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At least 16 United Nations staff and dependents have been detained in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, a UN spokesperson said on Tuesday, amid reports of widespread arrests of ethnic Tigrayans.

“We are, of course, actively working with the government of Ethiopia to secure their immediate release,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.

He declined to answer a question on the ethnicity of those detained, saying: “These are United Nations staff members,they’re Ethiopians…, and we would like to see them released, whatever ethnicity is listed on their identity cards.”

The state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on Sunday it had received many reports of arrests of Tigrayans in the capital, including elders and mothers with children.

Daniel Bekele, head of the commission, told Reuters on Tuesday that it was monitoring “the arrests of hundreds of Tigrayans in Addis Ababa”.

Police have denied making ethnically motivated arrests,saying they are only targeting supporters of the rebellious Tigrayan forces fighting the central government.

Fasika Fanta, spokesperson for the Addis Ababa police, and government spokesperson Legesse Tulu told Reuters they had no information on the arrests of UN staff.

“Those that have been detained are Ethiopians who violate the law,” said Legesse.

The US State Department said Washington finds the reports of arrests of UN staff members “concerning”, adding that harassment and detention on the basis of ethnicity is completely unacceptable.

“The reports do tend to suggest an arrest based on ethnicity and that is something that if confirmed, we would strongly condemn. So, whatever we can do to secure the release of these individuals, we will be prepared to do,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.

The year-long conflict in northern Ethiopia between the government and Tigrayan forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has intensified in recent weeks after the TPLF pushed southward.

Tigrayan forces and their allies have threatened to march on the capital.

Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on November 2. That permits the government to arbitrarily arrest,without a court order, anyone suspected of collaborating with a terrorist group.

Parliament designated the TPLF as a terrorist group earlier this year.

Britain tightened its travel advice on Tuesday, advising citizens to leave Ethiopia while commercial flights are available, after the United States on November 5 advised all citizens to leave Ethiopia as soon as possible.

Zambia evacuated non-essential staff from Ethiopia on Tuesday, its foreign ministry said.

Diplomatic efforts continue to try to lay the ground for talks and avert an attack on the Ethiopian capital, home to 5 million people.

“Our position remains that there can be no military solution to this conflict and only dialogue can produce a lasting peace, “Britain’s Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford, told journalists.

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo is in Ethiopia on behalf of the African Union to try to facilitate talks:

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Top US diplomat Antony Blinken said on Monday that Egypt had more work to do on human rights as he met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukryamid calls for Washington to take a tougher stance on the country’s record.

The two met ahead of a US – Egypt Strategic Dialogue in Washington, the first such talks since President Joe Biden took power pledging to put human rights and democracy at the center of his foreign policy.

Blinken in September announced the United States would withhold $130 million worth of military aid from Egypt until President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government takes action on human rights. Egypt was not invited to Biden’s flagship Summit for Democracy next month.

On Monday, Blinken credited Egypt for launching a national rights strategy and said the United States and Egypt are working together on reforming pre-trial detention and protecting a free press and free expression in Egypt.

“There are also other issues of concern, more areas where positive steps can be taken, not because the United States or anyone else is asking, but because… it’s what’s in the interest of the Egyptian people,” Blinken said.

A group of experts on Egypt wrote a dialogue to Blinken on Monday, urging him to “speak forthrightly about Egypt’s appalling human rights record” and press the Egyptian delegation visiting Washington for meaningful improvements.

Sisi, a former general who ousted the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, has overseen a crackdown on dissent that has tightened in recent years but denies detaining his opponents.

Shoukry said Egypt under Sisi would “forge our path towards a more democratic state” but that equal attention should be paid to “economic and social rights” alongside “political rights and civil liberties.”

“The experience of the last 10 years has demonstrated that protecting the social cohesion and territorial integrity of the nation-state as well as preserving the stability and efficacy of its institutions is vital in order to fulfill the hopes for change and modernization and to guard against the rise of identity-based politics and sectarian divisions,” he said.

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The African Union and the United States see a small window of opportunity to end fighting in Ethiopia, they said on Monday, as the United Nations warned that the risk of Ethiopia spiralling into a widening civil war is “only too real.”

The AU envoy for the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo both briefed the UN Security Council.

“All these leaders, here in Addis Ababa and in the north, agree individually that the differences between them are political and require a political solution through dialogue,” Obasanjo told the 15-member council, but stressed: “The window of opportunity we have is very little and that time is short.”

The U.S. State Department also said on Monday that Washington believes there is a small window to work with the AU to make progress on ending the conflict as U.S. envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, returned to Addis Ababa.

The African Union earlier on Monday held a closed-door meeting to discuss the crisis.

The conflict started in November 2020 when forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), seized military bases in Tigray. In response, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent more troops to the northern region. Thousands have been killed and more than 2 million have fled their homes.

Ethiopia’s UN Ambassador Taye Atske Selassie Amde told the UN Security Council: “Our route to a dialogue and political solution will not be straightforward or easy.”

“For now we’re focused on halting TPLF and rescuing and reaching our public that suffered immensely,” he said.

