Ethiopia recalls hundreds of diplomats and shuts down consulates in a number of nations.

Ethiopia is shutting a number of diplomatic posts and recalling diplomats from active missions. Ethiopia is reducing the number of its foreign diplomatic posts three days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the reduction on Monday.

According to a statement obtained by NCMP, addisstandard, one of Ethiopia’s daily newspapers, announced the recall of 18 staff employees at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC. Five more staff members of Ethiopia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations have been recalled, bringing the mission’s entire personnel to three.

Ethiopian Consulates in Los Angeles, Frankfurt, and Minnesota will shut, and staff members will be returned home, the newspaper said. It is worth noting that the decision to establish a Consulate General in Minnesota was made soon after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed assumed office in April 2018.

It was established later that year, but the consulate is currently among the posts set to shut as part of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration’s aim to decrease the number of foreign operations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) highlighted the need for institutional reform after the Covid-19 epidemic and the economic strain that followed in a letter dated July 07, 2021, and addressed all of Ethiopia’s foreign diplomatic missions. Additionally, the letter said that a new institutional framework will improve the organization’s performance.

During a question-and-answer session with members of the House of People’s Representatives (HoPR), the Prime Minister addressed a range of issues confronting the country, including the economy, security, in particular the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Ethiopian government in the eight-month-old civil war in Tigray, and last month’s general elections. He informed parliamentarians of continuing preparations to shutter at least 30 foreign outposts.

“Ethiopia would have to shut at least 30 embassies,” he said to members of parliament, claiming that the decision was made solely for economic reasons. Additionally, the PM’s comments included criticism of the country’s foreign missions’ performance.

The Prime Minister, who is confronted with a slew of challenges, including a deteriorating security situation in the country as a result of conflict, an economic crisis as a result of currency shortages, and a host of others, explained on Monday the need for a shift in the country’s foreign policy initiatives.

Ethiopia presently maintains 59 abroad missions, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MoFA) website. There have been no responses from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on the issue so far, the publication claims that all efforts were futile.