Ethiopia’s army announces mobilization, as new alliance forms against Abiy Ahmed

CAIRO – 5 November 2021:  Up to nine groups have allied together, Friday including the Tigray forces against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to seek a political transition after a year of the disturbing war that raised a lot of concern over the political and humanitarian situation in the country.

According to AP, this move comes in conjunction with the rebel groups announcement that they are getting closer to the capital, Addis Ababa and determine to control over it.

From his part, Abiy Ahmed has been calling on civilians to confront these groups and get weapons to stop them; accordingly, both of Facebook and twitter have deleted the Ethiopian Prime Minster tweets and posts for being ‘hate, violent speech’ and ‘incites for violence’

Earlier Friday, the Ethiopian Armed forces also called on all physically fit ex-soldiers to register in the army and participate in military operations against the newly-formed alliance.

In a fast-developing situation, The US Embassy in Addis Ababa called on American citizens to not travel to Ethiopia and consider departing now over insecurity due to the ongoing armed conflict.

“Do not travel to Ethiopia due to armed conflict, civil unrest, communications disruptions, crime, and the potential for terrorism and kidnapping in border areas,” the Embassy said, Friday.

 Also, the United Nation Security Council expressed its deep concern, Friday, over the expansion of military clashes in Ethiopia.

In a draft statement, the security council called on all parties to refrain from ‘hate speech and incitement to violence’

It also expressed concern over the impact of the conflict on the humanitarian situation and stability in Ethiopia

Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the UN Human Rights Office released a report on Wednesday, revealing violations by all parties in the Tigray conflict of international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law, and possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Facebook has deleted a tweet by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, where he urged citizens to “bury” the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in Tigray.

The tweet was deleting for violating the Facebook terms related to violence incitement.

Ahmed called on people in the tweet to “temporarily hold occasional affairs and organize and march through legal manner with every weapon and power/might in order to prevent, reverse and bury the terrorist TPLF that has come to the destruction.”

“This great nation has not overcome great historical challenges by standing and watching on the sides or being content with just a few victories. We have defeated the attacks by standing together and standing guard with perseverance for our country,” he added.

Ethiopian authorities have recently declared a state of emergency nationwide, calling for people to take up arms to defend the Ethiopian capital.

As per the Tigray conflict, hundreds of thousands have been displaced and the region was brought to the brink of famine.