Catalans successfully evacuated from war zone in Ethiopia

Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso)The Catalan and Spanish tourists who had been trapped in Ethiopia by the Fano militia uprising in the Amhara region were successfully evacuated. This was confirmed to ARA by the tourists' families. A military helicopter picked them up and took them to the city of Bahir Dar, from where they were then flown to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The group has already booked return tickets to Catalonia. "We don't yet have the flight details, but they will most likely arrive in Spain via a European layover on Monday morning," said Jonás Baños, director of the Kananga travel agency.

"I spoke with my mother by text message, and she told me they are already in a hotel in Bahir Dar," Mar, daughter of Núria, one of the trapped tourists, told ARA. "All I know is that they are doing well now," Mar explained, sounding more relieved. She added that the last few days had been a nightmare. The Barcelona-based travel agency that organized the trip had also confirmed early Friday morning that the evacuation operation was imminent. The rescue finally took place Friday morning, and according to Baños, by Friday afternoon they were in a safer area under Ethiopian government control, resting "in a very nice hotel." They are expected to fly home on Monday, with a layover in either Rome or Frankfurt.

The Amhara region, where this group of tourists is currently located, has been considered a "high-risk" area and "to be avoided" by tourists since August 2nd. On August 4th, the Ethiopian Parliament declared a state of emergency in this northwestern region of the country after the Fano militia gained control. It was around this time that the van carrying the Catalan tourists was stopped on the road by members of this militia, and they had to move to accommodation, where they have now been trapped for eight days. Through their families and contacts with the press, the tourists had reported their precarious situation, the food shortages, and their concern about running out of medicine.

Tensions with the central government

Fano is an Amhara militia that had supported the federal army and the Amhara Special Force—a regional paramilitary force—during the civil conflict that began in November 2020 in the Tigray region, which borders the Amhara region, where tourists are located. It was only six months ago that the ceasefire was declared and the peace agreements were signed in Pretoria, South Africa, on November 3, 2022.

Tension in the Amhara region—the Amhara ethnic group is the second largest in the country, after the Oromo—has been growing, with regional militias attempting to integrate into the regular government.

The Prime Minister of the country and 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Abiy AhmedFano, who belongs to the Oromo ethnic group, the majority in the country, wanted to create a unified army and avoid the risk of any ethnic region repeating the secession attempt made by Tigre in 2020. But the Fano militia, which has the support of the local Amhara population, and which had fought alongside the federal army during the conflict of 2020, prevented it.

A region in conflict

Several months after the Peace Accords signed in Pretoria, South Africa, which ended two years of war in the Tigre region of northern Ethiopia, the FANO militias have risen up against the Ethiopian federal army in the Amhara region. The FANO are informal, grassroots militias that lack a formal structure but rely on a large number of volunteers. Last week, Abiy Ahmed declared a state of emergency in the region and announced curfews in several cities.

Ahmed Abiy, leader of the Prosperity Party, came to power in April 2018. In May of the same year, he signed a peace agreement with Eritrea (a border conflict that has lasted since it federated with the Ethiopian Empire in 1952) for which he was awarded the No. 2 Prize in November 2020, and with the support of both the Eritrean army and the gendarmerie and militias of the Amahara and Afar regions, Abiy occupied the Tigre region and clashed with the Tigre People's Liberation Front (TPLF). However, the Amhara militias, which also included the FANLO, fought for their own interests and occupied West Tiger, a territory still disputed and claimed by both ethnic groups. Human Rights Watch reported that Amhara security forces had committed war crimes and ethnic cleansing against the population of West Tiger. At least 600,000 people were killed in just two years, and thousands more were forced to seek refuge in neighboring Sudan. Ethiopia is a state organized through ethnic federalism. This means that each region is defined by the majority ethnic groups, although many others exist. The Constitution, which came into effect in 1995, recognizes that each region has its own government, reflecting its identity, and even its own police force.

The Spanish embassy in Addis Ababa updated its travel recommendations for this East African country on August 2nd. It is currently considered a "high-risk" area and "to be avoided." Jonás Baños, director of the Kananga Agency, had told EFE that they had "no warning that this could happen" and that it was not the first time they had traveled this route.