Ethiopian Federal Forces Retake Tigray Capital Mekelle Following TPLF Withdrawal

Ethiopian federal forces and allied militias entered the center of Mekelle on Saturday afternoon, taking control of the Tigray region's capital after rebel fighters withdrew. The advance restores federal authority over the city for the first time since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire.[1][2]

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) announced its retreat on social media, stating the regional government would be "temporarily moved out of Mekelle and operate from somewhere else." The group framed the departure as a tactical decision to spare the city from urban combat.[2][5]

The withdrawal hands Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government a major victory in a rapidly escalating conflict that has shattered the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement. Federal troops are now consolidating positions across a city that has served as the political center of the northern rebellion.[3][4]

A strategic retreat

TPLF leadership described the evacuation as a calculated maneuver to protect Mekelle's 500,000 residents from heavy artillery bombardment. The rebel group had held the city securely since recapturing it from federal forces during the height of the previous civil war in June 2021.[5][6]

The current escalation began on September 23, when fighters loyal to the TPLF launched a broad offensive and seized Mekelle's Alula Aba Nega Airport. That advance prompted Ethiopian Airlines to suspend commercial flights to the region, cutting off a vital transport link.[2][3]

By late Saturday, the pro-government Tigray Peace Force militia confirmed it had recaptured the airport and was clearing the city center alongside federal troops. The militia, a breakaway faction of former Tigrayan fighters, has been operating alongside the national military.[1][5]

Residents in Mekelle reported seeing TPLF-allied fighters leaving the city on foot with light weapons over the preceding three days. The phased departure allowed federal forces to enter the capital largely unopposed, avoiding the devastating street battles that characterized earlier phases of the conflict.[5]

Security vacuum and looting

As the rebel administration evacuated, a temporary security vacuum emerged in the regional capital. Government offices and police stations were left unguarded in the hours before federal forces fully secured the city's perimeter.[5]

Local witnesses reported that civilians began looting the TPLF administration headquarters and regional police facilities as the fighters departed. Essential equipment and supplies were hauled away from public buildings amid the breakdown in local authority.[5]

Communications blackouts and severe disruptions to internet networks have made it difficult to verify the full extent of the unrest. The information blockade has left residents isolated, with many sheltering in their homes out of fear of reprisals from advancing militias.[3]

Analysts suggest the federal government will likely delegate the immediate security of Mekelle to the Tigray Peace Force. Relying on the allied Tigrayan militia allows Addis Ababa to maintain control without exclusively deploying federal troops, a move intended to reduce local friction.[3]

Regional diplomatic fallout

The military offensive in Tigray is unfolding alongside a severe diplomatic rupture between Ethiopia and its neighbors, threatening to regionalize the crisis. The federal government has increasingly viewed the northern rebellion as a proxy conflict fueled by external adversaries.[4][6]

Last week, the government in Addis Ababa severed diplomatic ties with Eritrea, ordering 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours. The expulsion cited alleged involvement in activities posing a direct threat to Ethiopia's national security.[2][6]

Ethiopia has publicly accused Eritrea, along with Sudan and Egypt, of providing financial and military backing to the TPLF and a broader alliance of armed opposition groups. The diplomatic rift marks a stark reversal from 2020, when Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces.[2][6]

All three accused nations have denied supporting the insurgency. Eritrea retaliated by closing its own diplomatic channels with Addis Ababa, while Egyptian officials dismissed the allegations as an attempt by Prime Minister Abiy to externalize an internal domestic crisis.[2][6]

Return to insurgency

The loss of Mekelle does not necessarily signal the end of the TPLF's military capability. The group previously lost the capital to federal forces in November 2020, only to mount a successful guerrilla campaign from the mountainous interior that eventually forced a federal retreat.[4][6]

TPLF Chairman Debretsion Gebremichael declared earlier in the week that the current fighting is a "continuation of the previous war." He vowed that his fighters would keep attacking federal positions and defending Tigray from what he described as an existential threat.[3]

The rapid collapse of the 2022 cessation of hostilities agreement leaves hundreds of thousands of civilians facing renewed displacement. Populations still recovering from a war that claimed massive casualties are once again cut off from essential services and humanitarian access.[4][6]

With the TPLF leadership now operating from undisclosed locations, the conflict appears poised to transition back into a protracted insurgency across the northern highlands. Federal forces control the urban centers, but the rural terrain remains highly contested.[4]

Humanitarian blockade

The African Union has urged restraint, warning that the renewed tensions threaten to permanently dismantle the diplomatic progress achieved in South Africa. The 2022 Pretoria agreement had promised to disarm Tigrayan troops and permit full humanitarian access to the devastated region.[3][6]

Instead, the resumption of hostilities has brought renewed hardship to a population that endured a severe blockade during the previous fighting. Residents report that roads connecting Tigray to the neighboring Afar region have been closed to civilian traffic, restricting the movement of food and medical supplies.[3][4]

The mechanism that produced the TPLF's withdrawal—whether a negotiated exit, military encirclement, or a lack of resupply—remains unconfirmed by independent observers. What changes in practice for Tigray's civilian population under renewed federal administration remains the most consequential unanswered question.[1][4]