Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

USA Urges Americans to Leave Ethiopia Promptly,  Dismisses Afghanistan Scenario


Tue 16 Nov 2021 | 09:10 AM
Ahmed Moamar

The United States of America (USA) again called on its citizens to leave Ethiopia immediately, warning that there would be no evacuation process similar to the one carried out in Afghanistan weeks ago.

The US embassy in the Ethiopian capital urges American citizens to leave the country immediately.

This comes in light of the advance of the rebel forces led by the Tigray Popular  Liberation Front (TPLF), which prompted the embassy to offer tickets to American citizens in exchange for loans if they did not have the money, according to the "Axios"  A us news website.

The US State Department, in turn, warned citizens through its spokesman, Ned Price, who confirmed that there would be no evacuation operation from Ethiopia, like the one that took place in Afghanistan.

"There is nothing for Americans to stay in Ethiopia," Price said. "They have to leave via commercial flights now."

It is worth noting that the   African Union (AU) and the United States of America (USA)   announced on November 9, that there is little chance of ending the current fighting between the  Ethiopian and militants of the Tigrayan Popular Liberation Front (TPLF).

It is worth noting that the TPLF and its allies took over a number of strategic towns during the last few weeks.

Nine Ethiopian rebel groups signed on  Friday, November 5 in Washington an agreement to topple the Ethiopian government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali either by military means or negotiations.

“Reuters”  a news agency,  quoted the African Union’s envoy to the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the United Nations Political Coordinator, Rosemary Di Carlo, briefing the UN Security Council.

Speaking from Ethiopia, Obasanjo said that by the end of the week “we hope to have a program that shows” how the warring parties in Ethiopia can allow humanitarian access and a troop withdrawal that satisfies all parties.

Obasanjo added, “All these leaders here in Addis Ababa and in the north (implying to leaders of the TPLF) agree inpidually that the differences between them are political and require a political solution through dialogue, but the opportunity we have is slim and the time is short.”

On its part, the US State Department said that Washington believes that there is a small window to work with the African Union to make progress in ending the conflict with the return of the US envoy to the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.

However,  the United Nations  (UN) had warned that the risk of Ethiopia plunging into a large-scale civil war is “very real”.

The  UN estimates indicate that 400,000 people in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia are living in famine-like conditions after a year of the war.