Pressure is mounting on the central government in Ethiopia and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said its forces were less than 350 kilometres from the capital Addis Ababa.
Hundreds of refugees from the northern conflict regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar arrived in the capital Saturday, a witness told dpa, underscoring the worsening humanitarian situation for those caught in the violence between federal forces and rebel groups.
The embattled government is trying to drum up public support and is planning a demonstration against the rebels on Sunday, aiming for hundreds of thousands of people to show up.
As the rebels advanced, the US embassy in Addis Ababa withdrew government employees and their family members this week, and advised US citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
The Ethiopian government's conflict with the TPLF began a year ago and has accelerated in recent days, with a nationwide state of emergency declared on Tuesday and residents of the capital told to be ready to take up arms to defend residential areas.
The TPLF, aided by the Oromo Liberation Army, have been able to take control of a stretch of a strategically important highway. According to reports, the militias are also attempting to cut the supply route from the port in neighbouring Djibouti to Addis Ababa.
In November 2020, Abiy's government launched a military offensive against the TPLF, which had long run the northern region of Tigray and was a major player in Ethiopia's national politics.
Tensions began to simmering when Abiy came to power in 2018 and sought to reduce its influence.
The UN Security Council called for an end to the violence, which has spilled over into Tigray's neighbouring regions and also poses a threat to the stability of Ethiopia's Horn of Africa neighbours.
The UN's most powerful body demanded that the parties to the conflict negotiate a lasting ceasefire and create the conditions for the start of an inclusive national dialogue.
War crimes may have been committed in the conflict over the breakaway Tigray region, a UN human rights report said this week.
On Friday, nine Ethiopian opposition factions signed an alliance against Abiy's government in Washington. They want the prime minister to form a transitional government through "negotiations or by force," they told a news conference.
