Ethiopia's national carrier cancels flights to Tigray region as fears grow of renewed fighting

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s national carrier canceled 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 authorized 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 mobilizing 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. “No one will benefit from war.”

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has presented a forceful stance in recent months as his landlocked country seeks greater access to the sea through Eritrea.

Ethiopia lost sovereign access to the Red Sea when Eritrea seceded in 1993 after decades of guerrilla warfare.

Abiy’s rhetoric has at times been seen as provocative. In September, he said that Ethiopia's loss of sea access through Eritrea’s secession was a “mistake” that “will be corrected.”

The bulk of Ethiopia’s trade now goes now through Djibouti, incurring high port fees.

Eritrea and Ethiopia initially made peace after Abiy came to power in 2018, winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in that direction. He then teamed up with Eritrea for the devastating war against the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, the group that administers the region.

This time, Eritrea could team up with the TPLF against Ethiopian federal troops.

In May, Ethiopian electoral authorities deregistered the TPLF, accusing it of failing to hold a general assembly. TPLF said that the move was a violation of the 2022 deal.

In June, Eritrea accused Ethiopia of having a “long-brewing war agenda” aimed at seizing its Red Sea ports.

Ethiopia recently said that Eritrea was “actively preparing to wage war against it.”

A political and security alliance between the TPLF and President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea apparently ”is in the making," said Kjetil Tronvoll, a professor of peace and conflict studies at the University of Oslo.

“The potential war theater is thus radically changed from what we saw in (the) 2020-2022 war, (when) Tigray was effectively surrounded by enemy forces," Tronvoll said. "This time, they will potentially have an open supply line and a support base provided by Eritrea, in addition to likely troops reinforcements.”

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