“There are no police. Last night, we had to organise ourselves and take care of security.” One Mekelle resident described the hours after Ethiopian federal forces entered the Tigrayan capital on Saturday, Oct. 3, in those words. The resident spoke to AFP anonymously because the situation remains uncertain.
By Sunday, Oct. 4, federal troops patrolled the city and manned key institutions. A local journalist told AFP that communications had returned for the first time in more than a week. Shops and businesses stayed shut. Owners had moved their stock to safer places ahead of time, fearing looting and vandalism.
Civilians Left to Fend for Themselves
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 further looting.
Who controls the city remains disputed. The Africa Report said federal forces had full control and entered without a fight as leaders and troops of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) abandoned Mekelle. The Associated Press reported that it wasn't clear who controlled the city itself. 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. A commander with a pro-government militia told AFP, “We have taken control of Mekelle and we are marching forward.”
In a Facebook statement, the TPLF said it had retreated and that the regional government would be “temporarily moved out of Mekelle and operate from somewhere else.”
People in the city told the AP federal forces had taken Alula Aba Nega Airport. An Ethiopian general, speaking anonymously, said, “The military is in full control of the airport. That much I can confirm.” Neither the government nor the TPLF has issued an official statement. People who shared information about the airport declined to be named, citing fear of retribution. Severe disruptions to internet and cellphone networks have made gathering and verifying information from Tigray difficult. TPLF fighters seized the airport on Sept. 23, 12 days ago, and Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to Mekelle and the Tigrayan cities of Axum and Shire.
A Region That Hasn't Recovered
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 the previous month, prompting counterattacks. Renewed fighting has raised fears of a return to the 2020-2022 civil war. The African Union estimates that war left about 600,000 dead; The Africa Report put the toll at more than 600,000.
The Pretoria peace agreement of 2022, brokered by African institutions and Washington, never saw full implementation. Still, it helped maintain a degree of peace until clashes resumed in late 2025. Africanews reported that around one million people remain displaced and many parts of the agreement remain unfulfilled. Rights groups have accused the TPLF of a forced-recruitment campaign this year as it prepared for renewed conflict. The federal government has launched drone strikes in Tigray and massed troops at the regional border. Africanews reported that it holds a significant military advantage and has increased military-drone production since the previous conflict.
The African Union has urged restraint, warning that renewed tensions threaten the 2022 agreement.
Diplomacy in Alamein
The presidents of Egypt, Somalia and Eritrea, along with Sudanese Armed Forces head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, were due to meet Sunday in Alamein, Egypt, on the sidelines of an African Business Forum. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged “dialogue, not confrontation.” At the African Union's mid-year coordination summit, he said cross-border challenges “require cooperation, not competition, and dialogue, not confrontation,” and opposed foreign interference in African states.
Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of directly backing the Tigray rebels, with support from Sudan and Egypt. All three deny the allegations. Eritrea accuses landlocked Ethiopia of planning to invade and seize access to its coastline. Analysts warn that the fighting could escalate into a wider regional conflict.
TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael implied this week that the group would continue guerrilla-style attacks, as it did after Mekelle fell to government forces in 2020. That insurgency ultimately led the TPLF to retake the city the following year. “We operate under a strategy to strike the enemy wherever we choose,” he said.
Why This Matters: Mekelle's residents are absorbing the shock. They're organizing their own security without police, watching offices get looted and living through a communications blackout that keeps the outside world from verifying what's happening. About one million displaced people remain in a region again facing fighting, drone strikes and forced recruitment; the Pretoria agreement meant to prevent this remains largely unfulfilled. Debretsion's pledge of guerrilla attacks, set against the federal government's growing drone arsenal, suggests the fighting may not end with control of a single city. The African Union and regional governments now face the weight of those stakes, as their talks in Egypt test whether diplomacy can protect civilians before a war that killed roughly 600,000 people repeats itself.