Ethiopia face an existential crisis after TDF and OLA doubled their attacks and rapidly continue to advance towards Addis Ababa. Reportedly, Airlines departing from Addis Ababa are fully booked as Government officials, diplomats, investors, and civilians are fleeing Addis Ababa..
The two largest rebel groups fighting Ethiopia’s government have “linked up” on a front line about 370km north of the capital, according to their spokesmen, Both said that as the war nears its one year mark, a peaceful solution was off the table.
The US has warned Tigrayan soldiers against advancing on Ethiopia’s capital as residents were told to arm themselves in preparation for battle, The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have reportedly seized two key cities on a major highway to Addis Ababa, sparking panic in the cosmopolitan city which has so far been spared in the brutal year-long war.
City government officials in Addis Ababa issued a call yesterday through state media, urging the capital’s five million residents to register their weapons and prepare to safeguard their neighbourhoods.
Prime minister Abiy Ahmed issued a broader call to arms on Sunday, saying it was every citizen’s duty to join the war effort and promising victory, His statement echoed a similar general call for people and resources from the Amhara regional government, north of the capital, where fighting has been concentrated in recent weeks.
Half a dozen residents of Addis Ababa said there was a growing sense of panic in the city, “Police officers are going from house to house unlawfully detaining ethnic Tigrayans in districts where many ethnic Tigrayans live. Yesterday they rounded up and detained Tigrayans in the districts of Hayahulet, Semet and Bulbula,” claimed one ethnic Tigrayan who lives in the city, who has not been named for security reasons.
