U.S. Urges Americans to Quit Ethiopia as Rebels Gain. By JANE PERLEZ Published: April 27, 1991

U.S. Urges Americans to Quit Ethiopia as Rebels Gain

By JANE PERLEZ

Published: April 27, 1991

With rebel forces only 65 miles from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and dispirited Government troops heading back toward the city, the United States advised all Americans today to leave the country as it appeared to be falling into anarchy.

In what seemed to be an act of defiance toward the advancing rebels, the President, Lieut. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, shuffled his Cabinet. He dropped his Vice President, Fissehaye Desta, who comes from the same ethnic group as one of the rebel groups, and promoted Foreign Minister Tesfaye Dinka, who has tried to present an acceptable face to Western governments, to Prime Minister.

The rebels have made it clear that they will accept little short of Colonel Mengistu's departure.

The atmosphere in the capital was described by Ethiopians and Westerners as outwardly calm but tense. Those reached by telephone from Nairobi expressed concern about the growing number of arms in the city. Retrained Troops Deploy

Several thousand former soldiers and policemen who were given three weeks of retraining south of the capital this month have now returned to take up positions as a kind of militia against the rebels, a Western official said.

Leaders of neighborhood associations, known as kebeles, that serve as the eyes of the Government were armed long ago. There were reports today that kebele leaders were now passing out weapons to their members.

Also adding to the atmosphere of potential violence was the Government's announcement today of a new campaign center to be headed by a top official of the ruling party. The center is presumably intended to manage the mobilization of all able-bodied men and women over the age of 18 announced in a resolution adopted this week by the National Assembly, Western officials said.

The advice for Americans to leave Ethiopia came after the town of Ambo, 65 miles west of Addis Ababa, fell in midweek to the rebels of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front. The front is composed mostly of fighters from the province of Tigre who have been trying to unseat Colonel Mengistu since he came to power in 1977, three years after Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown.

From the town of Ambo the rebels had a virtually a clear ride into Addis Ababa, Western officials said. But they added that it was not clear that the rebels would attack the capital. Rather, they said, the rebels seemed intent on encircling Addis Ababa and forcing either a coup or internal violence that they could use to their advantage.

The American charge d'affaires in Addis Ababa, Robert Houdek, told about 150 Americans at a meeting at the embassy today that the fall of Ambo made the possibility of violence in the city more likely, one of those in the audience said.

The embassy estimates that there are 600 Americans in Ethiopia, most of them humanitarian aid workers and missionaries. The embassy staff has been reduced from 80 to 25 in the last weeks, Mr. Houdek told the meeting.

The worsening situation comes after hope in the last 10 days that some accommodation could be reached between the rebels and the Government to end Africa's longest civil war. Peace Proposal Rejected

Last Friday in a televised speech, President Mengistu rejected a peace proposal by a prominent Ethiopian academic, Mesfin Wolde Mariam, that the Government be replaced by a council of elders representing many groups.

This week, the National Assembly passed a two-part resolution that some thought might lead to negotiations. The Assembly said a transitional arrangement should be worked out in consultation with opposition forces. But the resolution pointedly excluded the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which has been fighting for 30 years for the independence of Eritrea province.

The second part of the resolution is what the Government now appears to be trying to put into play: the mobilization of all healthy adults. It is doubtful, however, whether the Government has the power to bring about such a move.

Two Washington officials, Irving Hicks, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, and Robert Frasure, a member of the National Security Council, are due in Addis Ababa this weekend. They are expected to meet with senior members of the Mengistu Government and urge the need for a negotiating position that might garner more positive responses from the rebels.

On Monday, Mr. Frasure is scheduled to be in Khartoum, the Sudan, to meet with Issaias Afewerki, leader of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, and Melese Zenawi, leader of the Tigrean People's Liberation Front.