Hundreds of Former Tigray Fighters Register for Reintegration in Mekelle, AP Reports; One Says He Refused a TPLF Call to Rejoin His Unit

Hundreds of Former Tigray Fighters Register for Reintegration in Mekelle, AP Reports; One Says He Refused a TPLF Call to Rejoin His Unit

October 17, 2026

News and Articles

Men line up at a registration center in Mekelle after the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program for former Tigray fighters resumed, in a photo the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation published on Oct. 13. [Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation / @ebczena]

Hundreds of former Tigrayan fighters lined up in Mekelle on Friday to register for a program meant to help them return to civilian life, the Associated Press reported, and one of them, a 33-year-old day laborer, said he had turned down a TPLF call to rejoin his old unit because he wanted to raise his children.

At the Tigray Martyrs’ Memorial Monument, former fighters stood in line to register with the authorities, some carrying papers and others sheltering under umbrellas, AP reported. Registration at the site began on Wednesday, and the authorities declined to say how many people had signed up. “We were called upon by the TPLF to rejoin our former comrades and units, and doing so was even considered mandatory,” Filmon Gebreselassie told AP. “However, I did not want to return (to war). I decided instead to focus on raising my children.” Filmon said he had disarmed after the 2022 peace agreement but could not register before the reintegration program was suspended as tensions rose again, and that other men were signing up because they did not want to fight again. Many young men at the registration office declined to be interviewed, citing fear of retaliation from the TPLF, the agency reported.

AFP, in a report carried by Africanews, also described ex-combatants lining up at the memorial since Wednesday, “barely two weeks after federal forces recaptured the city from Tigray rebels.” Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former Tigrayan fighters is part of the 2022 Pretoria agreement, which AP said the renewed fighting of recent weeks has effectively shattered.

Earlier reports placed the restart a few days before the memorial queues and at a different site. The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Oct. 13 that the previously suspended program was underway again and that young fighters were reporting to a registration center at the Tigray Police Commission in Mekelle, many of them after handing their weapons to nearby units of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. UMD Media reported on Oct. 12 that Mekelle’s FM radio station announced the resumption in its first Facebook post since the city came under the control of federal forces and the Tigray Peace Force, and noted that the number of fighters registered, the weapons surrendered and the help on offer had not been disclosed. On Oct. 10, Brigadier General Derbie Mekuriaw, deputy commissioner of the National Rehabilitation Commission, told the Ethiopian News Agency that the commission had set up reception points in Maichew, Mehoni, Mekelle, Adigrat, Wukro, Adwa, Axum, Abi Adi and Shire. Derbie said the identities and military status of those who report would be checked, and that people accused of crimes would face accountability procedures. He also accused a faction of the TPLF of obstructing the process and recruiting more young people into the war.

The Ethiopian Gov’t has folded the program into the work of the six-month caretaker administration it named for Tigray on Friday, which is charged with facilitating the disarmament and reintegration of armed fighters alongside federal defense, police and regional security forces, ENA reported. Brigadier General Gebreegziabher Beyene Hailu was named chief executive for peace and security. Kulu Media cautioned that registration is only the first step and does not mean participants have finished disarming or received any reintegration support.

The TPLF has tried to keep its fighters in the field. In an Oct. 14 statement on its official Facebook page, the TPLF denounced Tigrayans collaborating with the federal government in Addis Ababa as “traitors” and said they would face “accountability and public judgment,” AP reported, adding that the rebels have urged their forces to keep fighting. Human Rights Watch reported in June that the Tigrayan authorities then in charge of Mekelle had ordered former fighters back to their units in a compulsory recruitment campaign, and a TPLF spokesperson told the watchdog that those defending the region were volunteers. On Friday, a statement signed “Government of Tigray” rejected the caretaker administration and barred unauthorized travel into areas where its forces operate. Magnus Taylor, deputy Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group, told AP, “We shouldn’t imagine that this conflict is completely over just because the TPLF has lost Mekelle,” and said holding towns and roads would hamper Tigrayan fighters without necessarily securing the rural areas where they regrouped during the last war.

On X, the queues drew hope, mockery and practical questions. The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (@ebczena) wrote that “hope and peace return to Tigray as former combatants’ hand in their weapons with the resumption” of the program. Gazette Plus Arabic (@gazette_arabic), whose bio says it is a platform of the Ethiopian Press Agency, wrote that “أعلنت اللجنة الوطنية لإعادة الإدماج عودة أكثر من 92 ألف مقاتل سابق إلى الحياة السلمية، بينهم 63,950 من تيغراي” (“the National Rehabilitation Commission announced the return of more than 92,000 former fighters to peaceful life, among them 63,950 from Tigray”), a nationwide tally that also counted former fighters from Amhara and Oromia and that Zegabi has not independently verified. Behaylu Belachew (@belachew89) wrote in Amharic on Oct. 14, “ዲዲአሩ ውሸት ከሆነ መቐለ ትመስክር ለዛውም 8000 ዲዲአር ትመዝጋቢ ነው በዛሬው እለት ብቻ ሊመዘገብ የመጣው” (“if the DDR is a lie, let Mekelle bear witness; 8,000 DDR registrants came to register today alone”), a figure no official has published and the authorities declined to give AP. In Tigrigna, mebrahtu kelele (@mebrahtuke13004) answered a post about the Tigray Defense Forces by asking, “ኣበይ ዘሎ ቲዲኤፍ እዩ? ኩላ ተማሪኻን ዲዲኣር ተሰሊፋን እያ” (“Which TDF is that? All of it has been captured or has lined up for DDR”), while ZTWJ (@ZeraTsionWJ) wrote on Oct. 14, “መኸተና ብዓወት ንምኽምባት ኣብ ወሳኒ ግጥም ኣለና” (“we are in a decisive battle to crown our resistance with victory”), saying “ከዳዓትን ባንዳታትን” (“traitors and collaborators”) had come in alongside the federal army. Abebe (@Abebe57812398) wrote, “I don’t know how long the DDR takes, but decentralizing the registration center could help shorten the queues.” Getachew Temare (@getachew_temare), whose bio describes him as a lawyer and human rights defender, wrote that “former fighters are seeking civilian reintegration, flights are returning, and the clearest signal from ordinary Tigrayans is exhaustion with war and a demand for normalcy.” The Arabic news account Ain Africa (@AinAfrica) relayed the AFP report as “مئات من مقاتلي تيغراي السابقين يصطفّون للعودة إلى الحياة المدنية” (“hundreds of former Tigray fighters line up to return to civilian life”). Zegabi has not verified the claims made in these posts.

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