Ethiopian Airlines has stopped flying to Eritrea

Ethiopian Airlines (EA) has suspended its flights to and from Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, citing “operational difficulties” that have not been resolved.

The article was expected after the Eritrean government announced in February (7) that the airline will not be allowed to operate in that country again after the end of this month.

The state-owned company, Africa’s largest airline, had been in talks with the authorities in Asmara for some time in an attempt to find solutions to their problems.

Air travel between the two countries had returned only six years ago, after a 20-year hiatus, and it was a great sign of reviving the good relations between the countries that have a history of sharing.

EA, the only airline that operates the route between Asmara and Addis Ababa, said customers affected by the incident would seek seats on other flights – in a potentially longer journey – but at no additional cost.

In a statement in March this year, Eritrea’s civil aviation body accused EA of “reprehensible actions” and included a long list of objections.

The Eritrean authorities say that they “have not hesitated to ask” the EA to resolve these issues but that they “have not given any”.

EA confirmed that it was notified of the suspension when the article was announced but said that the exact reason for the suspension has not been disclosed.

Most of them regularly take one of the two daily flights from Asmara to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, from where they can reach other parts of Africa, Europe and North America.

Many Eritrean travelers told the BBC they were surprised by the sudden news and said they were suspicious of the growing tensions between the two countries.

There were celebrations when the airline returned to service in 2018.

20 years before that, Eritrea and Ethiopia had fought a terrible war that killed thousands of people.

The relationship was further expanded when Abiy Ahmed became Prime Minister in 2018 and agreed to “declare peace and friendship” with Eritrea.

That article earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

But relations between the neighbors in the Horn of Africa have worsened again two years after the end of the civil war in Tigray province in the north of Ethiopia, which borders Eritrea.

Asmara fought on the side of the Ethiopian government but was not very happy with the agreement that ended the war in the month of Munyonyo (11) in 2022.

The relationship reached a high point when Abiy announced last year that his country wants to find a way to connect to the port on the Red Lake.

This raised suspicions in neighboring countries, especially Eritrea. Its independence from Ethiopia in 1991 caused Ethiopia to become a country with no permanent conflict in existence.

While the land borders have collapsed, and now that the air route between the two countries has been stopped, telephone and internet communication is the only way to connect the neighboring countries.

This story was added by BBC Monitoring.