(Ottawa) The Canadian government urges its nationals to leave Ethiopia as soon as possible.
“Canada is concerned about the rapid deterioration of security conditions in Ethiopia,” wrote in a statement released Friday morning, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
For the past week, Ottawa has been advising Canadian citizens to avoid all travel to this East African country. Minister Joly’s appeal now takes on a much more urgent tone.
“We are now asking Canadians there to leave the country immediately if it is safe to do so. The availability of commercial flights may soon become limited if the situation continues to worsen, ”she said.
The Canadian Embassy in Addis Ababa is still functional. However, the minister warns that the capacity of her diplomats in Ethiopia to provide consular assistance is “limited”.
The fighting that has shaken the country for a year is approaching the capital. The armed conflict began in November 2020 when the Ethiopian government sent the federal army to Tigray. Since then, the Tigray Liberation Front has regained control of all this territory and has continued to advance in other regions of the country.
On Thursday, there were protests outside the US and UK embassies in Addis Ababa, as the Ethiopian government accuses Washington of “spreading false news.”