Government Forces Reported in Control of Tigray Capital After TPLF Withdrawal

Ethiopian federal troops and pro-government allied fighters were reported in control of Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said it had temporarily withdrawn from the city.

The TPLF said in a social media statement that it had “temporarily moved out of Mekelle” in order to “operate from somewhere else”. The statement described the move as temporary.

Ethiopia’s federal army and allied fighters had recaptured Mekelle’s main airport, according to the source report. A source close to the Tigray Peace Forces, cited by Reuters, said the group’s fighters entered the city centre on Saturday afternoon, followed by the Ethiopian military.

A humanitarian source and an unnamed Mekelle resident also told Reuters that government forces controlled the city. Separately, a humanitarian source cited by AFP said staff on the ground reported that the TPLF had abandoned the regional capital.

Uncertainty over the extent of control

The reports of government control came from sources cited by Reuters and AFP. The available information does not provide an independently verified account of the extent of control across Mekelle, nor does it give casualty figures for the latest fighting.

The renewed violence followed the announcement by seven armed and political groups of an alliance aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and establishing an inclusive transitional administration. Fighting reportedly began on September 23, although the year is not specified in the available source material.

Regional concerns

The escalation has raised fears of a wider conflict involving other countries in the region. Ethiopia accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of supporting the opposition coalition. Khartoum and Cairo denied involvement, while Eritrea severed diplomatic ties with Ethiopia over the accusations.

The United States Department of State urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their neighbours, exercise maximum restraint, and return to dialogue and cooperation. The department warned that the rising tensions “have the potential to affect the entire region”.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also called for “dialogue, not confrontation” before a meeting with leaders from Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan. Addressing the African Union’s mid-year coordination summit in El-Alamein, he urged “mutual respect, good neighbourliness, dialogue and consultation, far from unilateral policies or narrow interests”.

Conflict background

The confrontation follows the collapse of a 2022 peace deal that ended the 2020–2022 war between Ethiopia’s federal government and forces from Tigray. That conflict killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and largely cut Tigray off from the rest of Ethiopia.

The TPLF began as an armed movement against Ethiopia’s military government in the 1970s and later became the leading force in a coalition that governed the country for nearly three decades. Relations between the group and Abiy’s government deteriorated before the previous war began in November 2020.

Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopia’s federal army during that conflict. The return of hostilities has renewed concern about the stability of the wider Horn of Africa, although the available reports do not establish the extent of foreign involvement in the latest fighting.