Ethiopian airlines cancels flights to Amhara region over escalation of violence

GOOBJOOG NEWS | ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia has cancelled flights to two cities in the Amhara region due to an escalation of clashes between federal troops and local fighters in the northern region.

Britain and Spain have issued security warnings to their nationals with the UK’s Foreign Office saying that the Amhara militia Fano had taken over the airport in Lalibela, a Unesco World Heritage site.

“Flights to Gondar and Lalibela airports have been suspended,” Ethiopian Airlines Spokesman Ashenafi Zeray told AFP by phone, adding that he did not know the reason for the cancellations.

He said flights to Lalibela — a tourist town famous for its 12th and 13th century rock-cut churches — were cancelled on Tuesday afternoon.

He could not specify when the airline took similar action in the case of Gondar.

The federal government’s decision in April to dismantle regional forces established by some states prompted violent protests in Amhara, with Amhara nationalists claiming the move would weaken Ethiopia’s second most populous region.