U.S State Department revised its Ethiopia travel advisory

By:Mohamed Duale

Horndiplomat-U.S State Department has revised it is Ethiopia travel advisory-Horndiplomat Reports

On July 30, Somali regional state asks the US Embassy in Addis
Abeba to retract July 29 travel warning issued based on what the region said was an “outdated” data.

Mohamed Olad, Media and Communications Advisor to Somali state president Mustafa Omer told Addistandard said the “data and the analysis used to issue such a critical advisory seems to be outdated or, even worse, doesn’t represent a fair portrayal of the reality on the ground.”

On August 29, The U.S State Department has revised it is Ethiopia travel advisory after the Somali state communicated its disappointment with the embassy and was informed that it was based on an old data.

The newly revised travel advisory lifts the blanket ‘Level 4 – Do Not Travel’ advisory that it posted a few weeks ago. It also revised the reasons it used to justify that ‘Level 4 – Do Not Travel’ warning, which included potential civil unrest, armed insurgency, ethnic border conflict as well as fear of terrorism among others.

In addition to that, the only security concern the State Department cited when issuing the new, and downgraded alert level, is the fear of potential terror attacks on Somali towns along the border with Somalia given Al-Shabab’s declared intent to carry out attacks inside Ethiopia.

However,  The Somali regional State Welcomed the new revised version of the US travel advisory.

“we welcome this revised version of the travel advisory as it takes the current security situation of the region into account. We also appreciate how well the U.S Embassy received our initial complaint, public or otherwise, and how they were concerned about the possible damage this can inflict on the image of the region as much as we did.”Said Mohamed Olad Media and Communications Advisor to president Mustafa Omer of SRS

Mr.Olad Added

“On a similar note, we appreciate how quick and willing they were to address our concerns promptly.”Said Olad

This is a developing story, Please check back at the Horndiplomat for Updates.

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