Nine anti-government factions in Ethiopia are planning form an alliance, two of the groups named in an announcement seen by Reuters yesterday said, as pressure on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed mounts, with Tigray forces advancing toward the capital.
Two of the groups, the Oromo Liberation Army and the Agaw Democratic Movement, confirmed to Reuters that the announcement was genuine.
Several of the groups have armed fighters, although it was not clear whether they all do.
Photo: AP
Asked about the new alliance, Ethiopian government spokeswoman Billene Seyoum referred reporters to a comment she posted on Twitter defending Abiy’s rule since he took office in 2018 after a wave of anti-government protests.
His party was re-elected in June.
“The opening up of the political space three years ago provided ample opportunity for contenders to settle their differences at the ballot box,” Seyoum wrote, without referring directly to the new alliance.
Spokespeople for the government and the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for comment on the alliance.
African and Western nations are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Ethiopia after forces from the northern Tigray region said that they made advances toward the capital this week.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter on Thursday: “The conflict in Ethiopia must come to an end. Peace negotiations should begin immediately without preconditions in pursuit of a ceasefire.”
The spokespeople for the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) did not respond to requests for comment on Blinken’s ceasefire call.
US senators on Thursday introduced a new sanctions bill on parties to the conflict in Ethiopia.
“This is a regional crisis that requires a coordinated and intensive international response,” US Senator Jim Risch said.
The announcement of the alliance comes during a two-day visit to Addis Ababa by US Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman.
On Thursday, he met African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki, as well as the Ethiopian deputy prime minister, and the ministers of defense and finance, the US Department of State said.
It was not clear whether the US envoy would meet Abiy.
Seyoum said she had no information on that.
The new alliance, called the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces, includes the TPLF, which has been fighting the central government for a year in a war that has killed thousands of people and forced more than 2 million more from their homes.
TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda yesterday did not respond to requests for comment.
The groups would hold a signing ceremony yesterday in Washington, they said in the announcement.
The front would be formed “to reverse the harmful effects of the Abiy Ahmed rule on the peoples of Ethiopia and beyond,” the groups said.
It would be formed “in recognition of the great need to collaborate and join forces towards a safe transition in the country,” they added.
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