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Ethiopian federal forces and allied Tigray Peace Force fighters took control of Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region, on Saturday, October 4, after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) withdrew from the city, according to Al Jazeera.
Tigray Peace Force fighters entered the city center on Saturday afternoon, and the Ethiopian military followed, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing three sources who spoke to Reuters. The TPLF said in a statement on Facebook that it had retreated from the capital. It added that the regional government would be moved out of Mekelle temporarily and operate from another location. The prime minister's office had not responded at the time of reporting.
The fall of the city follows an offensive launched by the TPLF against the Ethiopian military on September 23. Last week, Ethiopia declared 10 Eritrean diplomats persona non grata. Addis Ababa has accused Eritrea of backing the rebel alliance, along with Sudan and Egypt. All three countries deny the claim. We covered that expulsion in an earlier Circuit Wire report.
The TPLF said in July that the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement had collapsed, citing the federal government's failure to carry out key provisions. That agreement ended the 2020 to 2022 Tigray war, which killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. Less than four years after it was signed in November 2022, large-scale fighting has returned.
Residents in Mekelle, Shire and Addis Ababa told Al Jazeera they fear a wider war. Goitom, a 37-year-old Mekelle resident, said: "It feels like we are back to square one." A college student in the capital said the conflict raises fears of a repeat of the war in Sudan. Abraham Belay, a former president of the Tigray Interim Administration, said regional elections are planned within months under new administrative structures.
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