Ethiopia: UN evacuates families of its employees, the French called to leave the country

Published on : 11/23/2021 – 5:41 PM

Evacuations are increasing in the face of the fighting. The United Nations (UN) wants to evacuate the families of its employees located in Ethiopia by Thursday, November 25, while France also called on Tuesday, November 23 to all its nationals to leave the country “without delay”. the fighting, between rebel forces from Tigray and the federal government, which is approaching the capital Addis Ababa after a year of war.

An internal document from the UN security services, dated Monday 22 and consulted on Tuesday 23 November by AFP, asks the organization to “coordinate the evacuation and ensure that all eligible members of the families of staff recruited from abroad leave Ethiopia no later than November 25, 2021. “

At the same time, “all French nationals are formally called upon to leave the country without delay,” said the French embassy in Addis Ababa in an email sent to members of the French community.

Before France, several countries including the United Kingdom and the United States, have urged their citizens to leave Ethiopia, where the international community is failing to obtain a ceasefire.

The French Embassy, ​​which says it has taken this decision in view of “the evolution of the military situation”, adds plans to facilitate the departure of nationals on commercial flights by reserving seats and “if necessary” to charter a charter flight .

According to the embassy, ​​more than 1,000 French people live in Ethiopia. An embassy official told AFP that “voluntary” departures of staff could take place, especially among families.

While the US envoy for Ethiopia Jeffrey Feltman on Tuesday reported “nascent progress” towards a diplomatic resolution of the conflict, he warned that the military “escalation” risked making them in vain. “What worries us is that the alarming developments on the ground are advancing faster than this fragile progress,” he told reporters after returning from a new mission in Addis Ababa.

Rebel forces 30km from the capital?

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army to Tigray in early November 2020 to remove the authorities in this region, from the Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF), who challenged his authority and whom he accused of having attacked military bases.

The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner declared victory three weeks later, after the capture of the regional capital Mekele. But in June, pro-TPLF fighters regained most of Tigray and continued their offensive in neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.

At the end of October, the TPLF claimed responsibility for the capture of two key cities in Amhara, thus moving closer to the capital – which the Ethiopian government denied.

The TPLF, which has allied with an Oromo rebel group active in the area around the capital, this week claimed to be in Shewa Robit, 220 km northeast of Addis Ababa.

The government has not commented on this information.

According to diplomats familiar with the security situation, some rebel fighters have reached the locality of Debre Sina, closer to about 30 km from the capital.

Abiy Ahmed’s war speech worries the international community

On Monday, Abiy Ahmed said he wanted to go to the front lines to lead the soldiers facing the rebels.

“From tomorrow, I will be mobilized on the front lines to lead the armed forces,” the Prime Minister said in a statement posted on Twitter. “Those who want to be among the Ethiopian children who will be greeted by history, stand up for the country today. Let’s meet at the front.”

This statement should not reassure the international community, which in recent weeks has intensified its diplomatic efforts to try to obtain a ceasefire agreement.

On Tuesday, the heads of state of South Africa and Kenya, Cyril Ramaphosa and Uhuru Kenyatta, reiterated the call for a ceasefire during a meeting in Pretoria.

“The parties to the conflict must urgently commit to an immediate, unlimited and negotiated ceasefire,” said the South African president.

For their part, the AU envoy for the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and his American counterpart Jeffrey Feltman visited Ethiopia again last Thursday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently warned of the risk of Ethiopia “imploding” if no political solution is found.

In addition, according to the UN, hundreds of thousands of people are on the verge of famine in Tigray due to the conflict, which has also claimed thousands of lives and more than two million displaced.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced Tuesday in Geneva the launch of a “major” humanitarian aid operation to help more than 450,000 people in the north, in Dessie and Kombolcha.

With AFP