US urges ‘restraint’ as Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis rocks region
ADDIS ABABA: The United States called for “restraint” and “dialogue” as Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis pulled in regional neighbours, ahead of a meeting on the conflict on Sunday in Egypt.
The fighting has triggered a breakdown in Ethiopia’s relations with Eritrea and Egypt, which it accuses of supporting the rebels who have launched attacks against federal forces, sparking fears of a return to the devastating civil war of 2020-2022.
A diplomatic source told AFP that Sunday’s mini-summit would bring together the presidents of Egypt, Eritrea and Somalia, HassaMohamud, as well as the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in Alamein, Egypt, on the sidelines of an African Business Forum.
The meeting comes a day after Ethiopian federal forces entered the capital of Tigray state — long dominated by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels — according to a humanitarian source.
Residents reporting that the region’s rebels had abandoned the city.
Fighting erupted on September 23 in northern Ethiopia as the TPLF attacked neighbouring states, The conflict has prompted a regional diplomatic feud, with Ethiopia expelling 10 Eritrean diplomats and shutting its embassy in Asmara on Thursday.
Eritrea, which accuses landlocked Ethiopia of planning to invade and seize access to its coastline, responded that it would “sever all diplomatic ties” with its neighbour.
Ethiopia also expelled an Egyptian diplomat without explanation, prompting a reciprocal We strongly urge Ethiopia and Eritrea to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their neighbors, exercise maximum restraint and return to dialogue and cooperatiI am concerned that government and public property could be exposed to looting because there are no security forces in the city,” one local resident told AFP.
“Lawlessness could spread in the city, and I am also afraid for my life. I want us to quickly return to law and order,” another resident said.
Neither the spokesperson for the Ethiopian National Defense Forces nor that of federal Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has responded to AFP’s requests for comment.The tensions led to a civil war from 2020 to 2022 — one of the deadliest in the world in recent times — that left more than 600,000 dead, according to the African Union.
The Pretoria peace agreement of 2022, brokered by African institutions and Washington, maintained an uneasy calm until last year, but was never fully implemented.