Ethiopian Federal Forces Take Control of Mekelle After Tigray Rebels Withdraw

ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 5 (TodayViralUSA) — Ethiopian federal forces and allied fighters have taken control of Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region, after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said it had pulled its forces out of the city, marking the most significant turn yet in a conflict that threatens to reopen one of Africa’s deadliest wars.

The TPLF said in a statement on Saturday that it had “temporarily moved out of Mekelle” and that its regional administration would operate from another location. The group said the decision was meant to spare the city further destruction and signaled that its fighters would continue the conflict from other positions, Al Jazeera reported.

A pro-government militia source, a humanitarian worker and a Mekelle resident told Reuters on Sunday that government forces and the allied Tigray Peace Force were in control of the city. Two residents separately told the BBC that pro-government forces held Mekelle and that TPLF fighters had left.

The TPLF seized Mekelle and its airport last month as fighting resumed. Late on Friday, the Tigray Peace Force, a militia aligned with the federal government, said on X that it had taken full control of Mekelle’s Alula Aba Nega Airport, according to Reuters.

Looting as fighters leave

A local business owner, Filmon Equar Hailu, told The Associated Press that civilians looted the TPLF administration office, the regional police headquarters and some shops as the group’s fighters departed. He said fighters had been leaving in small groups for about three days, some on foot carrying light weapons, and that he heard celebratory gunfire overnight into Sunday as Tigray Peace Force units arrived.

Severe disruptions to internet and phone networks have made it difficult to verify events in Tigray, though some connectivity returned on Sunday, the AP said. Ethiopian Airlines had suspended flights to Mekelle, Axum and Shire after the airport was seized.

Jalale Getachew Birru, an Ethiopia analyst at the conflict monitor ACLED, told the AP that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was very likely to hand regional security to the Tigray Peace Force, which is made up of former members of the TPLF’s armed wing.

Abraham Belay, a former president of the Tigray Interim Administration, told the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate that preparations were under way to form a new interim administration, with regional elections planned within months, according to Al Jazeera.

Wider regional strains

The capture comes less than four years after the African Union-brokered Pretoria agreement ended the 2020–22 Tigray war, which killed hundreds of thousands of people by some estimates. The TPLF said in July that the deal had effectively collapsed; the federal government rejected that view.

The current fighting involves more actors than the last war. The TPLF is one of seven opposition groups that formed an alliance late last month with the stated aim of removing Abiy, who was reelected earlier this year, the AP reported. Fighting has also been reported in the Afar and Amhara regions.

Diplomatic sources told Al Jazeera that explosions were heard in parts of Addis Ababa, including near military headquarters. A source linked to the opposition alliance told Reuters the group had carried out drone strikes in the capital, a claim that could not be independently verified.

Tensions with neighboring Eritrea have also escalated. Ethiopia on Thursday closed its embassy in Asmara and expelled 10 Eritrean diplomats, citing threats to national security, and Eritrea responded by cutting diplomatic ties. Addis Ababa has accused Eritrea and Egypt of backing the TPLF; both deny it.

The African Union has urged restraint. With the TPLF vowing to fight on from outside the city and Abiy’s government moving to install a new regional administration, the next phase of the conflict remains uncertain.