NAIROBI: Ethiopian Airlines on Tuesday canceled flights to Bahir Dar, the capital of Amhara, announcing it would not fly to any airports in the region following clashes between local fighters and federal troops.
Last week, the national carrier canceled flights to three other airports in the northern region.
The escalation in violence in Amhara prompted Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government to declare a six-month state of emergency there last week.
“Flights planned for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to Dessie (Kombolcha), Gondar, Lalibela and Bahir Dar have been canceled,” Ethiopian Airlines said.
The fresh unrest in Africa’s second most populous country comes just nine months after the end of a devastating two-year war in the neighboring region of Tigray.
That war also drew in fighters from Amhara.
Tensions have been rising since April, when the federal government announced it was dismantling regional forces across Ethiopia.
That triggered protests by Amhara nationalists who said the move would weaken their region.
The clashes have prompted travel warnings from foreign governments.
Residents of several towns in Amhara told AFP that fighters from the local Fano militia were facing off against federal forces.
Tesfahun, a resident of Bahir Dar, told AFP on Tuesday he had heard artillery fire “non-stop around the airport roads” until midnight on Monday.
“This morning there were gunshots around Lideta 14,” a neighborhood near the airport, he said.
“People are indoors. (There is) no movement.”
Simachew, a rickshaw driver in Gondar, told AFP: “Things are really bad here. Aside from gunfire, there is heavy artillery in the city.”
“It’s really scary even staying indoors because the heavy sounds are just horrific... I don’t know how this will end,” he added.
Tourist Inma De Blas said she was part of a group of 19 Spaniards stranded between Bahir Dar and Gondar.
While they were on the road, “somebody told our driver to stop the van,” she told AFP by phone.
“Suddenly we heard a lot of shooting, we saw people putting big stones and wood on the road to block it. We were afraid,” she said.
When the gunfire eased, they made their way to a small hotel, where they are awaiting further guidance from the Spanish embassy.
“We cannot go to Bahir Dar, we cannot go to Gondar, we cannot go anywhere,” their Spanish guide told AFP.
The situation in Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its 12th- and 13th-century rock-hewn churches, was “calmer,” a resident said.
“We can hear gunshots here and there but it wasn’t like yesterday morning,” he said.
Fano fighters took over the city and Lalibela airport last week.
The authorities said at the weekend they had arrested people responsible for “the security crisis” in Amhara.
The World Health Organization has said the violence has made humanitarian operations difficult.
The United States has “expressed concern” about the clashes, while Australia, Britain and Spain have advised their citizens against traveling to Amhara.
