The United States asserted on Wednesday November 24 that there was no
"military solution"
in Ethiopia and called on all parties to
"restraint"
as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited the front line facing rebels from the Tigray region, according to official media.
Read alsoConfit du Tigray: will Ethiopia be the next Yugoslavia?
“There is no military solution to the conflict in Ethiopia. Our goal is to support diplomacy as the first, last and only option, ”
said a spokesperson for the US State Department.
"We urge all parties to refrain from inflammatory and belligerent rhetoric, to exercise restraint, to respect human rights, to allow humanitarian access and to protect civilians,"
he added.
The Ethiopian prime minister was at the front on Wednesday, where he is leading the government's
"counter-offensive"
against rebels from the Tigray region who threaten to take the capital Addis Ababa, Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported.
On Wednesday, hundreds of new army recruits, urged by Abiy Ahmed to "
join the survival campaign"
according to Fana, participated in a ceremony in Addis Ababa.
Read alsoRenaud Girard: "Ethiopia, new Syria?"
Among those who have vowed to fight is marathon runner and Olympic medalist Feyisa Lilesa. The US State Department said it was
"aware"
of press reports that
"top Ethiopian athletes, parliamentarians, party and regional leaders have announced that they will join the prime minister on the lines. forehead ”
.
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, visiting Colombia, launched on Wednesday evening an
"urgent call"
for an
"immediate and unconditional ceasefire in order to save"
the country, after more than a year of 'a conflict marked by the specter of famine.
The war started in Tigray in November 2020 when Abiy Ahmed, Nobel Peace Prize 2019, sent the federal army there to remove the authorities, from the Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF), who challenged his authority. and that he accused of having attacked military bases.
