Ethiopia: rebels close to Addis Ababa. UN: "The escalation of violence is worrying"

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November 03, 2021The rebels of the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Army are on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. This was reported by a diplomatic source in Ethiopia to CNN, following the declaration of a state of emergency in the country due to the risk of an offensive against the capital and the appeal to take up arms against the rebels launched by the government.

According to the source, the rebels have the military capabilities to enter Addis Ababa in no time if they wanted to, but would rather find a deal with the government.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said he was "extremely concerned" by the escalation of violence in Ethiopia in light of the declaration of a state of emergency for the possible advance of the Tigray rebel forces on the capital Addis Ababa. "The stability of Ethiopia and the entire region is at stake," Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. Guterres then reiterated his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for unhindered access to humanitarian aid in particular in the three northern regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar. The UN secretary general also called for "an inclusive national dialogue to resolve this crisis and lay the foundations for peace and stability throughout the country".

"We call on all parties in Ethiopia to implement a meaningful ceasefire with immediate effect and to engage in political negotiations without preconditions. We are ready to support these efforts." So the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, on Twitter.

The US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, will travel to Ethiopia tomorrow, Thursday, to seek a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict between the government and the Tigray rebels. This was announced by a spokesman for the US State Department. Feltman's goal, it was explained, is to convince "all Ethiopians to achieve peace through dialogue". "The United States - added the spokesman - are increasingly concerned about the extent of fighting and violence between different groups. and they are closely monitoring the situation. " 

The Ethiopian government has asked the inhabitants of Addis Ababa to prepare to defend the city against the Tigray rebels (Tplf). "All the inhabitants must organize themselves neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block, to protect peace and security. They must do so in coordination with the security forces," said Kenea Yadeta, head of the capital's peace and security office. quoted by Al Jazeera.

The Ethiopian government has declared a state of emergency nationwide after the TPLF rebels took control of two crucial cities. For its part, the US has warned the rebels against advancing towards Addis Ababa, after the conquests reported north of the Ethiopian capital, urging them instead to sit down and talk to federal authorities to reach a ceasefire.

The Tigray rebels of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (Tplfp) say that the state of emergency decreed in Ethiopia by the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed "will not be able to save the regime from collapse". "While the regime is on the verge of collapse, Abiy and his lieutenants are creating a reign of terror," Tplf spokesman Getachew Reda wrote on Twitter, according to whom state of emergency means "free rein to imprison or to kill Tigrinis at will ".

The message hashtag is #TigrayShallPrevail! (the Tigray will prevail). Yesterday the Ethiopian government proclaimed a state of emergency in the face of the advance of the TPFL, which took control of Dessie and Kombolcha, two cities in the state of Amhara, bordered by the Tigray. Meanwhile, the TPLF has confirmed contacts with Ola, a splinter group of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which has launched an offensive in the Oromia region. The OLF signed a ceasefire with the authorities in 2018.

The inter-ethnic war that broke out exactly a year ago in the Ethiopia of the Prime Minister - and paradoxically Nobel Peace Prize 2019 - Abiy Ahmed has had a dramatic turning point: the minority Tigrinians rebels allying with those Oromo of the largest ethnic group in the country are now set to conquer of the capital, Addis Ababa, triggering a state of emergency amid UN denunciations of the horrors perpetrated by both sides.

The rebels of the Tigray Popular Liberation Front (tplf), who from the north are fighting to regain a key role played during a quarter of a century in Ethiopia and lost with the advent of Abiy, are "

", CNN reports, citing regional diplomatic sources.

Last weekend, the TPLF announced the

, cities located on a strategic road junction about 400 kilometers north of Addis Ababa. On another front, the Oromo Liberation Army has claimed to have taken locations further south along the highway leading to the capital.

The 45-year-old prime minister's attempt to reform the country while managing tensions between

would also be overwhelmed.

in which the Oromo and Tigrinis stand out - alongside Amhara, Somalis and Afar (the latter are about 6 million of the 110 million Ethiopians). It is no coincidence that Abiy, himself oromo on his father's side, accused the rebel alliance of wanting to "destroy the country" and transform Ethiopia into a Libya or Syria.

Communications are disrupted in much of northern Ethiopia and

, making it difficult to draw the lines of the two fronts. In a UN report on the first eight months of the conflict, the war in Tigré was characterized by violence that "may constitute war crimes" and "against humanity".

The dossier just published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights together with an Ethiopian commission denounces extrajudicial executions, torture, kidnappings, sexual violence including gang rapes of women and men, as well as looting: among the examples of extreme brutality of this war that began on November 4 last year

in Chenna, an Amhara village controlled by the TPLF.

Abiy hastily proclaimed a victory on November 28 last year but by June the TPLF had taken over most of their region, forcing the government to declare a unilateral ceasefire. L'

in recent days worries the international community.

Facebook has removed a post by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, for violating its policy against inciting violence. A spokesperson for the social platform told the BBC: "We were informed of a post by the Ethiopian Prime Minister and we removed it for violating our policies against incitement and support for violence".

On Sunday, Abiy called on citizens to take up arms to block the advance of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (tplf) party.

On Facebook, Abiy claimed that the rebel advance was "pushing the country to its end", urging Ethiopian citizens to "organize and march in any legal way with every weapon and power ... to prevent, overthrow and bury the terrorist [group] Tplf ".