement comes just a day after the United States called on its citizens in Ethiopia to leave the country immediately as concerns rise from insurgent troops to the capital, Addis Ababa.

This statement on Friday was stronger than a warning from the diplomacy department earlier this week, which called on Americans to avoid traveling to Ethiopia and consider leaving if they were already there.

The Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency in the country on Tuesday after insurgents from the Ethiopian state of Tigraj threatened to advance on the capital. The Tigers were located about 300 kilometers from Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

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Thousands of people have already died in the year-long conflict. Two million people have had to leave their homes and 400,000 people in the state of Tigray are at risk of famine.

The conflict erupted last November when troops allied with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) occupied military bases in Tigraya. The central government responded by strengthening the military presence in the area.