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Briefing with Senior State Department Officials On the Situation in Ethiopia and Ongoing Efforts to Encourage the Departure of U.S. Citizen
MODERATOR: Thank you, Operator. First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for joining us this afternoon for this on-background briefing with senior State Department officials who will discuss the situation in Ethiopia and ongoing efforts to encourage the departure of U.S. citizens from Ethiopia. Let me reiterate that this is, once again, an on-background briefing and the contents will be embargoed until the conclusion of our call.
For your information but not for reporting purposes, we’ll go ahead and introduce our two briefers today. On line we have from the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Consular Services, [Senior State Department Official One], and then we have from the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs [Senior State Department Official Two]. You will be able to refer to these two individuals as Senior State Department Official One and Senior State Department Official Two. Okay.
With that, I’d like to go ahead and turn it over at this point to [Senior State Department Official One] for some opening remarks. [Senior State Department Official One].
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Good afternoon. I’m here representing the Bureau of Consular Affairs again today to reiterate that we’re urging U.S. citizens to leave Ethiopia now while commercial flight options are available. Our core message is: Do not wait until the situation gets worse to decide to leave; leave before things change. Department of State personnel go to great lengths to assist U.S. citizens in crisis as long as it is safe to do so. The U.S. embassy is unlikely to be able to assist U.S. citizens in Ethiopia with departure if commercial options become unavailable.
As we said in our alerts, which are sent via email to all U.S. citizens who have registered with us via the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program and are also posted to Embassy Addis Ababa’s website, U.S. citizens wishing to depart Ethiopia currently have multiple options via commercial flights from Bole International Airport. U.S. citizens having difficulty securing a flight or who need assistance to return to the United States should please contact AddisACS@state.gov for guidance. The embassy can also provide a repatriation loan for U.S. citizens who cannot afford at this time to purchase a commercial ticket to the United States. If a U.S. citizen is delaying their departure because their non-U.S. citizen spouse or minor children do not have immigrant visas or U.S. passports, please, contact the embassy immediately. Similarly, if a non-U.S. citizen parent of a U.S. citizen minor does not have a valid U.S. visa or other document valid for entry to the United States, please, contact the embassy immediately. We can provide these services now, but we cannot predict when and if conditions might change. Again, now is the time to reach out to the embassy for departure assistance.
There are no plans to fly the U.S. military into Ethiopia to facilitate evacuations or replicate the contingency effort we recently undertook in Afghanistan, which was a unique situation for many reasons. There should be no expectation, particularly after we have issued so many warnings that advise departing immediately, that the U.S. will be able to facilitate evacuations via military or commercial aircraft in a non-permissive environment, including Ethiopia.
Again, we recommend that U.S. citizens in Ethiopia leave now while commercial flights are still available and while it is safe to do so. Contact the embassy now if you need assistance in leaving and encourage your family members and friends still in Ethiopia to do the same.
Thank you, and now over to my colleague.
SENIOR STATE DEPARMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Good afternoon. The United States Government remains very focused on the safety and security of U.S. citizens in Ethiopia. I am pleased we could hold another call today to ensure our messages to U.S. citizens continue to get out through as many channels as possible. That message remains, as you’ve heard from my colleague, for U.S. citizens to avail themselves of commercially available flight options and to depart Ethiopia now due to ongoing security concerns.