Today, Friday, the United Nations and the African Union called for an urgent ceasefire in Ethiopia, while a UN official warned against a repetition of the Kabul scenario in Addis Ababa, and this comes at a time when the Ethiopian army confirmed the removal of the danger from the capital and its progress deep into the Amhara region in the ongoing battles against the front. Liberation of Tigray and its allies.

In a joint statement, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki called for an urgent cessation of the fighting in Ethiopia, and for a comprehensive national dialogue to maintain peace, stability, democracy, good governance and reconciliation in the country.

The statement called for ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access to civilians, as well as protecting human rights.

Yesterday, Thursday, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, denounced - in a tweet on Twitter - the continuation of hostilities in Ethiopia, stressing that the only way to resolve the conflict is an immediate ceasefire and political dialogue.

Faki said that the envoy of the African Union, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, will continue the mediation efforts.

For its part, the United States, on Thursday, through its Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Molly Fay, renewed its call on the parties to the conflict in Ethiopia to stop the fighting and start a comprehensive dialogue, expressing its concern about what it described as atrocities and the worsening humanitarian conditions there.

So far, the US, European and UN appeals for a ceasefire have fallen on deaf ears in Ethiopia, despite the recent stances of the Ethiopian government and the Tigray Liberation Front to negotiate to stop the war that erupted more than a year ago.

Volunteers transport supplies destined for the Ethiopian army on the fronts (French)

cable script

For his part, Martin Griffiths, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for Humanitarian Affairs, warned that the development of the conflict in Ethiopia into sectarian violence could lead to displacement reminiscent of scenes of chaos at Kabul Airport during the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan last August, after the Taliban took control of the country. country.

Griffiths said - in an interview with Agence France-Presse - that the worst from a humanitarian point of view is that there will be battles for control of Addis Ababa or unrest around it, which leads to an increase in sectarian violence throughout the country.

Yesterday, Thursday, the United States renewed its call for its nationals to leave Ethiopia, and the European Union asked its non-essential employees to leave as well, after fears were raised that the fighting would reach Addis Ababa, a possibility that no longer exists;

Because the city is no longer in danger, according to the Ethiopian government.

Yesterday, the United Nations stated that about 26 million Ethiopians need aid, including 9 million people who depend on food aid, most of them from Tigray region, amid high rates of malnutrition, confirming - in the meantime - the resumption of airlifting aid to the city of Mekele, the capital of Tigray.

call to surrender

Meanwhile, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called on the Tigray Liberation Front to surrender, considering that its only option after the military defeat it suffered, as he put it.

In a new video broadcast by state television from the battlefronts, Ahmed stressed that the army's morale is high, promising to repeat what he described as the victories achieved in the east and west of the country.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister's statements come at a time when Ngusi Talahun - the military commander in the town of Shawarbet in Showa Governorate (220 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa) - confirmed to the island that the military threat around the capital and strategic roads has been completely removed, and that government forces have tightened their full control over Showa Governorate.

Talahoun said the federal army is currently advancing towards towns deep in the Amhara region.

Militants of the Tigray Front had earlier captured the town of Shawarbet in Showa province before government forces regained control of it.

In the first official comment, the Tigray Front described its withdrawal from those areas as tactical aimed at carrying out decisive strategic attacks, and said that the battle was about to end, and that no one could push its fighters back.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister went about 10 days ago to the fighting fronts north of the capital, and since then the army has managed to regain areas controlled by the Tigray Front and its allies in the Shawa governorate as well as in the Afar region (northeast).

On the other hand, pictures showed the effects of destruction and fires inside mosques in the Afar region, and the pictures were taken during the control of the Tigray Liberation Front over areas in the region before the Ethiopian army recovered them.

The Tigray Front, in turn, accused the government forces of bombing the Tikze Dam in the region, which was denied by the Ethiopian authorities.