Four senior TPLF officials have reported to security forces in Mekelle, according to a list attributed to the Tigray Peace Force, as Tigrayan forces claim to cut the Aksum to Shire road


A map shared on X with arrows showing reported Ethiopian army movements from Rama to Adwa and from Zalambessa toward Adigrat, and a cut line between Shire and Adwa

A map posted on X on October 18 showing reported Ethiopian army pullbacks from Rama and Zalambessa and the claimed cut on the road east of Shire. The movements it shows have not been independently verified. (Map: The Horn African Guy via X)

Four senior officials of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) have reported to security forces and are in Mekelle, according to a list attributed to the Tigray Peace Force and shared on X.

The names come from what two accounts on X presented as a Tigray Peace Force statement, posted on Sunday, Tikimt 8, 2019 in the Ethiopian calendar. Mereja has not seen the original statement and could not confirm it with the Tigray Peace Force. According to the list, they are Teklay Gebremedhin and Liya Kassa, both members of the TPLF executive committee; Dr. Tsegaye Berihu, a central committee member and head of the regional health bureau; and Gebre Irob, the chairperson of the party's control commission. Abel, an Ethiopian engineer who posts on X, wrote out their positions, and another account posted the Amharic list under the words "good news," saying the four "have reported to security forces that they are in Mekelle."

The announcement did not explain whether the four surrendered, were detained, or came forward on their own. It also did not say what will happen to them. The Tigray Peace Force and the four officials have not commented publicly beyond the list.

Mereja has asked the Government Communication Service to confirm or deny the status of the four officials and the Tigrayan forces' claims on the Aksum to Shire road and the pullback from Rama and Zalambessa, and will update this story with any response.

Two of the names are not new to readers who followed the fall of Mekelle. On October 4, the day after federal troops and the Tigray Peace Force entered the city, UMD Media reported, citing unnamed sources, that a number of TPLF central committee members had broken with the party leadership and stayed behind in and around Mekelle. It named Liya Kassa, deputy head of the TPLF secretariat, and Teklay Gebremedhin, who heads water and energy affairs for the party, among four politburo members. UMD Media said some of those who remained accused senior leaders of putting the preservation of their own power first, and it said it had not verified all of the reported defections.

The announcement follows a statement on Tikimt 7 by the Tigray Peace Force spokesman, Col. Solomon Hailemariam, who told DW Amharic that core TPLF members had crossed into Eritrea and offered fighters a grace period to report to rehabilitation centers. The TPLF leadership has not commented publicly on the four names, and its chairman, Debretsion Gebremichael, said early this month, according to the BBC, that the party would "continue its work from another location."

On the battlefield, accounts on X describe a very different picture from the one the Gov't presented when it declared the war over on October 16. The Horn African Guy, who posts daily updates on the Horn of Africa, wrote on Sunday that Tigrayan forces "have reportedly cut off the Aksum-Shire road," and that they claim their Army 11 attacked Ethiopian troops along the route, "disrupting a key supply line." He noted that the claim came less than a week after military sources on the Gov't side said Army 11 and its commander had been hit in a drone strike, and said the Ethiopian army was reportedly launching a counteroffensive to retake lost positions.

Bashir Hashi Yussuf, a Somali activist and independent journalist, posted on Sunday that the Ethiopian military "is withdrawing from Ethiopia Eritrea border areas, including Rama and Zalambessa, and is consolidating its remaining forces in major towns such as Shire, Sheraro, Axum, Adwa, and Adigrat." Martin Plaut, the Horn of Africa writer, quoted that post with a short question: "Is this confirmed? Important, if it is." His post had been viewed about 41,000 times by Monday morning. Mereja could not confirm the pullback, and the Ethiopian National Defense Force has said nothing about it in public.

The Horn African Guy also wrote that the Ethiopian army launched "a coordinated drone strikes campaign targeting Tigrayan forces across multiple areas of Tigray" on Sunday. A Tigrinya language account, Batseba Tigray, claimed in a post on Sunday night that the Tigray Defense Forces were "recording heavy victories" across Tigray, tagging the post with the names of Rama and Zalambessa. None of these battlefield claims could be independently verified, and phone and internet access in many parts of rural Tigray remains limited.

The Europe External Programme with Africa, a Brussels based research group that publishes a daily situation report, headlined its Monday edition "ENDF and TPF recapture Aksum," which suggests the town changed hands again. Mereja could not confirm who controls Aksum. Federal forces first entered the town in the first days of the offensive, and Mereja reported on October 15 on the earlier entry of federal forces.

The Eritrean border remains a separate worry. DW Amharic, citing the French news agency AFP, reported on Monday that eyewitnesses said most Eritrean soldiers who had crossed into Ethiopia went back "because of the drone strikes they suffered," but that some Eritrean troops are still inside the Ethiopian border. Asmara has repeatedly denied that its forces crossed at all.

In Mekelle, the new mayor named under the federal caretaker administration, Shishay Amare, told AFP that "our role is to create the right conditions for elections by ensuring peace and stability across Tigray," and said he was confident a vote would be held within six months. He said the dispute over western Tigray, which Amhara also claims, will be looked at "in the future," according to DW Amharic.

Residents of Adigrat, about 25 kilometers from the Eritrean border, are asking the two rival Tigrayan armed groups to settle their differences. A video report shared by Bizna Kenya on Monday showed Ethiopian troops patrolling streets where burnt vehicles from the last war still stand, and said residents were urging the Tigray Peace Force and the Tigray Defense Forces "to resolve their differences and prevent further bloodshed."

Sources

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