• The BBC quietly changes headline on a piece based on in an interview with US General after intense backlash

Djiboutian Foreign Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said his country would not permit any operations from its territory for hostile intervention in the neighbouring countries by supporting warring parties.

“Some (people have) expressed the concern about Djibouti’s territory being used for hostile intervention in the neighbouring countries. That is not going to happen for The Djiboutian Government is attached to its relations with its neighbours,” he tweeted on Sunday.

The foreign minister’s words came after the Senior US General William Zana told the BBC on Friday that the US troops were here to respond to the crisis.

“The Djibouti government remains committed to the good neighbourhood relations and follows with particular attention the overall situation unfolding in the sisterly country of Ethiopia,”  Mahmoud Ali Youssouf had said on Sunday.

The US military and its allies have a large base called Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti and the US General  told the BBC that US troops were “here to respond to the crisis”. He said that if Addis Ababa fell to the rebels, the troops in Camp Lemonnier would be ready to evacuate US diplomats and citizens from Ethiopia.

The US General’s remark has drawn heated criticism from many Ethiopian social media users and commentators who regard it as another example of the US administration’s support for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) seeking to remove the Abiy Ahmed government.

The BBC quietly updated its headline on the piece after intense backlash. The original headline blared, “US force ‘ready to respond’ to Ethiopia crisis,” but the new title has been changed to, “US fears regional impact.” The piece did not include an editor’s note about the change.