Ethiopian rebel groups form alliance against embattled leader

Ethiopia’s Tigray forces, along with eight other armed and regional opposition groups, will sign a Friday agreement in Washington in an alliance against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s leadership, organizers said. A spokesman for the newly formed United Front of Ethiopian Federalist Forces, which will be both a political and military coalition and will include the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, said the alliance would create a transitional government to depose Abiy from office amid a year of deadly violence in the restive Tigray region.

Why form this alliance now? Fighting between the federal government and Tigrayan troops that began last November has killed thousands and left as many as 400,000 people in faminelike conditions. Abiy’s government declared a six-month state of emergency on Wednesday as Tigray forces announced they were advancing on the capital city of Addis Ababa in their latest offensive. U.S. special envoy Jeffrey Feltman is meeting with senior Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa this week amid calls for a ceasefire and peace talks. U.S. senators introduced a new sanctions bill on Thursday targeting all parties involved in the fighting.

Dig deeper: Read my World Tour report about the humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing conflict.