18 Spanish tourists remain trapped in Ethiopia due to armed clashes

A group of 18 Spanish tourists has been trapped in northern Ethiopia for five days due to the armed conflict between the military and armed groups in the region. At the moment, they cannot find a way to leave the country since the airports remain inoperative and road communications suffer constant blockades. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assured that the Spanish Embassy in Addis Ababa is in “permanent contact” with the Spaniards trapped in the Amhara region and that they are trying to coordinate with the Ethiopian authorities, international organizations and other embassies a safe exit from the area. .

The tour group is staying in a pension. Among them is Isabel Guerrero, a 50-year-old from Madrid, who maintains in a telephone conversation with this newspaper that “things look pretty bad” since at the moment, she assures, they cannot leave or return to their homes.

“Last night we heard shots nearby,” says Guerrero, who works as an audiovisual producer and fears being the target of crossfire since the place where they have been staying for days is in the middle of the conflict zone, in the territory of the Fano militia. “Through our window we have seen people transporting the dead and soldiers armed with Kalashnikov rifles,” she says, adding that the agency with which they contracted the trip, Kananga, did not warn them that traveling to Ethiopia was unsafe. She also details that the sanitary conditions are “very deficient” and that there are “digestive problems”. This newspaper has tried to collect the version of the travel agency, which refers to the fact that it will publish a statement for the media.

Since Friday, August 4, the Amhara region —located in northern Ethiopia— has declared a state of emergency due to the situation of extreme insecurity, especially in the cities of Lalibela, Gondar, Debre Tabot, Bahir Dar, Adis Zemen and surroundings. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recommended that all travelers avoid traveling in the area and, if they are in the region, that they stay in their hotels and contact the embassy. The airports of Lalibela, Gondar and Desse remain inoperative and road communications suffer constant blockages.

The group of 18 Spaniards is staying in a pension where they sought refuge when they were surprised by armed clashes between the State security forces and the Fano militias. The sister of one of the Spanish women trapped in Ethiopia claims to be very worried. “We don’t even know where they are,” laments Nieves Jiménez in a telephone conversation with EL PAÍS. “Luckily there is a lady in the house (the boarding house where they are staying) who cooks for them, but they are in subhuman conditions,” she adds, with a lack of hygiene and a lack of drinking water. Her sister traveled alone from Barcelona to the African country and has been there, after five days “held” with the rest of the group, among them, she says, “a child under 13 years of age.”

Despite its conflict, the area is one of the most touristy in Ethiopia, and there are more groups of Europeans -especially Italians and French- trapped in various locations. The Spanish tourists were taking a route with Kananga, a Barcelona-based travel agency that organizes truck routes through 30 countries in Africa. A company spokesman explained to Efe that the group has “sufficient” water and food, they are in good condition, that the company is in “permanent contact” with the travelers and their Spanish guide, as well as with the Embassy. Spanish, which has recommended that they not provide any details about the group or their situation for security reasons.

What affects the most is what happens closer. To not miss anything, subscribe.

subscribe

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recommended that Spaniards remain in the establishment where they are staying and not try to leave it, given the extremely dangerous roads. According to a Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, the Spanish Embassy, ​​in addition to maintaining telephone contact with the Spaniards since this crisis began, has contacted local authorities, international organizations with a presence in the area and the diplomatic representations of countries that have citizens in the same situation to “look for a coordinated exit” of which he did not want to offer details. The same spokesperson recalled that, according to the ministry’s travel recommendations, you should not travel to these regions of Ethiopia due to their lack of security.

Northern Ethiopia had previously suffered other armed conflicts, including the war in the Ethiopian region of Tigray that ended less than a year ago with the peace agreement in Pretoria (South Africa). Now, the neighboring state of Amhara has entered a spiral of violence that has culminated in the outbreak of fighting between the security forces and the Fano militias, an armed group that represents the weariness of the local population in the face of what they perceive as a political of discrimination from the federal government. After months of clashes, the fighting has intensified in recent days, after the militias took control of the airport in the city of Lalibela.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

#Spanish #tourists #remain #trapped #Ethiopia #due #armed #clashes