This article was written by Reuters:

Nine anti-government factions will form an alliance on Friday to push for a political transition in Ethiopia, two of the groups said, piling more pressure on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as rebel forces advance towards the capital.

Several of the groups have armed fighters although it was not clear whether they all do.

Two of them, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and the Agaw Democratic Movement (ADM), confirmed to Reuters that an announcement on the alliance was genuine.

Called the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces, the alliance includes the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been fighting Abiy's government for a year in a war that has killed thousands of people and forced more than two million more from their homes.

The front is being formed "to reverse the harmful effects of the Abiy Ahmed rule on the peoples of Ethiopia and beyond," the groups said, and "in recognition of the great need to collaborate and join forces towards a safe transition."

Abiy's spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, asked for reaction to the development, referred Reuters to a comment she posted on Twitter in which she defended Abiy's rule since he took office in 2018. His party was re-elected in June.

"The opening up of the political space three years ago provided ample opportunity for contenders to settle their differences at the ballot box in June 2021," Seyoum said in the post.

She did not refer directly to the new alliance.

Spokespeople for the government and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the alliance.

The TPLF spokesperson, Getachew Reda, did not respond to comment requests on Friday.