UN staff ordered to leave Ethiopia as fighting rages on
UN STAFF were ordered to immediately evacuate Addis Ababa by yesterday, AFP reported. France, the US, the UK and Turkey have all advised their citizens to leave Ethiopia.
UK Minister for Africa Vicky Ford said on Wednesday: “The conflict in Ethiopia is deteriorating quickly. In the coming days we may see the fighting move closer to Addis Ababa, which could severely limit options for British nationals to leave Ethiopia.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali said he would join his soldiers from Tuesday on the front lines.
“It’s time to lead the country through sacrifice. I will join the front to lead the defence forces tomorrow. Those of you who aspire to be remembered in history, rise up for your country. Meet me at the front,” Abiy declared.
His call was answered by Olympic heroes Haile Gebrselassie and Feyisa Lilesa, who were ready to join him on the front lines, the BBC reported.
However, Abiy’s presence on the front lines is being questioned.
Senior journalist specialising in the Horn of Africa Martin Plaut said there was no sighting of Abiy on any battlefield.
“PR stunt to stir up patriotic or ethnic sentiment to counter the Tigrayan advance. I also ask where the supposed ‘front line’ is located and where Abiy intends to join it,” the chief executive of geopolitical risk consultancy Pangea-Risk Robert Besseling was reported as saying.
Senior Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) official Getachew Reda asked whether Abiy was missing in action.
Reda said on Tuesday that Tigrayan forces “won’t relent on their inexorable advance towards bringing this chokehold on our people to an end”, irrespective of Abiy’s presence.
Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Demeke Mekonnen is reported to be assuming the day-to-day activities in Abiy’s absence.
The war has raged on for more than a year between forces of the TPLF and Ethiopia’s federal forces. Millions have been displaced, humanitarian aid has been stifled and thousands have been killed.