Rebels to unite to defeat govt

Nine rebel groups battling Ethiopia's government will "collaborate and join forces", they said in a statement announcing the alliance, which comes as fears grow of Tigrayan fighters advancing on the capital. 

The alliance, due to be signed in Washington later yesterday, includes the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been locked in a year-long war against PM Abiy Ahmed's government.

The TPLF said Wednesday that its fighters had reached the town of Kemissie in Amhara region, 325 kilometres northeast of the capital, and were running "joint operations" with the OLA, which predicted Addis Ababa could fall in a matter of weeks.

The nine groups said they were forming a united front "to reverse the harmful effects of the Abiy Ahmed rule on the peoples of Ethiopia... and in recognition of the great need to collaborate and join forces towards a safe transition in the country."

It is unclear whether the alliance, named the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces, will affect the trajectory of the conflict, which Abiy's government has termed "an existential war".

The TPLF and the OLA, which the government officially designated as terrorist groups in May, are well-known, but the alliance's other seven members are obscure,.

Abiy sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to topple the TPLF, promising a swift victory. But by late June the rebels had retaken most of Tigray and expanded into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara.

The escalating conflict has sparked alarm among the international community. Thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced into famine-like conditions, according to the UN.