{"id":12918,"date":"2021-11-06T12:09:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T12:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/?p=12918"},"modified":"2021-11-08T18:14:01","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T18:14:01","slug":"ethiopias-abiy-urges-sacrifices-as-us-orders-staff-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/?p=12918","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia\u2019s Abiy urges \u2018sacrifices\u2019 as US orders staff out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Prime minister says Ethiopians must be ready to make \u2018sacrifices\u2019 to \u2018salvage\u2019 country as conflict with Tigrayan forces deepens.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Al Jazeera<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 6, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has told Ethiopians they must be ready to make \u201csacrifices\u201d to save the country from rebel forces, as the United States ordered non-emergency government employees to leave Ethiopia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The yearlong fighting between federal government troops and Tigrayan rebels, who are threatening to march on the capital, Addis Ababa, has intensified in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are sacrifices to be made, but those sacrifices will salvage Ethiopia,\u201d Abiy said on Twitter on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have seen the tests and obstacles and it made us stronger,\u201d he continued, adding: \u201cWe have more allies than the people who turned their backs on us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abiy\u2019s comments came a day after nine groups said they would join forces in an alliance<\/a> built around the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front (TPLF), with the aim of removing Abiy\u2019s government by force or negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has dismissed the coalition formation as a \u201cpublicity stunt\u201d and said most of the groups involved do not have any traction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor us, Ethiopians, dying for our sovereignty, unity and identity, is an honour. There is no Ethiopianism without sacrifice,\u201d the government\u2019s communication service said on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the US embassy in Addis Ababa ordered the departure of its non-essential diplomats on Saturday, a day after advising all US citizens to leave Ethiopia \u201cas soon as possible\u201d \u2013 as have several other embassies, including those of Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Norway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIncidents of civil unrest and ethnic violence are occurring without warning. The situation may escalate further and may cause supply chain shortages, communications blackouts, and travel disruptions,\u201d the US embassy said<\/a> on its website on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It came after the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, was seemingly unable to strike a breakthrough in his bid to bring an end to the fighting during a visit this week to Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While regional and international efforts are under way amid calls<\/a> for an immediate cessation to hostilities and talks for a lasting ceasefire, a diplomatic source told Al Jazeera that Ethiopian government officials and the US envoy were unable to agree on a path to solving the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source said Ethiopia rejected Feltman\u2019s proposal to hold unconditional negotiations with the rebels, as the government considers the TPLF a \u201cterrorist\u201d group and demands the immediate withdrawal of its fighters from the Amhara region without conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same source added that the US and Ethiopian sides differed over the nature of the negotiations, with the latter insisting it was the one that determined this without the interference of external parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last weekend, the TPLF said it had taken two strategic cities in Amhara, where its fighters had advanced after retaking their Tigray bastion in June. It said on Wednesday it had reached the town of Kemissie in Amhara, 325km (200 miles) northeast of the capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TPLF added it was running \u201cjoint operations\u201d with another rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Army, and indicated it might advance on Addis Ababa. The Tigrayan forces say they are pressuring Ethiopia\u2019s government to lift a deadly months-long blockade on their region of around six million people, where basic services have been cut off and humanitarian food and medical aid are denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf marching to Addis is what it takes to break the siege, we will,\u201d said TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ethiopian government, which on Tuesday declared a nationwide state of emergency, has denied any major rebel advance or threat on the capital, promising to press on to victory in \u201can existential war\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abiy\u2019s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum on Friday accused the rebels of spinning \u201can alarmist narrative that is creating much tension among different communities, including the international community\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis information warfare and this propaganda that they have been propagating is giving a false sense of insecurity,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to topple the TPLF, which he accused of having attacked military bases. Weeks later, he declared a victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By late June the rebels had retaken most of Tigray and expanded into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brutal conflict has killed thousands and displaced more than 2.5 million. The United Nations has said up to seven million people in the regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar need help, including five million in Tigray where some 400,000 people are estimated to be living in famine-like conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fighting has also exacerbated ethnic rivalries, in particular on social media where calls for war and hatred have been rife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter announced on Saturday that it had temporarily disabled its \u201ctrends\u201d section, which groups the most viral tweets on a subject, for Ethiopia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social media giant said it was \u201cfocused on protecting the safety of the conversation on Twitter,\u201d adding that \u201cinciting violence or dehumanising people is against our rules\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook\u2019s parent company Meta said on Wednesday that it had deleted a post by Abiy that called for Ethiopians to \u201cbury\u201d the rebels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Tuesday\u2019s declaration of the six-month emergency, reporters citing lawyers have said many Tigrayans had been detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authorities say they are only targeting TPLF supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But rights watchdog Amnesty International slammed the emergency measures, calling them \u201ca blueprint for escalating human rights violations\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime minister says Ethiopians must be ready to make \u2018sacrifices\u2019 to \u2018salvage\u2019 country as conflict with Tigrayan forces<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,32],"class_list":["post-12918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-al-jazeera","tag-english"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",770,513,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",300,200,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",640,426,false],"large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",640,426,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",770,513,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",770,513,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",770,513,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",590,393,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686.jpg",600,400,false],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/axumawian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/686-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Axumawian Media"]},"category_info":"Article<\/a>","tag_info":"Article","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12921,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12918\/revisions\/12921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/axumawian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}