![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.capitalfm.co.ke\/news\/files\/2022\/12\/836f97a3323aa536746b0215fbb20847002ad530.jpg\")
Passengers arriving from Mekele were greeted by relatives with long embraces, flowers and tears \u00a9 AFP<\/b><\/p><\/div>\n
Kindeya Gebrehiwot, another Tigrayan official, hailed it as a “milestone” and said more services would soon return to the war-weary region.<\/p>\n
A high-level government delegation visited Tigray this week for the first time since the signing of the peace deal in November to end two years of bloodshed in Africa’s second-most populous country.<\/p>\n
Estimates of casualties vary widely, with the United States saying that as many as half a million people have died, while the European Union says more than 100,000 people may have been killed.<\/p>\n
– Disarmament –<\/p>\n
Aid has started trickling back into Tigray since the truce was signed, going some way to alleviating severe shortages of food, fuel, cash and drugs.<\/p>\n
Mekele has been reconnected to the national grid, and the country’s biggest bank says financial services have resumed in some towns.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.capitalfm.co.ke\/news\/files\/2022\/12\/cb8f6da2daa515d5f75e39526e95413bc96321d6.jpg\")
Tigrai TV, a rebel-affiliated network, aired footage of passengers dropping to their knees and kissing the tarmac upon arrival in Mekele \u00a9 AFP<\/b><\/p><\/div>\n
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the head of Ethio Telecom, the state provider, had announced the restoration of telecom services in Mekele.<\/p>\n
Services had been restored to 27 towns across Tigray and nearly 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) of fibre optic cable repaired, spokeswoman Billene Seyoum said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
But the wider region of six million is still largely without electricity, phone lines or internet services, and aid agencies warn famine stalks Tigray.<\/p>\n
The peace deal was to pave the way for the resumption of critical services in return for the disarmament of rebel fighters in Tigray.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.capitalfm.co.ke\/news\/files\/2022\/12\/0fd6570fb6173c9e2781b5a22112a20874c9a9e7.jpg\")
Ethiopian Airlines is the biggest carrier in Africa \u00a9 AFP\/File \/ Mohammed HUWAIS<\/b><\/p><\/div>\n
Abiy’s security adviser Redwan Hussein said Tuesday that companies had been instructed to expedite service delivery while rebels were “handing over… heavy weapons” as Mekele prepared to return to government control.<\/p>\n
Pro-government forces — namely troops from neighbouring Eritrea, and militias from the Ethiopian region of Amhara — remain in Tigray, despite the peace deal requiring the withdrawal of outside fighters.<\/p>\n
The war began in November 2020 when Abiy sent troops into Tigray after he accused the region’s dissident rulers of orchestrating attacks on army bases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Addis Ababa (AFP), Dec 28 – Families embraced and wept in emotional reunions Wednesday after the first commercial flight in 18 months between Ethiopia’s capital city and the war-torn Tigray region to the north. The return of flights between Addis Ababa and Tigray’s capital Mekele follows a ceasefire reached between government and rebel forces last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":713523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13062,1981,2415],"coauthors":[141],"class_list":["post-713527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-ethiopian-airlines","tag-featured","tag-tigray"],"yoast_head":"\n