Addis Ababa city police officers are seen during a parade to present the new logo and uniforms of Ethiopian police force at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 19, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

International alarm mounted on Tuesday over the escalating war in Ethiopia as Tigrayan rebels claimed to be edging closer to the capital Addis Ababa and more foreign citizens were told to leave.

US envoy Jeffrey Feltman spoke of some progress in efforts to reach a diplomatic settlement to end the brutal year-long conflict but warned it risked being jeopardized by "alarming developments" on the ground.

The United Nations said it had ordered the immediate evacuation of family members of international staff while France became the latest Western government to tell its citizens to leave.

The rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) claimed this week it had taken a town just 220 kilometers from the capital, although battlefield claims are hard to verify because of a communications blackout.  

On Monday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed vowed he would head to the battlefront to lead his soldiers in what the government has described as an "existential war" in Africa's second most populous nation.

"We are now in the final stages of saving Ethiopia," said Abiy, who only two years ago was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for securing a peace deal with neighboring Eritrea.

Thousands of people have been killed since fighting erupted in November 2020, triggering a desperate humanitarian crisis that the UN says has left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine and displaced more than 2 million.

The latest developments cast doubt on hopes of an end to the conflict, which has stoked fears it could sow wider instability in the Horn of Africa region.

"While there's some nascent progress, that is highly at risk of being outpaced by the military escalation on the two sides," said Feltman, in Ethiopia this week along with his African Union counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo to broker a cease-fire.

A scramble to evacuate foreigners was continuing, three weeks after the government declared a state of emergency and ordered residents to prepare to defend the capital.

An internal UN security order said family members of international staff should be evacuated by Thursday.

AFP