‘TIME TO PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN’

The war has intensified in recent weeks. Tigrayan forces and their allies are threatening to march on Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, while the government has declared a six-month state of emergency.

“It is time to put your weapons down,” US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said at the Security Council. “This war between angry, belligerent men – victimising women and children – has to stop.”

The TPLF had dominated national politics for nearly three decades but lost influence when Abiy took office in 2018. The TPLF accused him of centralising power at the expense of regional states. Abiy denies this.

Obasanjo told the council he had met with Abiy, the leader of Ethiopia’s Oromio region and travelled to Mekelle on Sunday to meet TPLF leaders. He plans to travel to the regions of Amhara and Afar on Tuesday, where the conflict has spread from neighbouring Tigray.

DiCarlo said the conflict had reached “disastrous proportions” and that incidents of hate speech and targeting of ethnic groups have “increased at an alarming rate. She told the UN Security Council: “What is certain is that the risk of Ethiopia descending into widening civil war is only too real.”

The Security Council on Friday called for an end to the fighting in Ethiopia and for talks on a lasting ceasefire as the body expressed deep concern in a rare statement about the expansion and intensification of military clashes.

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Tens of thousands of Ethiopians rallied in Addis Ababa on Sunday to support Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government as federal troops fight rebellious forces threatening to march on the capital.

Some demonstrators denounced the United States, one of the foreign powers that has called for a ceasefire to a year-long war, which has intensified amid advances by rebellious forces in the past week.

The UN Security Council, the African Union, and Kenya and Uganda have also called for a ceasefire in the conflict that has killed thousands of people.

Canada, calling the situation in Ethiopia “rapidly evolving and deteriorating”, has withdrawn the families of its embassy staff and non-essential Canadian employees, the foreign ministry said on Sunday. Its embassy remains open in the capital.

Abiy’s government, which has pledged to keep fighting, said on Friday it had a responsibility to secure the country and urged foreign powers to stand with Ethiopia’s democracy. read more

The state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on Sunday the authorities appeared to be using a state of emergency declared on Tuesday to arrest people based on ethnic identity.

“In some police stations, the families are denied access to the detainees, and they can’t deliver food and clothing. On top of that, elders and mothers with children are among the detainees,” the commission said in a statement.

The government spokesperson Legesse Tulu and federal police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Police spokesperson Fasika Fante denied on Thursday that arrests were ethnically motivated, saying those detained “directly or indirectly” backed the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), an outlawed party that was once part of Ethiopia’s government and is now battling federal forces.

Some of those gathered for the rally in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa draped themselves in the national flag.

“Shame on you USA,” read one placard, while another said the United States should stop “sucking Ethiopia’s blood”.

‘THEY WILL NEVER SUCCEED’

US President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday accused Ethiopia of “gross violations” of human rights and said it planned to remove the country from a US trade pact.

The conflict in the north of the country started a year ago when forces loyal to the TPLF seized military bases in the Tigray region. In response, Abiy sent troops, who initially drove the TPLF out of the regional capital, Mekelle, but have faced a sharp reversal since June this year.

Some demonstrators voiced anger over a US call for the government and TPLF to negotiate.

“They want to destroy our country like they did to Afghanistan. They will never succeed, we are Ethiopians,” said 37-year-old Tigist Lemma.

Addis Ababa Mayor Adanech Abiebe addressed protesters and cited Ethiopia’s history of resisting colonial power to justify the war.

The conflict has killed thousands of people, forced more than 2 million from their homes and left 400,000 people in Tigray facing famine.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths travelled to Mekelle on Sunday and met women affected by the fighting and humanitarian partners, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

OCHA said he “engaged with de facto authorities on the need for humanitarian access and protection of civilians through all areas under their control, and respect for humanitarian principles.”

‘ASK FOR RECONCILIATION’

A humanitarian source in Ethiopia and one person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the AU’s special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo, was also on the trip.

The AU and government spokesperson Legesse did not respond to a request for comment. TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda told Reuters that Griffiths and Obasanjo visited Mekelle.

At the Addis Ababa rally, popular musician Tariku Gankisi, whose songs call for Ethiopian unity, urged restraint.

“Let no youth go to the front lines to fight, let the elders go holding the fresh grass and ask for reconciliation,” Tariku told the crowd, before his microphone was switched off, it was unclear by whom. Fresh grass is a symbol of peace in Ethiopia.

Under a state of emergency declared on Tuesday, the government can order citizens of military age to undergo training and accept military duties.

Reuters has not been able to confirm independently the extent of the TPLF advance. The TPLF and their allies told Reuters last week they were 325 km (200 miles) from the capital. The government accuses the group of exaggerating its gains.

The government has also complained about foreign media coverage of the conflict and some people at the rally held signs denouncing “fake news” in Ethiopia.

Billene Seyoum, Abiy’s spokesperson, said on Twitter on Saturday: “Orchestrated media propaganda against Ethiopia is escalating … Despite it all Ethiopia will overcome!”

Ethiopia declares 6-month state of emergency: Andualem Sisay Gessesse

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