Passengers arrived at Mekelle Airport in Ethiopia on Sunday October 11, for the first time in nearly three weeks
Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to the capital of the northern Tigray region after the rebel Tigray people’s liberation front (TOLF) seized the city and airport on September 23. The airline also stopped routes to Axum and Hire.
The restoration of flights comes after federal forces recaptured Mekelle with rebel fighters and their leaders abandoning the city. A former Tigray leader now advising Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed promised visible change in the region.
The civil war caused about half a million civilian deaths from violence, famine and the collapse of health services, according to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium.
