Decisive hours for the rescue of the group of 18 tourists and their guide, the vast majority Catalan, trapped in a roadside hostel in northwestern Ethiopia.
Early in the afternoon, the Ethiopian army recovered its positions and occupied the village where the group of travelers is confined, a fact that opens the way for their possible evacuation to the city of Bahir Dar, 80 kilometers to the south and which has an airport. .
The travelers have been blocked in the African country for eight days, when they found themselves in a crossfire between the Ethiopian army and the Fano rebel militias at a midpoint on the route from the cities of Gondar to Bahir Dahr
"The army has just peacefully entered the town and is ensuring control of the highway," Inma de Blas, one of the tourists in the group, confirmed to this newspaper, organized by the Barcelona agency Kananga, which specializes in African travel.
The volatility in the area requires prudence before the resolution of a desperate situation for the group of Spaniards. In fact, yesterday the military left the village after a few hours of reconnaissance and the authorities advised Spanish tourists not to leave their rooms for security reasons.
This morning, De Blas pointed out the uncertainty with which the group has lived for a week. “We are worried, because nobody gives us any deadline to get us out of here. It's maddening. We have no information. From the Spanish embassy they prescribe patience and calm, but we have been locked up for more than a week and nothing moves, the situation is complicated ”.
Although the group appears cohesive and many of its members are seasoned travelers, one of its members suffers from heart disease and only has medication until next Monday or Tuesday, and among them is a minor, 13 years old.
In addition to the shootings and the sight of at least two corpses, the presence in the building of uniformed rebels with Kalashnikovs who sometimes go to eat at the hostel's restaurant had also caused nervousness among the group, although there have been no threats and treatment. of the armed men has been correct.
The sanitation conditions in the hostel, with no running water and an interior patio with goats and chickens, are poor and have already caused cases of mild diarrhea among Spanish tourists, who are generally in good health and eat pasta, potatoes, rice, eggs and injera, a typical Ethiopian bread.
“In the hostel there are fleas and hygiene is very poor, we have not been able to shower in more than a week, but we are safe -explains De Blas-; In addition, the family that owns the establishment treats us very well. The worst thing is not knowing when we can get out of here.”
The incident in which the group of Spanish tourists was trapped, as well as other groups of various nationalities throughout the region, sparked last week after days of tensions between the Fano militia and the Ethiopian army.
Although the Amhara group, the second largest ethnic group in the country, fought alongside regular troops in the war against the Tigray People's Liberation Front between 2020 and 2022, the Addis Ababa executive's offer to dissolve the regional special forces and integrating its members into the army was seen as a government attempt to control and dissolve the Amhara faction.
Yesterday the government of the Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ahmed Abiy, assured that it had recovered part of the territory won by the Fano group, which was advancing towards the capital.
Noelia Bertran, the group's guide, urged the authorities to react quickly because if the situation worsens, they will have no room to react.
“I hope they get us out of here soon. We can't even leave the hotel, we're sure for now, but the problem is that the situation can explode at any moment. If the battle returns here we are in the middle of a crossfire and that would be dangerous. We are waiting and it is desperate.”
Yesterday the national airline, Ethiopian Airlines, opened a silver lining to a solution by announcing that today Thursday it would resume flights to the country's capital, Addis Ababa, from the Gondar and Bahir Dar airports, despite the fact that it had suspended connections from Lalibela. and Dessie.
The group of tourists is in a small town about 90 kilometers north of Bahir Dar, just over an hour's flight from the international airport of the Ethiopian capital. If the evacuation could not take place by plane, the option by land would mean more than 500 kilometers on roads in very poor condition and that, under normal conditions and without the controls of the current emergency situation, it would take even two days to travel.
Despite the fact that the Spanish embassy in Ethiopia assured that there were warnings that the area was not safe, the director of the Kananga agency, Miquel Ribas, flatly denies it. “Until the 4th, when they updated the situation on the web, there was no notice advising against visiting that region.
There were warnings for the Tigray area in the north, but where everything has happened is the most touristic area in the country and the proof is that there are several more tourist groups in the region." Ribas denounces that from the Spanish embassy the only recipe is to "wait, wait and wait" and time is short. “The situation is getting worse and we don't know how to solve it. It is not a question of money, if you could charter a plane or organize a convoy, we would have done it already, but it is about getting everyone out safely."
From the hotel, Inma de Blas flatly rejects accusing the group of being irresponsible for visiting an unsafe area. “I am very outraged that it is insinuated that we are bold or unconscious. Before coming we informed ourselves and there was no official warning not to visit the area. That is not true. I think the authorities wash their hands and point at us. We know that the situation is complicated, but we have not done anything wrong”.
From Exteriors de la Generalitat, which is closely following the case, psychological help was offered yesterday to tourists trapped in Ethiopia both during the next few days and on their expected return home.
