Ethiopia retakes Mekelle after the TPLF withdraws
The TPLF left the Tigray capital without a fight and says its government will operate from elsewhere. Its leader says the war goes on.
Forces allied with Ethiopia's federal government entered Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region, on Oct. 4, after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) pulled out without a fight, AP reported via WSLS. The TPLF itself confirmed the withdrawal.
The group called it a temporary move and said its regional administration will operate from another location, Al Jazeera reported. Its chairman, Debretsion Gebremichael, blamed the risk to civilians. He also described the conflict as "a continuation of the previous war" and vowed to keep fighting, according to AP.
The TPLF had seized Mekelle and its airport in September. Fighting resumed on Sept. 23, and in July the group said the 2022 Pretoria agreement, which ended the 2020-2022 war, had collapsed. The TPLF belongs to an alliance of seven opposition groups against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The front line flipped within a week. On Sept. 27 the TPLF took Erebti, in Afar, and the government blamed Eritrea and Sudan. Now the regional capital is back in federal hands.
In the earlier war the TPLF also left Mekelle, AP said, to keep the city from being destroyed. That conflict left hundreds of thousands dead, according to Al Jazeera.
A Mekelle resident, Goitom, 37, told Al Jazeera the city has returned to the "starting point."
Neither source gives independent figures for deaths or displacement since September, and there are no verified reports of looting, arrests or fighting inside the city. It is also unclear where the TPLF administration will settle or whether talks will follow. Tigray's media have limited access, so residents' accounts remain unchecked.
