Zegabi

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front said late Saturday that it had “temporarily moved out of Mekelle” to “operate from somewhere else,” according to a statement carried by Al Jazeera, as Ethiopian Government forces and allied fighters were reported inside the regional capital on Sunday.

A source close to the Tigray Peace Forces, a pro-government Tigrayan group fighting alongside the federal army, told Reuters that its fighters had entered the centre of Mekelle on Saturday afternoon and that the Ethiopian military followed. A humanitarian source and a Mekelle resident who asked not to be named later confirmed to Reuters that the city was under the control of government forces. Separately, a humanitarian source told AFP that staff on the ground reported TPLF fighters had abandoned the capital and that “Ethiopian federal forces and allied forces have reportedly been observed in Mekelle city … across various locations.”

The statement followed Saturday reports, carried by Reuters, AFP and Al Jazeera, that federal troops and allied fighters had retaken Alula Aba Nega Airport.

Filmon Equar Hailu, a local business owner who spoke to the Associated Press by phone from Mekelle, said civilians looted government offices and hauled equipment from police headquarters as TPLF-allied fighters withdrew. He said the looting hit the TPLF administration office, the regional police headquarters and some shops. Filmon said he saw some TPLF-allied fighters with light weapons leaving on foot, with departures beginning in small groups about three days earlier and continuing through Saturday afternoon. Small groups from the Tigray Peace Force entered the city, he said, and he heard celebratory gunfire overnight into Sunday morning.

On Thursday, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael said “the war is regional and it is a war to control the Red Sea,” and “We operate under a strategy to strike the enemy wherever we choose.” AFP said he was pointing to guerrilla fighting after Mekelle fell in 2020.

On X, Mulubrhan (@MuluShire) wrote on Sunday: “መቐለ has, for now, somehow survived another massacre. We have no idea what tomorrow may bring, but for today, we are still here: moving, breathing, and holding on.”

Z Medhin (@Zeate1) wrote: “Armed robbers left behind by TPLF to punish Mekelle went on a looting spree overnight. Some exchanged fire with TPF & many of the thugs were detained.” He also wrote that mobile network restoration was under way and that service had begun on a very limited basis. He did not name the city in that sentence. The post does not say he was in the city.

On Saturday, Abel Tsgabu (@AbelTsgab) wrote that reports of looting had emerged from parts of Mekelle amid reports that no military force was in the city, and that a photo appeared to show a person removing items from the president’s office. On Sunday he posted that internet service had resumed in Mekelle.

In an Amharic post, Ethiopia Insider (@ethiopiainsider) said residents told them that greater calm prevailed after members of the defence forces, and armed men who call themselves the Tigray Peace Forces, entered Mekelle on Saturday night.

Kulu Media said it reviewed video, credited to Desye Ashenafi, that appeared to show armed personnel in military vehicles near the Axum Hotel in Mekelle on Saturday, with an Ethiopian flag on one vehicle. Kulu said it had not confirmed how much of the city that footage showed under federal control.

The central commercial street in Mekelle, photographed by Bamse on 12 March 2006. This is not a picture of Sunday’s fighting.