US Put Forces On Standby in Djibouti to Support Embassy in Ethiopia, Reports Say

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US government sent special operations forces to Djibouti to assist the US Embassy in Ethiopia if the situation worsens, CNN reported on Monday, citing a military official.

According to the broadcaster, the United States is growing increasingly concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Ethiopia as armed groups allied against the government advanced towards the capital city of Addis Ababa. In anticipation of further deterioration, the US military has positioned US special operations forces in Djibouti in order to provide assistance to the Embassy in an emergency, CNN reported.

On Monday, Senior State Department Officials announced that Washington had no plans of using the military in order to carry out evacuation from Ethiopia.

"There are no plans to fly the US military into Ethiopia to facilitate evacuations or replicate the contingency effort we recently undertook in Afghanistan, which was a unique situation for many reasons," officials said during the briefing.

Earlier in November, the Ethiopian parliament declared a six-month state of emergency throughout the country to protect the population from the rebels of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray who are advancing toward the country's capital Addis Ababa. The development has prompted several countries to start evacuating their diplomatic missions from Ethiopia.