The governments of Japan and Greece on Tuesday (30.11.2021) urged their nationals to “leave Ethiopia by commercial flights”, due to the “serious crisis” the country is going through after the outbreak of armed conflict in this country. country.
Japan a few weeks ago called on its citizens residing in Ethiopia to leave the country and raised the alert level a few days ago due to the “serious situation”, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said. to the media.
The Japanese government sent a team of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense personnel to Ethiopia last Friday to gather information and monitor the situation on the ground, Hayashi said, who also confirmed that at present no Japanese citizens are in danger.
Greek government calls for evacuation
Greece also urged its nationals on Monday to leave Ethiopia “as soon as possible with commercial flights available”, due to “uncertain and increasingly unpredictable” security conditions, according to the Foreign Ministry in a statement.
Several hundred Greeks live in Ethiopia, mainly in the country’s capital, where there is a Greek school with 120 students. Greece decided to evacuate its citizens from that country, after the United States, France and the United Kingdom did the same last week.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced last week that he would go to the front lines to lead the Ethiopian army in the war against rebels in the northern Tigray region.
In recent weeks, the forces of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (FPLT) have conquered the town of Shewa Robit, in the neighboring region of Amhara, some 220 kilometers from Addis Ababa, headquarters of the African Union, between other international organizations. .
The war broke out on November 4, 2020, when the Ethiopian Prime Minister ordered an offensive against the PFLT, the party then ruling the region, in retaliation for an attack on a federal military base and after political tensions escalated.
The confrontation has killed thousands and an estimated two million have fled their homes, while the armed conflict has worsened a famine that already affects more than seven million Ethiopians, according to UN data.
gs (efe, afp)
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
a city on fire
Residents of Tigray’s capital, Mekele, sort through the rubble left by one of the shellings launched by government forces on 20 October. The military say the target was an arms factory operated by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (FLPT), a claim the rebel forces deny.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
vapors of war
Smoke from a recent airstrike rises above the streets of Mekele. Tigriny fighters accuse the government of killing civilians with these offensives, but central authorities insist they only attack military targets. Residents confirmed that at least one major industrial complex in the city was destroyed by the shells.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
captured soldiers
Captured by rebel forces, Ethiopian government soldiers and allied militias await transfer to a detention center. The image is from October 22. Soldiers marched through the streets of Mekele in convertible trucks as a show of force on the same day that four consecutive days of shelling ended in the capital.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
Red Cross on the way
An Ethiopian Red Cross vehicle drives through Mekele, following government shelling. The entity has worked tirelessly to provide basic medical aid and shelter in the area. Amid a media blackout in Tigray, the Red Cross is also essential in reconnecting families separated by conflict.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
some help
A cargo plane from the humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse unloaded food at Mekele airport in March. Since then, the flow of humanitarian aid has been severely restricted, with key roads barricaded – preventing the passage of convoys – and airstrikes – forcing supply flights to be halted.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
a desperate call
Health workers demonstrate outside the United Nations office in Mekele to condemn the deaths of patients due to severe shortages of food and medicine. Stocks of supplies are running low, while child malnutrition rates are soaring. But the UN has already announced that it will have to withdraw half of its officials deployed in Ethiopia.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
war victim
A victim of the airstrike on Togoga receives medical assistance. On June 22, market day, the Ethiopian Air Force launched an attack on the Tigriny town of Togoga, killing 64 civilians and injuring 184. Ambulances attempting to help were initially blocked by soldiers, before another convoy broke through the fence and took away 25 wounded. a hospital in Mekele.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
international protests
On the other side of the world, hundreds of people gathered in Whitehall, London, on October 19, carrying flags and chanting slogans calling for an end to the violence and the blockade in Tigray. Many protesters were members of the Tigriny, Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora.
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Ethiopia: a year of crisis in Tigray
Pro-government authorities and activists
In September, in Addis Ababa, outside the office of the UN World Food Programme, demonstrators protested against the sending of aid to Tigray. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (FLPT) is classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government. Authorities and activists accuse their fighters of committing all sorts of atrocities, such as recruiting child soldiers.
Author: Ineke Mules
