NAIROBI, 28 November 2021, (TON): A US State Department spokesperson said “US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is greatly concerned about Ethiopia’s military escalation and called for urgent negotiations over the crisis.”

The comments came hours after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared on the frontline with the national army.

Ned Price said in a statement “Secretary Blinken expressed grave concern about worrying signs of military escalation in Ethiopia and emphasised the need to urgently move to negotiations.”

Price released the statement after a phone call between Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Blinken.

Ethiopia’s state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting reported that Abiy was on the frontline with the army fighting rebellious Tigrayan forces in the northeastern Afar region. Abiy posted the same video on his Twitter account.

Abiy’s government has been fighting Tigrayan forces for more than a year, in a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions in Africa’s second-most populous nation.

Ethiopia has announced new restrictions on the sharing of information about the war in the north of the country which stipulate that battlefront updates can only come from the government.