Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Tuesday, days after pausing service amid fresh clashes between regional and federal forces that stirred fears the country could slide back toward conflict.
An airline official confirmed the restart, restoring a vital air link to a region still emerging from a two-year war that ended in late 2022. The carrier did not immediately provide additional operational details, but the move suggests authorities judge conditions stable enough to allow commercial traffic, at least for now.
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The resumption follows a week of heightened tension in and around Tigray. Diplomatic and government sources reported clashes in the disputed western part of the region last week, an area that has remained one of the most sensitive flashpoints since the war formally halted. On Saturday, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said drone strikes in Tigray killed one person and injured another, underscoring the fragility of the postwar calm.
Ethiopia’s national army battled fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front for two years until a peace pact in November 2022. Researchers say hundreds of thousands died during the conflict, not only from direct violence but also from the collapse of healthcare and widespread hunger. While the agreement stopped large-scale fighting, core disputes have festered, including control of contested territories in western Tigray and the pace of disarmament for Tigrayan forces.
The airline’s decision to fly again into Tigray will be closely watched by aid agencies, businesses and families divided by years of disruption. Air connectivity is a barometer of security in Ethiopia’s north; previous flight suspensions have tended to mirror on-the-ground risk assessments by authorities and carriers.
The latest incidents have rekindled questions about the durability of the 2022 peace deal and whether political negotiations can resolve unresolved territorial and security issues. Western Tigray, a fertile and strategically important area, remains at the heart of those tensions, with rival claims complicating efforts to entrench a lasting settlement.
For residents, the return of flights could ease travel and support the flow of goods and services after years of isolation. But the reported clashes and drone strikes highlight the volatility that still shadows Tigray and adjacent areas, and the risk that isolated flare-ups could escalate without careful management and consistent dialogue.
Key developments:
- Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to the Tigray region on Tuesday after a brief suspension prompted by security concerns.
- Clashes were reported last week in disputed western Tigray, according to diplomatic and government sources.
- Drone strikes in Tigray on Saturday killed one person and injured another, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said.
- A 2022 peace pact ended a two-year war between the national army and Tigrayan forces, but disputes persist over territory and disarmament.
As flights restart, attention turns to whether political leaders can defuse tensions in western Tigray and accelerate steps laid out in the peace agreement, including disarmament benchmarks. The coming days will test if Tuesday’s aviation green light is the start of steadier normalization—or a pause between bouts of instability in one of the Horn of Africa’s most contested regions.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
