Ethiopia’s carrier cancels flights to Tigray region
Ethiopia’s national carrier cancelled flights to and from the troubled northern region of Tigray, as fears grow of renewed fighting between federal troops and regional forces. For a second day, Ethiopian Airlines wasn’t flying to Tigray on Friday, with customers receiving messages that cited “unplanned circumstances.” The carrier issued no public statement. Ethiopian authorities also didn’t comment.
A high-ranking official in the security service told The Associated Press on Thursday that the suspension of flight services to Tigray was “linked to a new conflict between federal troops and the regional forces.” The official, who wasn’t authorised to speak to a reporter and requested anonymity, said that “drones are hovering in the sky and there are military movements in western and southern Tigray.”
With flights suspended, some people are starting to flee Tigray by car. Solomon Tadesse in Mekele, the Tigrayan capital, said that he arrived early Friday to buy a bus ticket to Addis Ababa, the federal capital. But he found out that bookings were at full capacity and he won’t be able to depart until Tuesday. “I don’t want to face the hardships I went through in (the) past war,” he said.
Tensions have been rising in Tigray three years after Ethiopia’s federal Government signed a peace deal to end the war there. The 2022 peace agreement ended two years of fighting that left an estimated hundreds of thousands of people dead. Now, Tigray’s rulers accuse the federal Government of “openly breaching” that agreement after a drone strike hit its forces last year.
And Ethiopia’s Government accuses Eritrea of mobilising and funding armed groups in Tigray, which shares a border with Eritrea. Some residents of Mekele lined up for hours on Thursday and Friday to withdraw cash from ATMs or purchase goods, fearing a return to armed conflict. “I have been waiting the whole day to withdraw cash from the bank, but halfway I was told the bank has run out of banknotes,” said Bereket Ghessese in Mekele.
Genet Berhane, a resident of the Tigrayan town of Adigrat, said that she was lining up outside a commercial bank on Friday. “I came here at 5.30 early in the morning to withdraw banknotes. I am still waiting,” she said by phone. “The ATMs have run out of cash.” Even in Addis Ababa, some said that they were worried. “This time Ethiopia deserves peace,” resident Gizachew Belay said.
