Tadesse Werede and Three Detained Tigray Officials Escaped Near the Eritrean Border, Colonel Tewelde Tells BBC and UMD Media

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An aerial view of Adwa, with a main road running between mid-rise buildings, trees and hills under a clear sky.

Adwa, in central Tigray, seen from a drone in 2018. Colonel Tewelde Gebretensae told BBC Tigrinya he was held in the town for five days in October before being moved to Rama, near the Eritrean border. Federal forces and the Tigray Peace Force entered Adwa on Oct. 11, residents told AFP. [file photo: Robbyyeb / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0]

Lt. Gen. Tadesse Werede, the former president of Tigray’s interim administration, and three other former officials held since late September escaped from captivity near the Eritrean border on Monday, one of the four, Colonel Tewelde Gebretensae, told BBC Tigrinya and UMD Media on Tuesday.

Tewelde, a former head of military intelligence for Tigrayan forces who is widely known as Tewelde Embeb, said the group was not handed over by its captors. He told UMD Media by phone, after reaching Mekelle on Tuesday morning, that the last place they were held was Rama, near the border, and that the escape had been prepared over several days, with a firm plan taking shape on Sunday evening and the breakout carried out on Monday morning. He said it depended on help from guards, drivers and members of the Rama district administration, and on finding routes through areas where Eritrean forces were not present. He said he entered Mekelle as a civilian, that the Ethiopian National Defense Force did not arrange his arrival, and that he did not travel with Tadesse, who UMD Media said was also reported to have reached the city with the others separately.

In a phone interview with BBC journalist Yemane Nagish, published under the headline “ብህይወት ክንወፅእ፡ ተስፋ ኣይነበረናን” (“We had no hope of getting out alive”), BBC Tigrinya said the four had been held first in Mekelle and then moved from place to place for about a week, kept in hotels and private houses. Tewelde said they were driven out of Mekelle late at night on the day the federal army entered the city and travelled all night. Tadesse and Isaias Tadesse, a former adviser, were left in Axum, he said, while he and Colonel Gebreegziabher Alemseged were taken to Adwa and held apart from each other for five days before all of them were moved to Rama. No one was allowed to see them, he said, family members could not ask after them, and they could not contact anyone. “You only see the guards,” he said.

Tewelde said there were no beatings or whippings, but that their treatment in Adwa was bad. In one house, he said, he was given food once in four days, and after four days the guards sent him injera with shiro at midday. “I think it was done on purpose,” he told the BBC. Conditions in Rama were better, he said, but the move there worried them. “Mereb is the last edge,” he said, referring to the river that marks the border, and he said they became convinced that their captors meant to take them across into Eritrea and would not free them. He declined to say how they got away. “It was our own effort,” he said, adding that many people had taken part and that the details would come out later. “We did not all believe we would survive, but we believed we could get out,” he said. “But we did it! We got out alive!”

Asked why they were held, Tewelde said the reason was political. He said they had refused calls to “let our overdue government be restored” (meaning the old regional government) and to break the Pretoria Agreement. “We said this will drag us into war,” he told the BBC. “At this time Tigray has no capacity to carry a war. The people do not want war. They want food, they want peace.” He rejected the explanation that the officials had been held for their own protection. There is no such thing as being guarded for your safety, he said, while you sit under Kalashnikov guard and cannot reach your family.

BBC Amharic reported on Sept. 24, a day after the war began, that Tigrayan forces had taken Tadesse from his home in Mekelle to a hotel after his guards were replaced, and that three other former officials of the interim administration had been taken in the same way. Reuters reported at the time that four veteran military leaders who had expressed doubts about a new war had been detained, according to Kulu Media. On Oct. 3, BBC Amharic quoted a family member as saying that about 20 members of the Tigrayan security forces had come to the hotel, where the officials refused to leave, and returned at about 11:30 that night, broke down the doors of their rooms and took them away. The family told the BBC they feared the men would be handed to the Eritrean government. BBC Amharic named Tewelde and Isaias Tadesse, a former head of political affairs for Tigrayan forces, among those held with him.

