Statement Attributed to TPLF-Led Tigray Authorities Rejects Caretaker Administration and Warns Against “Any Movement” at Mekelle Airport; Getachew Reda Condemns It

Statement Attributed to TPLF-Led Tigray Authorities Rejects Caretaker Administration and Warns Against “Any Movement” at Mekelle Airport; Getachew Reda Condemns It

October 17, 2026

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The one-page statement signed “Government of Tigray” and dated 06 Tikimt 2019 in the Ethiopian calendar (Oct. 16, 2026), which rejects the federal caretaker administration and warns against movement at Mekelle’s airport. Getachew Reda posted it on X while condemning it. [Government of Tigray statement, via Getachew Reda / @reda_getachew on X]

A one-page Tigrigna statement signed “Government of Tigray,” dated Friday, Oct. 16, and attributed to the TPLF-led authorities who ran Tigray until federal forces retook Mekelle this month, rejects the six-month caretaker administration named by the Ethiopian federal government and warns against “any kind of movement” at Mekelle’s Alula Aba Nega Airport.

The statement, on the letterhead of the Office of the President of the Tigray regional state and dated 06 Tikimt 2019 in the Ethiopian calendar, says any decision issued in the name of the caretaker administration has “neither legality nor enforceability,” according to translations published by BBC Amharic and Kulu Media. Zegabi could not independently confirm the document’s authenticity, and the TPLF had not publicly confirmed or disowned it by Saturday morning ET. It warns that any institution, at any level, that works with the new body will be regarded as part of the ruling Prosperity Party and held accountable. BBC Amharic, which said the statement came from the administration led by TPLF chairman Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael, reported that it describes the caretaker body as a means “to complete, with the backing of bandas, the genocidal policy begun against the people of Tigray,” using the old word for collaborators. BBC Tigrinya reported that the statement calls the federal move a new campaign of invasion “guided by a few Tigrayan traitors.”

The sharpest warning concerns the airport. The statement says Alula Aba Nega has “stopped providing civilian transport services” and is being used to move military forces, personnel and logistics, in the translation published by HahuPrime, and it accuses the federal government of turning to the airport because roads into the region had been cut. Kulu Media said it could not independently verify the accusation that the federal government is using the airport to move troops and supplies. “Therefore, we strongly warn that no movement of any kind be made at the airport,” the statement says. HahuPrime, which said it had seen the document but could not independently verify its authenticity, noted that the letter does not say what would happen to anyone who ignores the warning and makes no explicit reference to civilian aircraft.

A third section bars anyone from using Bajaj three-wheelers, motorcycles, bicycles or other vehicles to travel into areas where the group’s forces operate without permission from what it calls the legitimate Tigray administration and army. The statement says information “obtained directly from arrested traitors” showed that people were using small vehicles and carrying communications equipment to travel from towns to rural areas and spy. Kulu Media said the espionage allegations were not accompanied by independently verifiable evidence, and BBC Tigrinya, which reported both the airport accusation and the travel ban, said it had not independently verified the claims.

Getachew Reda, adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on East African affairs and a former president of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration, posted the document on X on Friday afternoon ET and condemned it. “The defunct TPLF leadership has officially admitted to having decided to resort to classic terrorist tactics in order to remind the people of Tigray that there was once such a thing as TPLF,” Getachew wrote. “They are telling us that they will shoot down civilian planes en route to Mekelle, among other heinous crimes it craves to commit. Yet another good reason why the people of Tigray are better off without these lunatics.” Kulu Media noted that the line about shooting down planes was Getachew’s interpretation of the statement and not an explicit declaration in the translated text.

The warning came five days after Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to Mekelle on Oct. 11, following a suspension of nearly three weeks, with Getachew and senior federal officials aboard the first flight. Tigray forces had taken the airports at Mekelle, Shire and Axum when the fighting began, a move that drew objections from the African Union, the European Union and the British government, BBC Amharic reported, and the airports returned to federal control as Ethiopian federal forces and the allied Tigray Peace Force took the main towns. HahuPrime reported that as of Friday night Ethiopian Airlines had announced no change to its Mekelle schedule, and that beyond Getachew’s remarks there had been no formal statement from the federal government, the Office of the Prime Minister or the airline. BBC Tigrinya recalled that accusations about the airline carrying soldiers are not new, and that during the 2020 to 2022 war Ethiopian Airlines rejected as “baseless” claims that it had flown troops and weapons. By Saturday morning ET, Zegabi had found no announcement of a new flight suspension.

