In Ethiopia, tens of thousands of youths, men and women rallied in Addis Ababa to support Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government as federal troops fight rebellious forces threatening to march on the capital city.

Some demonstrators denounced the United States, one of the foreign powers that has called for a ceasefire to the conflict that began in November last year.

Abiy's government, which has pledged to keep fighting, said on Friday that it has a responsibility to secure the country and urged foreign governments to stand with Ethiopia's democracy.

The U.N. Security Council, the African Union, Kenya and Uganda have also called for a ceasefire in the war that has killed thousands of people.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on Sunday that the authorities appeared to be using a state of emergency declared on Tuesday to arrest people based on ethnic identity.

In some police stations, the families are denied access to the detainees, and they can't deliver food and clothing. On top of that, elders and mothers with children are among the detainees, the commission said in a statement.

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