BBC NEWS
In Summary
- The passengers have alleged police at the city’s airport have barred anyone between the ages of 16 and 64 from boarding flights, without explanation, unless they are traveling for medical reasons.
- A federal police spokesperson said he was unaware of the allegations while a senior official at Ethiopian Airlines, the national carrier, told the BBC that the airline does not discriminate against travellers.
Passengers in the capital of northern Ethiopia’s Tigray province, Mekelle, have told the BBC that they were restricted from flying to the federal capital, Addis Ababa.
The passengers have alleged police at the city’s airport have barred anyone between the ages of 16 and 64 from boarding flights, without explanation, unless they are traveling for medical reasons.
A federal police spokesperson said he was unaware of the allegations while a senior official at Ethiopian Airlines, the national carrier, told the BBC that the airline does not discriminate against travellers.
Much of Tigray had been sealed off from the outside world for more than a year and a half before the deal was agreed in November in South Africa.
Basic services including electricity, phone lines and flights are slowly returning to the region.
The TPLF leadership have betrayed Tigray and submitted to the dictates of Isias Afewerki through his puppet Abiy Ahmed. The sacrifices of almost a million Tigrayans for independent and free Tigray in the last 2 years has not been considered in the so called Isaias imposed peace agreement. The Tigray people will not accept this agreement of humiliation and betrayal and will continue to struggle to restore their old, civilized and modern nation of Tigray.
It is common sense not to be complacency in any security threats posed by certain in violent individuals and groups a this point , but the government’s action is haphazard, erratic and after thoughts at best. This measures should have been thought carefully and put in place from the beginning of everything l including before flights bound for Tigrai started