Airstrikes in Tigray force UN flight to turn back

NAIROBI, KENYA — Ethiopian military airstrikes on Friday forced a United Nations humanitarian flight to abandon its landing in the capital of the country’s Tigray region, and a government spokesperson said authorities were aware of the inbound flight. It appeared to be a sharp escalation in intimidation tactics authorities have used against aid workers amid the year-long Tigray war.

Further UN flights have been suspended to Mekele, the base of humanitarian operations in Tigray, the World Food Program told The Associated Press. It said the flight with 11 passengers had been cleared by federal authorities, but “received instructions to abort landing by the Mekele airport control tower.” It safely returned to Addis Ababa.

The friction between the government and humanitarian groups is occurring amid the world’s worst hunger crisis in a decade, with close to a half-million people in Tigray said to be facing famine-like conditions. The government since June has imposed what the UN calls a “de facto humanitarian blockade” on the region of some six million people, and the AP has reported that people have begun to starve to death.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu told the AP authorities were aware the UN flight was in the area, but said the UN and military flights had a “different time and direction.”

Tigray forces spokesperson Getachew Reda in a tweet said “our air defence units knew the UN plane was scheduled to land and it was due in large measure to their restraint it was not caught in a crossfire.” He suggested that Ethiopian authorities were “setting up the UN plane to be hit by our guns.”