Ethiopian forces take Tigray capital Mekelle as rebels withdraw

Ethiopian federal forces were in full control of Mekelle, the capital of the rebel-held Tigray region, on Sunday after rebel leaders and fighters abandoned the city, as Ethiopia’s regional rivals met in Egypt amid fears of a wider war.

Federal troops entered Mekelle on Saturday without a fight and were patrolling the city and guarding key institutions on Sunday, a local journalist told AFP, The Express Tribune reported. Communications were restored for the first time in more than a week.

“We have taken control of Mekelle and we are marching forward,” a commander of a pro-government militia said.

A city on edge

Shops and businesses stayed closed, with owners having moved their stock to safety for fear of looting.

“There are no police,” one resident said. “Last night, we had to organise ourselves and take care of security.”

“The fact that the war is beginning to lower in intensity brings some immediate relief,” said another resident, Tewodros. “But as seems to be spreading across the region, I’m scared it will drag on.”

War returns to Tigray

Fighting between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and federal forces broke out again on September 23, raising fears of a return to the devastating civil war of 2020 to 2022. The TPLF, long the dominant force in Tigray, had ousted a government-appointed administration this year.

Rebel leader Debretsion Gebremichael has suggested the group will turn to guerrilla attacks, as it did when Mekelle fell in 2020, a campaign that eventually let the TPLF retake the city the following year. “We operate under a strategy to strike the enemy wherever we choose,” he said.

Neighbours meet in Egypt

The presidents of Egypt, Eritrea and Somalia, and Sudan’s army chief, met in the Egyptian coastal city of El-Alamein on Sunday:

• Egypt: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
• Eritrea: Isaias Afwerki
• Somalia: Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
• Sudan: army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan

They called for regional disputes to be settled by “peaceful means”, and for respect for international law and “non-interference in the internal affairs of states”. Their joint statement also rejected “any unilateral measures” that could harm downstream countries’ existing use of water, an apparent reference to the long dispute over Ethiopia’s dam on the Nile.

Eritrea in the middle

Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of directly backing the Tigray rebels, with support from Sudan and Egypt. All three deny it. Eritrea, which shares a long border with Tigray, accuses landlocked Ethiopia of planning to invade to seize access to its coastline, and analysts say it has backed the rebels to keep the fighting away from its own border. There are growing fears the war could spill into Eritrea.

Why it matters

The last Tigray war killed hundreds of thousands of people. With rebels vowing a guerrilla campaign and Ethiopia’s neighbours lining up against it, the Horn of Africa, a vital region for Red Sea shipping, risks a new and wider conflict. Read our report on the war in Yemen across the Red Sea.

This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune and AFP.