Flights to Ethiopia's Tigray region canceled amid fears of conflict

Addis Ababa, Jan 29 (EFE).- Ethiopian Airlines, Ethiopia’s flag carrier and the largest airline in Africa, canceled on Thursday all flights to Tigray, northern Ethiopia, amid fears of a renewed conflict in the region.

Tigray suffered a devastating war from 2020 to 2022, and the cancellations follow clashes this week between the national Army and fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Although the airline did not issue an official statement, company sources in Tigray confirmed to EFE that all flights from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababaairports in the region, including Mekelle, had been canceled.

An Ethiopian Airlines employee, who requested to remain anonymous and works at Alula Abanega Airport in Mekelle, told EFE by phone that she and her colleagues do not know the reason for the suspension.

“We don’t know why. They just told us to stay home for today,” the employee said.

However, a security source informed EFE that the suspension is linked to the fighting that erupted two days ago between the Federal Army and Tigray forces.

“Flights are suspended because there are drones flying over the Tigray region,” the source explained.

Clashes have been reported in the Tselemti district, in western Tigray, a disputed area where the central government plans to resolve a long-standing contention between the Amhara and Tigray regions through a referendum.

Long lines have also been observed at banks in towns and cities across Tigray as residents fear that another war may be imminent and are desperate to withdraw cash.

Resident Helen Wolday waited in line at Mekelle’s main commercial bank but returned home empty-handed.

“I have been waiting all day to withdraw cash from the bank, but I couldn’t get any because of the long queue,” Helen told EFE by phone. “The ATMs have run out of cash,” she added.

Public Concern Spreads Unease is widespread among the population. “We are worried about the situation and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” Kidanemariam Hailu, a 47-year-old resident of Shire in northwestern Tigray, told EFE.

“Tigray could become a battlefield for a second time,” Kidanemariam warned.

In Addis Ababa, nearly 800 kilometers from Mekelle, fears of a new conflict are also growing. “Ethiopia deserves peace this time,” said Wondimagegn Mamo, a resident of the capital, after hearing the news about the fighting in the north.

“If war breaks out again,” he warned, “the result will be destruction.”

The recent clashes come amid fears that the situation could escalate into a war that indirectly involves neighboring Eritrea, which Addis Ababa accuses of funding armed groups, particularly, the TPLF forces.

Eritrea, for its part, also accuses Ethiopia of preparing for war over its ambition to regain access to the Red Sea.

The president of the interim administration of Tigray, Lieutenant General Tadesse Worede, warned a couple of months ago that “the existing situation is complicated. There is a visible cloud of war.”

Given this scenario, Zeray Hailemariam, a political science expert, expressed his concern about the possibility of a new conflict.

“If Tigray and the federal government, as well as both countries (Ethiopia and Eritrea), enter into an open war, there will be more massive displacements, a major collapse of social services, and a humanitarian crisis more devastating than the previous one in Tigray,” Zeray told EFE.

The Tigray war began on November 4, 2020, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive against the TPLF (the party that then governed the region), in response to an attack on a federal military base and following an escalation of political tensions.

The conflict ended in 2022 with a peace agreement signed in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital. However, the agreement has proven difficult to implement.

According to the African Union mediator in the conflict, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, at least 600,000 people died in the war. EFE

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