{"id":837250,"date":"2026-10-05T09:37:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/837250"},"modified":"2026-10-24T14:00:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T18:00:38","slug":"ethiopian-government-forces-hold-mekelle-as-residents-fear-a-return-to-full-scale-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/837250","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopian Gov’t forces hold Mekelle, residents and aid workers tell Reuters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethiopian Government forces and allied Tigray Peace Forces fighters held Mekelle on Sunday after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said it had temporarily moved out of the Tigray capital. A militia source, a humanitarian worker and a Mekelle resident told Reuters that government-aligned forces held the city. France 24, citing Agence France-Presse, reported that federal troops were patrolling Mekelle and manning key institutions, and that communications were restored for the first time in more than a week.<\/p>\n

\"Mekelle
Mekelle on 22 July 2013 (MarcD., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The TPLF posted that message on Facebook on Saturday evening, according to Kulu Media and other outlets that carried the statement. The group said it had “temporarily moved out of Mekelle” and that the regional government would “operate from somewhere else,” saying the decision was meant to prevent further destruction in the city. TPLF Chairman Debretsion Gebremichael told outlets covering the conflict that the group would continue its work from another location. The BBC reported that he described the withdrawal as a deliberate strategic move and said, “We will attack the enemy where we choose, not where he chooses for us.” During the 2020 to 2022 war, the TPLF also left Mekelle and later fought a guerrilla campaign before retaking the city.<\/p>\n

The shift has revived memories of the 2020 to 2022 Tigray war among people who lived through that conflict. Al Jazeera reported from Addis Ababa that the capture of Mekelle by federal forces and allied fighters has left residents fearing prolonged violence, displacement and economic hardship. Goitom, a 37-year-old Mekelle resident who spoke to Al Jazeera, said there was a period of uncertainty after TPLF forces left, with what he described as a security vacuum that allowed theft in some areas, including government offices. “On Friday night, we were hearing gunfire but did not know what was happening,” he said. By Saturday, he said, Ethiopian federal forces and allied fighters had taken control of key locations, including the airport. “It feels like we are back to square one,” Goitom said. “We have already seen what war can do to this city and to our families. People are worried about what will happen next.”<\/p>\n

Fitsum Berhane, a Mekelle resident who spoke to BBC Amharic, said government offices including the regional president’s office and police stations were looted in the previous 24 hours, and that the city had faced high insecurity and anxiety over about 10 days. He said relative calm returned after Tigray Peace Forces fighters entered, while federal forces held checkpoints at the city’s entrances. He also said he had heard that three people died during the looting period, and that money shortages had been severe before phones and Tele Birr started working again. “Gunfire can still be heard from a distance, and people are worried about what will happen next,” he told BBC Amharic. Dawit Hailay, another Mekelle resident who spoke to the same outlet, said he saw many Tigray Peace Forces members leaving toward other areas, and that in some places residents organised themselves to protect public property such as the hospital, Ethio Telecom and the electricity company.<\/p>\n

Duke Burbridge, an American doctor with the Health Professionals Network for Tigray who spoke to the BBC from Mekelle, said the city had been largely calm since the rebels pulled out, apart from gunfire and looting shortly afterward. He said the looting appeared to involve “some people who were released from prison or some of the criminal gangs around here [who] were well armed.” After telecom service returned, he said, “everybody was in the restaurants, in the markets, enjoying the fact that cell phones were back on, mobile banking was back on, and there was loud music deep into the night.”<\/p>\n

Berihu, a 32-year-old bajaj driver in Shire in northwestern Tigray, told Al Jazeera by phone that the renewed fighting had been particularly difficult to watch. “I feel very heartbroken knowing that Tigray has gone back to full-scale war,” he said. “We have already seen what the last war did to our people, and now it feels like we are going through it all over again.” He said he had seen villages bombed and civilians caught up in fighting during the previous war. “It is painful to even think that civilians could once again bear the cost,” Berihu said. “We have already suffered enough. We just want peace. We don’t want to go through the same thing again.”<\/p>\n

The Associated Press earlier quoted Filmon Equar Hailu, a local business owner reached by phone from Mekelle, who said civilians looted the TPLF administration office, the regional police headquarters and some shops as TPLF fighters withdrew, and that some fighters with light weapons left on foot in small groups over about three days through Saturday afternoon. Halefom Nerea, a Simret Party public relations official quoted in DW Amharic’s live coverage, described unrest and looting after TPLF officials left and said prisoners had been released, and he said Simret had called on residents to organise by neighborhood to protect government property. That account has not been independently confirmed.<\/p>\n

Abraham Belay, a former president of the Tigray Interim Administration, said on Sunday in an interview with Fana Broadcasting Corporate, cited by Al Jazeera, that preparations were under way to establish a new interim administration in Tigray, with the aim of holding regional elections within months. “We are working to establish a new administrative structure that will enable the people of Tigray to govern themselves,” he said. He said new structures would be organised from the kebele level upwards with community participation before regional elections. Jalale Getachew Birru, an Ethiopia analyst at ACLED quoted by the Associated Press, said Abiy Ahmed is very likely to leave regional security in the hands of the Tigray Peace Forces, which includes former members of the Tigray armed wing, after federal troops take Mekelle.<\/p>\n

The fighting that produced this change of control began on September 23 after seven armed and political groups announced an alliance aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. The TPLF is part of that alliance. In July the TPLF said the Pretoria agreement that ended the earlier war had effectively collapsed; the federal government rejected that characterisation and said it remained committed to the peace process while accusing the TPLF of undermining the deal. Key issues from Pretoria, including disputed territories, the return of displaced people and the disarmament of Tigrayan forces, had remained unresolved.<\/p>\n

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