Tadesse commanded Tigrayan forces during the 2020 to 2022 war and was appointed president of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration in April 2025, after the TPLF pushed out Getachew Reda. The TPLF dismantled the interim administration in May 2026, restored Debretsion Gebremichael as regional president and placed Tadesse under house arrest, the International Crisis Group said this week.

News of the officials’ freedom first spread on Monday in a different form. Many accounts on social media described a “special operation” by the federal army and the Tigray Peace Force. Garowe Online wrote that Ethiopia had announced it rescued Tadesse and the others from a secure location inside Tigray, and an account relaying Tikvah Ethiopia said on Tuesday that the federal army had brought them to Mekelle. Some other accounts said Tigrayan forces had released them. Zegabi did not find a published statement from the Ethiopian National Defense Force or the federal government in Addis Ababa by Tuesday morning ET, and found no public comment from the TPLF. Zegabi could not independently confirm the details of the escape or that Tadesse had reached Mekelle.

The account comes as the authorities in Addis Ababa extend their hold over central Tigray. Residents told AFP that federal forces and the allied Tigray Peace Force entered Adwa on Sunday without a fight, a day after TPLF fighters withdrew, and the conflict monitor ACLED recorded the takeover the same day, Al Jazeera and Kulu Media reported. “All the shops in the town are closed. Last night, many government institutions, including Adwa Hospital, were looted,” a resident who gave his name only as Aferwerki told AFP. Another resident said government forces had deployed in the town but had not reached the center. “The roads are deserted. People are very afraid of theft,” he said. TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa told AFP he did not wish to comment. RFI Afrique reported that federal forces and the Tigray Peace Force also entered Axum on Monday without fighting.

On X, Jawar Mohammed (@Jawar_Mohammed), a member of the Oromo Federalist Congress, wrote on Monday that he had been told that “General Tadesse Worede and the other officers have been freed. They are now in the hands of ENDF/TPF forces and are reportedly safe,” and recalled that they had been moved toward the northern frontier, “raising fears that they might be handed over to the Eritrean regime.” Simon K Hagos (@tewerwari_1), who describes himself as an investigative journalist, replied that Jawar had earlier reported the generals were taken to Eritrea and was now saying they were free. Abel Tsgabu (@AbelTsgab), a journalist and former senior reporter at Addis Standard, wrote that Tadesse “has been freed and is now in the hands of the Tigray Peace Force,” and that in Mekelle “schools have reopened, though some remain closed after looting and vandalism.” Getachew Assefa (@GetachewAssefa_), a professor of sustainable design, wrote on Monday evening that Tadesse “is on his way to Mekelle and is expected to arrive tomorrow.” Natnael Mekonnen (@NatnaelMekonne7) wrote in Amharic, citing journalist Desye Ashenafi, that “በህውሃት ታስረው የነበሩት ጀነራል ታደሰ ወረደን ጨምሮ አራት አመራሮች በልዩ ኦፕሬሽን ነፃ ወጥተዋል” (“four leaders, including General Tadesse Werede, who had been held by the TPLF, were freed in a special operation”). In Tigrigna, the reaction was often bitter. The account @RayetayTdf05 (post) listed the freed men and wrote, “እዞም ፀረ ህዝቢ ራያ(ደም ኣሕዋትና አብ ኢዶም እንሆ)ብሕጊ ክሕተቱ እንሆዎም” (“these enemies of the Raya people, with our brothers’ blood on their hands, should now answer to the law”). The account 70-DAMO (@Agametay), whose bio reads “#FreeTigray,” wrote, “ብስልጣንን ስርቅን ስኒት ዝሳአኑ ውልቀ መለኽቲ ተፈቲሖም ዝብል ወረ ይውረ አሎ” (“a rumor is going around that dictators who fell out over power and theft have been freed”). Zegabi has not verified the claims in these posts.

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