Flights to Ethiopia’s Lalibela Suspended as Fighting Spreads; Tigray Residents Brace for New War
Sept 24 (Reuters) – Flights to Lalibela, the historic Ethiopian town famed for its medieval rock-hewn churches, were suspended Thursday as fighting flared nearby, according to four diplomats, two local residents and a source linked to the TPLF and the allied Fano militia.
The suspension underscored how quickly the conflict has spread beyond Tigray, where residents were hoarding food and withdrawing cash, worried that renewed fighting could ignite another major war in Africa’s second most populous country.
Tigrayan forces seized three local airports and, with allies, launched attacks this week in the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, marking the most serious escalation since the 2020–22 war between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopian government troops. That conflict killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Ethiopia’s military, in its first public remarks on the latest fighting, said Thursday it had foiled the attacks and killed, wounded or captured more than 500 enemy fighters.
The United Nations and European Union urged both sides to exercise restraint and return to the African Union-brokered peace process that ended the earlier war.
Addis Ababa has accused the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before losing power, of launching a major offensive. TPLF leaders say they entered a defensive war to counter aggression by the federal government, which they say has used drones, artillery and ground forces against them.
A renewed war in Tigray could further destabilize the Horn of Africa, a region already strained by deteriorating ties between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sudan’s civil war, disputes over access to the Red Sea and spillover from conflicts in the Middle East.
Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Amhara, sits on key routes into northern Ethiopia and is known worldwide for its rock-hewn churches. Flights were halted Thursday as fighting intensified, the sources said.
“There is fighting around the town but not inside it yet,” one diplomatic source said, citing local contacts. A resident said earlier that people in Lalibela were rushing to withdraw cash.
In Mekelle, Tigray’s capital, Tigrayan forces patrolled the streets while drones buzzed overhead, a resident said. People were stockpiling food and taking cash out of banks, the resident added.
The resident, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said many feared they could face siege-like conditions similar to those during the previous war.
In Adigrat, another town close to the Eritrean border, a resident described panic-buying and shops emptying. “Food shortages are worsening as market shelves sit empty,” he said. “Essential medicines remain scarce and astronomically expensive. Daily survival has become a constant calculation.”
Both residents said they had seen young people forced to join the war effort, spreading fear among the wider population. “I know an 18-year-old boy who lost his father in the last war, and they took him by force,” the Adigrat resident said, referring to TPLF recruitment. The TPLF has previously denied conducting forced recruitment.
De-escalation Needed
During the 2020–22 war, Tigray was largely cut off from the outside world. Communications were severed and access to food, cash and medicine was severely restricted, pushing hundreds of thousands of people into famine-like conditions.
The TPLF has said it acted in self-defense to protect the people of Tigray from what it calls a full-scale aggression by the government, using ground troops backed by warplanes, drones and artillery.
A government official told Reuters the TPLF had carried out a premeditated assault on civilian infrastructure but stressed that the door to dialogue remained open for any groups that laid down their arms.
Lieutenant General Assefa Chekol, commander of Ethiopia’s North East Command, said the TPLF offensive had been repelled, with 272 attackers killed and another 260 wounded. Reuters was unable to verify the figures. A TPLF spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
After the last war, splits emerged within the TPLF, and a hardline faction reasserted control over the region last year, ejecting an interim administration. Ethiopia’s military has since carried out a series of drone strikes in Tigray.
More recently, the TPLF formed an alliance with six other armed groups from across Ethiopia, including former wartime enemies, aimed at overthrowing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The government has accused Eritrea of financially backing members of the alliance, allegations Asmara has denied.
“Immediate de-escalation is needed,” the EU said in a statement, noting military actions by both sides. “Differences can only be resolved through dialogue and not military action.”
(Reporting by Ammu Kannampilly; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Alex Richardson)