Ethiopia urges ‘all parties to exercise restraint’ as Russian invasion in Ukraine enters day 8

ADDIS ABABA (SUDANS POST) – The Ethiopian government has called on “all parties” to exercise restraint as deadly Russian invasion of Ukrainian soil enters it eighth day, according to a statement by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed.

This comes a day after Ethiopia failed to show up during a United Nations General Assembly vote in which over 140 countries and members of the world body adopted a resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered air, land and sea invasion of Ukraine, an Eastern European democracy of 44 million people.

Putin has argued that he has invaded Ukraine upon the request of separatists in Donbas and accused Ukraine of genocide against its Russian-speaking citizens in the east of the country.

Western powers and the government in Kyiv have dismissed the accusation as a ‘baseless propaganda’ by the Russian government in an attempt to justify its attack on the Ukrainian soil.

In a statement this morning, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called on “all parties to exercise restraint in the Ukraine crisis.”

“We express our concern at the escalating rhetoric that risks further intensifying the issue and call upon all concerned to explore the multiple pathways to reach an understanding,” Prime Minister Abiy added.

The war in Ukraine has sparked international condemnation of Russia, and world powers in Europe and America have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia making the western rival mostly isolated at world stage.

Abiy said “The multilateral institutions and international norms we have built collectively need not be a site of isolation when we designed them to be a mechanism for problem solving, heightened diplomacy and collective development.”

He added that his country “expresses sincerest wishes for peace to prevail as all concerned parties explore peaceful alternatives to the current status quo.”