Thousands of pro-government Ethiopians gathered on Addis Ababa’s central Meskel Square on Sunday after opposition forces last week threatened to advance on the city and collapse the government.
According to Ethiopian media outlets the demonstration was to show a united front against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and nine opposition groups, which last week joined forces with the aim of overthrowing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. The groups made the announcement at the National Press Club in Washington DC as US special envoy Jeffrey Feltman was in Addis Ababa to try to negotiate a ceasefire on the first anniversary of the start of the conflict.
The Ethiopian government labelled the opposition groups’ actions as a publicity stunt. Nevertheless, Abiy has since called on Ethiopians to sign up to defend the country. At the same time, Western missions in Ethiopia’s capital started evacuating non-essential staff and family members at the weekend, fearing violence.
The US embassy in Ethiopia last week advised that an escalation of violence could cause “supply chain shortages, communications blackouts and travel disruptions”. It is understood that there are fears that missile or rocket attacks on Addis Ababa could disrupt commercial air travel, which would complicate evacuation at a later stage.
SA is set to take a wait-and-see approach and has not yet given any instructions to its diplomatic staff to evacuate, said Clayson Monyela, head of public diplomacy at the department of international relations & co-operation.
The department advised against non-essential travel to the country. “South Africans wishing to travel to Ethiopia should do so with due regard to the prevailing security situation in the country,” he said.
A government official said SA hopes that peace efforts, including by the AU’s high representative to the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, “will help to convince the parties to an immediate ceasefire, allow humanitarian access and, most importantly, embark on an inclusive national dialogue.”
The official said most people in Addis Ababa were from the Amhara and Oromo ethnic groups. The Amharas back Abiy’s government, but the Oromos are split. Many believe that the Tigrayan-led forces do not have the numbers to take Addis, though a confrontation could result in “a chaotic and uncontrollable situation”, the official said.
Another government official said that though things seem normal in the capital for now, there have been reports of people from Tigrayan descent being rounded up on the basis of their identity alone. Some have expressed fears of a genocide.
The UN Security Council is due to have a public meeting on Ethiopia on Monday after the 15 member countries issued a statement on Friday calling “for an end to hostilities and the negotiation of a lasting ceasefire”.
The Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency last Tuesday after indications that the TPLF was beginning to advance on the capital after taking control of Dessie, which is only 400km from Addis Ababa.
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