Pressure against Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, intensified on Friday after it emerged that nine anti-government factions in the Horn of Africa will form an alliance against his rule.
The Ethiopian government has been battling the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for over a year in a war that has killed thousands of people and forced more than two million more from their homes.
This week, the TPLF forces announced that it was making advances into Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
The new alliance, called the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces, includes the TPLF, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and the Agaw Democratic Movement (ADM).
OLA and ADM have confirmed the development.
Several of the groups have armed fighters although it was not clear if they all do.
Following news that Tigrayan forces have made advances towards the capital, African and Western nations called for an immediate ceasefire in Ethiopia on Thursday.
The announcement of the new alliance comes during a two-day visit to Addis Ababa by U.S. Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman.
The State Department said he met with the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, as well as the Ethiopian defence minister, finance minister and deputy prime minister.
In the announcement, the groups said a signing ceremony will be held on Friday in Washington.
According to the groups, the front is being formed to reverse the harmful effects of Abiy’s rule on Ethiopians.