Ethiopian Airlines scrubs Amhara flights as crisis escalates

Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa) has reportedly cancelled flights from Addis Ababa to Gondar and Bahar Dar in Ethiopia’s Amhara state after both airports were targeted by rocket fire on November 13, 2020, in the wake of skirmishes between Ethiopia’s National Defence Force and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). This is according to a report by Reuters, quoting an Ethiopian Airlines worker who did not wish to be named. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Ethiopian Airlines was scheduled to operate 3x daily flights between Addis and Gondar; and 6x daily flights between Addis and Bahar Dar with a DHC-8-Q400. According to Flightradar 24 data, the airline’s flight ET 168 was cancelled on November 11, while ET 124 and ET 114 last landed on November 13. ET 168 was rescheduled from November 16, with ET114 and ET 124 rescheduled from November 17. Ethiopian’s flights to Bahar Dar also appear to be interrupted, according to Flightradar24, with unknown status filed between November 11 and November 16, with normal schedules resuming on November 17. Amhara state, where the airports are located, neighbours Tigray, where federal troops are fighting local TPLF. Citing the Gondar Central Zone spokesperson, Awoke Worku, Reuters reported that Gondar airport was partially damaged after it was hit by a rocket late on November 13, while a second one fired simultaneously landed just outside of the airport at Bahar Dar. BBC News reported fighting between forces loyal to the federal government headed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the TPLF has claimed hundreds of lives and is threatening to rip the country apart. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the national defence force on an offensive against local troops in Tigray last week, after accusing them of attacking federal troops. The Amhara regional state’s forces have been fighting alongside their federal counterparts against the TPLF fighters. The United Nations and the African Union have expressed concern that the fighting could spread to other parts of Ethiopia, potentially destabilising the wider Horn of Africa region. Tigray’s President Debretsion Gebremichael confirmed on November 15 that TPLF forces had fired missiles at Asmara airport in Eritrea on Saturday claiming attacks by Eritrean forces “on several fronts” for the past few days. More than 14,500 people have fled into neighbouring Sudan, with the speed of new arrivals “overwhelming the current capacity to provide aid,” the UN refugee agency said. Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission, appointed by the government but independent, said it was sending a team of investigators to the town of Mai Kadra in Tigray, where Amnesty International this week reported what it said was evidence of mass killings. The commission would investigate any human rights violations in the conflict, it said in a statement.