The French Foreign Ministry repatriated some of its citizens to Paris on Sunday night using a chartered special flight to return them to Addis Ababa.
France last week advised all its citizens in Ethiopia to leave without delay due to the escalating conflict.
The European and Foreign Affairs Ministry, an airline has been chartered to facilitate the departure of our compatriots. The flight is fully funded by the ministry.
Conflict arose in Ethiopia in early November 2020 when Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy deployed troops into Tigray to topple the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a move that he claimed was a result of TPLF attacks on army camps.
He promised a swift victory, but by late June the TPLF had regrouped and retaken most of Tigray, and it has now pushed into the Amhara and Afar regions.
Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, is leading a diplomatic effort to broker a ceasefire, but there have been few signs of progress so far.
The US, the UK, Germany, and Italy have all urged their citizens to leave Ethiopia in light of a possible rebel assault on the capital.
The government claims rebel gains are exaggerated, blaming sensationalized media coverage and alarmist security advisories from embassies for creating panic.
