The rescue of the group of 18 tourists and their guide, most of them Catalan, trapped in a roadside hostel in northeastern Ethiopia for nine days, is delayed.
Their evacuation, scheduled for this morning, has been postponed until this afternoon or tomorrow, according to local sources, due to work to secure the highway to the city of Bahr Dir, 90 kilometers to the south.
Although the road is practically under military control, the Ethiopian troops remove various elements such as blocks of rocks or burnt-out cars that block the way and are a risk point in the face of a possible ambush.
The Spanish travelers, who left on July 28 for Ethiopia, have been blocked in the African country since August 2, when they found themselves in a crossfire between the Ethiopian army and the Fano rebel militias, a guerrilla group of Amhara volunteers fighting the government. .
Mayte Gimeno, one of the tourists in the group confined to the hostel, confirmed this morning to this newspaper that the army continues to control the village where they are, after the withdrawal yesterday afternoon of the Amhara militiamen.
“A while ago the army passed through the town. It has entered the same as yesterday, walking and without shots. We are waiting for the consul to let us know when the road to Bahir Dar is safe because it seems that there is some middle point that is still controversial”.
Once the security corridor was opened, the group could reach the city of Bahir Dir in barely an hour. Miquel Ribas, the director of the Kananga travel agency, specialized in African routes by truck and head of the group, is confident that it will be a matter of hours before they can free their clients and employees.
“It seems that it is a matter of hours, but we must be prudent because the situation is delicate. The army is doing the final security checks and we hope they can get out of there this afternoon or tomorrow morning at the latest.”
In Bahir Dir, tourists already have reserved rooms at the Kuriftu Resort so they can recover from more than a week in a hostel with poor sanitation, no running water, fleas and an interior patio where goats and chickens live . If the planned plan is fulfilled, the Barcelona travel agency hopes to be able to bring the group back to Spain between Sunday and Monday.
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 relationship had broken with the Government. The recent offer by the Executive of Addis Ababa to dissolve the regional special forces and integrate their members into the army was understood by the rebel side as a government attempt to control and dissolve the Amhara faction.
Since coming to power in 2018 in the second most populous country in Africa, with 116 million inhabitants, the Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ahmed Abiy, has dealt with several violent revolts, in addition to the bloody war with the Tigrays. from North.
