Ethiopian federal forces entered Mekelle on Saturday, Oct. 3, and patrolled the city and manned key institutions on Sunday, Oct. 4. Control of the Tigray capital remained uncertain, while residents faced the immediate task of protecting themselves. The military moved in after renewed fighting with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF); communications failures and fear of retribution left basic details difficult to verify.
“There are no police. Last night, we had to organise ourselves and take care of security,” one resident told AFP. The resident and others spoke anonymously because the situation remained uncertain. That’s the ground-level report: while armed groups and institutions contested control, people in the city had to organize security themselves.
Who Controls the City?
The Africa Report said federal forces controlled Mekelle, while the Associated Press reported that it wasn’t clear who controlled the city itself. People in Mekelle told the AP that federal forces had taken Alula Aba Nega Airport, though they couldn’t say immediately when the airport changed hands.
“The military is in full control of the airport. That much I can confirm,” an Ethiopian general, speaking anonymously, told the AP. Neither the Ethiopian government nor the TPLF had issued an official statement about the airport’s reported capture. People who provided information declined to identify themselves, citing fear of retribution.
Internet and cellphone networks suffered severe disruptions. Those outages have made it difficult to gather and verify information from Tigray. Details of how the airport changed hands, including whether fighting took place there, remained unclear. TPLF fighters seized the airport on Sept. 23, prompting Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to Mekelle and the Tigrayan cities of Axum and Shire.
A source close to the pro-government Tigray Peace Forces told Reuters that its fighters entered central Mekelle on Saturday afternoon, followed by the Ethiopian military. The Africa Report said federal forces entered without a fight as TPLF leaders and troops abandoned the city. In a Facebook post, the TPLF said it had retreated and that the regional government would be “temporarily moved out of Mekelle and operate from somewhere else.”
A commander with a pro-government militia told AFP, “We have taken control of Mekelle and we are marching forward.” The words announce an advancing armed force. Residents faced the consequences of a city changing hands.
Residents Carry the Cost
Businesses and shops stayed closed. Owners had moved stock to safer locations ahead of time because they feared looting and vandalism. Business owner Filmon Equar Hailu told the Associated Press that civilians looted government offices and took equipment from police headquarters as rebel fighters withdrew. He said he heard celebratory gunfire overnight into Sunday morning as small groups of pro-government fighters entered the city. An AP contributor in Mekelle said residents feared looting.
The TPLF and federal forces began fighting again on Sept. 23, according to The Africa Report. AllAfrica reported that the TPLF launched a fresh offensive against the federal government the previous month, prompting counterattacks. Renewed fighting has raised fears of a return to the civil war of 2020-2022, which left more than 600,000 dead, according to the African Union.
Around one million people remain displaced, and many parts of the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement remain unfulfilled, Africanews reported. The agreement, brokered by African institutions and Washington, was never fully implemented, The Africa Report said. The African Union has urged restraint, warning that renewed tensions threaten the agreement.
Regional Powers Talk as Forces Gather
The federal government has launched drone strikes in Tigray and massed troops at the regional border. Africanews reported that it has a significant military advantage and has increased production of military drones since the previous conflict. Rights groups have accused the TPLF of a campaign of forced recruitment this year as it prepared for renewed conflict.
The presidents of Egypt, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea were due to meet Sunday, Oct. 4, in Alamein, Egypt, to discuss the conflict. Before the talks, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged “dialogue, not confrontation.” He called for relations based on “mutual respect, good neighbourliness, dialogue and consultation,” and said cross-border challenges “require cooperation, not competition, and dialogue, not confrontation.” Egypt and Ethiopia have a long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.
Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of directly backing the Tigray rebels, with support from Sudan and Egypt; all three countries deny the accusation. Eritrea accuses landlocked Ethiopia of planning to invade and seize access to its coastline. Analysts say the fighting could escalate into a wider regional conflict. TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael implied this week that the group would continue guerrilla-style attacks. “We operate under a strategy to strike the enemy wherever we choose,” he said. Meanwhile, in Mekelle, one resident’s account remains immediate: “we had to organise ourselves and take care of security.”