africanews.com
Ethiopia's 'Roof of Africa' forest burns: Israel joins fire combat
...Fires have been raging in parts of the historic [Semien National Park in the northern Amhara region] for the past few months but it wasn’t until last week that external intervention was sought for to combat the crisis...
Experts from South Africa, France and Kenya were among the first to offer their assistance, but Kenya is dealing with a similar case and unable to follow through as yet, and France has a fire disaster of its own.
Media reports quoting an Amhara regional state official said after weeks of battling fires, a renewed forest fire had broken out as of April 9.
The Times of Israel said the team joining the efforts “is being led by Zion Shenkar, who was born in Ethiopia and was the Israel Defense Force’s first-ever battalion commander from the Ethiopian community.”
Local media portal, Addis Standard added that the fire has been on and off for the last two weeks with efforts aimed at controlling it largely unsuccessful. South Africa agreed to send six firefighter planes to help.
...The regional state president admitted [on April 13] that the issue had gotten beyond their control and needed federal intervention.
The nature of gorges and the landscape of the area is also said to be a major contributory factor that largely hampered earlier efforts at extinguishing the blaze...
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A major conservation and eco-tourism destination for Ethiopia, the park covers 84 square miles in the highlands, sometimes referred to as the “Roof of Africa” in forming the largest continuous area of elevation on the continent. It includes the 10th highest peak —highest in Ethiopia— Ras Dashen (4,550 m).
Last month a fire broke out in the park, destroying 340 hectares (840 acres) of forest and grass before volunteers and residents put out the blaze. The cause of the fires have yet to be established.
The Simien region has been inhabited and cultivated for at least 2,000 years. … It was one of the first sites to be made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1978)... due to serious population declines of some of its characteristic native species [some rare or found nowhere else] in 1996 it was also added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA - April 15
...The arrival of the [Israeli team] was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa after Israel’s government immediately acceded to a request from the Ethiopian government for assistance...
AFRICA DAILY VOICE - April 15
...South Africa breezed in six firefighter planes...