The caretaker administration that the statement rejects was announced on Friday by the Office of the Prime Minister, which named five officials to run Tigray for six months under the direction of the authorities in Addis Ababa, restore services, help displaced people return home and prepare elections, according to the Ethiopian News Agency. Abiy Ahmed’s regime said in that announcement that the TPLF leadership had obstructed the Pretoria Agreement and that the latest war had ended in the group’s defeat.

The announcement also reshaped other Tigrayan groups. The Tigray Peace and Change Council led by Lieutenant General Tsadkan Gebretensae, which brought together politicians who broke with the TPLF, eight Tigrayan parties including Getachew’s Democratic Simret of Tigray (Simret) party, and civic groups, announced hours after the caretaker news that it would no longer continue “in the structure in which it was established,” BBC Amharic and BBC Tigrinya reported. Kebede Assefa, the council’s media and public relations coordinator, told BBC that because the federal government had decided to take on the work of peace, stabilization and setting up an interim administration itself, “the continuation of this temporary grouping was found unnecessary,” and that its members would support the federal effort jointly and separately. Tigray Democratic Party chairman Aregawi Berhe told ENA that the caretaker administration is a necessary and positive step toward lasting peace and constitutional order, and Aregawi urged its members to work transparently and under strong oversight.

On X, the statement drew alarm, scorn and some doubt. Getachew Temare (@getachew_temare), whose bio describes him as a lawyer and human rights defender, wrote that “the threat posed to civilian aviation by remnants of the TPLF in Tigray is alarming,” and that “having lost the capital and the airport, its leadership is warning against any movement there, alleging military use, just as civilian flights and ordinary life are returning. It is a visible sign of desperation.” Jawar Mohammed (@Jawar_Mohammed), whose bio says he is currently a member of the Oromo Federalist Congress, asked in Amharic, “ህወሀቶች የመቀሌን ኤርፖርት ለመምታት አስጠነቀቁ ነው የምትሉኝ? ከሆነ፣ እውነትም ይህ ቡድን አንዳበቃለት አረጋግጧል” (“Are you telling me the TPLF people have warned they will strike Mekelle’s airport? If so, this group has truly proven that it is finished”), and added “የሚያረጉት አይመስለኝም” (“I don’t think they will do it”), arguing that an attack on civilian planes or the airport would bring international condemnation and a terrorist label, expose Eritrea to greater danger and hand Abiy Ahmed “an extra favour.” Girmay Ekubay (@GirmayU) shared the letter in Tigrigna and asked, “እዚ ደብዳቤ እዚ ንህዝቢ ትግራይ ዘለዎ ረብሓን ጉድኣትን ዘመዘበነ ዶ ይመስለኩም” (“Do you think this letter weighed the benefit and harm it carries for the people of Tigray?”), answering with the proverb of the donkey, “ብድሕረይ ዳንዴር ኣይትብቆላ” (“after me, let no grass grow”). The account ZTWJ (@ZeraTsionWJ) posted the same document in Tigrigna as “ካብ መንግስቲ ትግራይ ዝተውሃበ እዋናዊ መግለጺ” (“a timely statement issued by the Government of Tigray”). Martin Plaut (@martinplaut), whose bio says he is a fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, posted an English translation of the travel ban, which says “no one is permitted to use any vehicle to travel to areas where our forces are operating without authorization from the legitimate Tigray government administration and the Tigray forces.” Abel Tsgabu (@AbelTsgab), whose bio describes him as a journalist and former senior reporter at Addis Standard, wrote that the “TPLF warns against any movement at Mekelle Airport, claiming it is being used for military logistics.” Sulamit (@Sulamit_Wegahta) asked, “So, did Tplf get resurrected? The psudo [sic] analysts thought the war ended when Tplf left Mekelle.” The Arabic channel Al Hadath (@AlHadath) summed up the day as “أبي أحمد يعلن إدارة انتقالية لتيغراي لمدة 6 أشهر… وجبهة تحرير شعب تيغراي ترفض الإدارة الجديدة” (“Abiy Ahmed announces a six-month transitional administration for Tigray… and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front rejects the new administration”). Zegabi has not verified the claims made in these posts.

Sources