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Tigrayan forces took control of Alula Aba Nega International Airport in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, overnight into Wednesday, three local sources told Reuters. Hours later, Ethiopian Airlines suspended all flights to Mekelle and to the Tigrayan cities of Shire and Axum.
The state-owned carrier announced the halt on Telegram, citing the current situation in the region, and gave no date for flights to restart. Flight tracker Flightradar24 showed that Wednesday's service between Mekelle and Addis Ababa had been cancelled, Al Jazeera reported. An airport employee told AFP that staff were sent home after being told there were no flights. Reuters said it could not immediately confirm conditions in Shire and Axum.
The seizure came three days after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and six other armed groups announced an alliance aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government. The Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival includes the Amhara Fano National Movement and the Oromo Liberation Army, and it has promised a transitional administration once Abiy is gone, according to Al Jazeera. Abiy's spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters the groups had been working together with financial backing from Eritrea. Eritrea has repeatedly denied supporting Ethiopian armed groups.
Violence in the region has been rising. On Tuesday, drones struck two schools in Alamata in southern Tigray, and the town's mayor said 14 civilians were killed and 22 wounded. That account has not been independently verified, and the federal government did not comment. The same day, the US government said it condemned a recent drone strike on a Catholic Relief Services aid convoy in Tigray, without naming who was responsible.
The TPLF and the federal government fought a war from 2020 to 2022 that killed an estimated 600,000 people, according to African Union figures. The Pretoria Agreement signed in November 2022 ended the fighting, but each side accuses the other of violating it. In May, the TPLF took control of the regional government from the interim administration created under the deal. Federal and Tigrayan forces clashed near the Sudanese border on August 1, and the Ethiopian military has carried out several drone strikes against Tigrayan forces in recent months, according to ACLED data cited by Reuters.
Spokespeople for Abiy, the federal government and the TPLF did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Commercial flights had been the main route out for residents who wanted to leave Tigray before any wider fighting. With the Mekelle airport in Tigrayan hands and flights suspended, that route is now closed.
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