US urges restraint as Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis draws in neighbors

The United States called for “restraint” and “dialogue” as Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis pulled in regional neighbors, ahead of a meeting on the conflict Sunday in Egypt. The fighting has triggered a breakdown in Ethiopia’s relations with Eritrea and Egypt, which Addis Ababa accuses of supporting rebels who have launched attacks against federal forces, raising fears of a return to the devastating civil war of 2020-2022. A diplomatic source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Sunday’s mini-summit would bring together the presidents of Egypt, Eritrea and Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, as well as Sudanese Armed Forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The meeting is set to take place in Alamein, Egypt, on the sidelines of an African Business Forum. It comes a day after Ethiopian federal forces entered Mekelle, the capital of Tigray state, which has long been dominated by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, according to a humanitarian source.