On Tuesday (August 11), the German Foreign Office scaled back its partial travel warning for Ethiopia and, effective immediately, is no longer issuing a blanket warning for the entire Oromia region. While the warning previously applied to almost the entire region, the travel warning for Oromia now primarily concerns the zones west of the capital, Addis Ababa (including West Shewa, South West Shewa, and North Shewa), as well as the Arsi zone. For all other zones in the region, the advice is now simply to avoid non-essential travel. This also applies to the rest of Ethiopia, with the exception of the capital, Addis Ababa.
At the same time, the travel warning has been expanded along the country’s borders: In addition to the 10-kilometer strips along the borders with Eritrea, South Sudan, and Kenya that were already affected, an explicit travel warning now also applies to the border area with Sudan within a 10-kilometer radius. The travel warning remains unchanged for the regional states of Tigray, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambela, and Somali, as well as for the Kilbet Rasu and Fanti Rasu zones in the Afar Regional State, which border Tigray.