USA Warns Ethiopian PM: No Possible Military Solution to Conflict with Tigray

The United States of America (USA) has warned that there is "no possible military solution" to Ethiopia's civil war between the government and its opponents in Tigray.

The USA   reiterated her support for diplomacy as the only option.

A US State Department spokesman said that Washington had seen reports that  Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is today at the front, and reports that high-ranking Ethiopian athletes, parliamentarians, party, and regional leaders were quoted as saying that they would, in turn, join the prime minister on the front lines.

"We urge all parties to refrain from inflammatory and hostile rhetoric, exercise restraint, respect human rights, allow humanitarian access, and protect civilians," the spokesman added.

Earlier, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abi Ahmed, announced that he was heading to the battlefield to lead the fight against the Tigray Popular Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters, who have become a threat to the capital, Addis Ababa.

The battles in Ethiopia, which is the second-largest African country in terms of population, resulted in thousands of deaths, while thousands are at risk of starvation, according to UN reports.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" in Ethiopia, where government forces are fighting against the Tigray Liberation Front in the north.

During his visit to Bogota, the capital of Colombia in South America, to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement there, Guterres said that "the peace process in Colombia inspires me to make an urgent appeal today to the parties to the conflict in Ethiopia for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and to save the country."

The Tigray Liberation Front announced this week the control of the Shewa Rubet area, 220 km northeast of Addis Ababa.

In the fall of 2020, Addis Ababa sent its forces to Tigray to overthrow the regional authorities emanating from the Tigray People's Liberation Front, after the prime minister accused the region's forces of attacking federal army positions.