{"id":179663,"date":"2026-10-27T09:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T13:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/?p=179663"},"modified":"2026-10-27T13:59:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:59:49","slug":"tigray-peace-force-says-senior-commander-john-medid-surrendered-in-central-tigray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/179663","title":{"rendered":"Tigray Peace Force Says Senior Commander John Medid Surrendered in Central Tigray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maj. Gen. Yohannes Woldegiorgis, who led the Tigray forces\u2019 Southern Front and is widely known as John Medid, surrendered to the Ethiopian National Defense Force and its partner, the Tigray Peace Force, in Central Tigray on Monday, a Tigray Peace Force commander and two sources close to the Ethiopian army told BBC Tigrinya.<\/p>\n

In the Amhara region, the war between the federal government in Addis Ababa and Fano forces has spread across South Gondar since Saturday, residents told DW, as Zegabi reported<\/a>. The army chief, Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, said on Sunday that the TPLF had opened the current war on Sept. 23 on the North Wollo, Wag and Afar fronts on behalf of what he called the \u201cTsimdo,\u201d the alliance of seven armed and political groups that includes the TPLF, the Amhara Fano National Movement and the Oromo Liberation Army, as Zegabi reported<\/a>. The war that brought the general down began on Sept. 23 and has been fought well beyond Tigray. Federal troops and the Tigray Peace Force now hold most of Tigray, including Mekelle, and the authorities in Addis Ababa have named a caretaker administration to run the region for six months. TPLF leaders say they are still fighting a mobile war in several areas.<\/p>\n

The sources told the BBC that the general was surrounded on Monday in a place called Simret, in Rama woreda of Tigray\u2019s Central Zone near the Eritrean border, together with his guards and seven commanders said to hold the rank of colonel, and one of them said he was taken to the town of Adwa soon afterward. Brig. Gen. Gebregziabher Beyene, who heads security and peace in the federally appointed Tigray caretaker administration and commands the Tigray Peace Force, confirmed to the BBC<\/a> that the general had surrendered and said he had spoken with him by telephone. Gebregziabher called John Medid a fellow fighter, a comrade and his former boss, and said, \u201cI am very happy that he survived.\u201d He also said there had been fighting before the surrender.<\/p>\n

A senior figure in the Tigray Defense Forces who asked the BBC not to name him gave a different account. He said John Medid had been replaced at his front and ordered to report to the central command, but stayed instead around Adet, the village in Central Tigray where he was born, with his guards and a small force. Fighters of the Tigray forces\u2019 Army 60 fought to clear a road for him to reach the central command, the source said, but the general refused to travel it, saying it was not safe, and was taken \u201cwithout fighting.\u201d The source went further and suggested he \u201cmay have negotiated in advance,\u201d then \u201csurrendered when the shooting started.\u201d The BBC said it could not confirm that claim, or either side\u2019s account of whether there was fighting at the time, and that neither the Ethiopian federal government nor the TPLF had issued an official statement.<\/p>\n

DW Amharic reported on Tuesday that the general \u201csurrendered yesterday\u201d to the national army and the Tigray Peace Force after federal forces surrounded him in Simret, and that 25 of his aides, ranking from major to colonel, were also taken, according to a Tigray Peace Force official who asked not to be named, as DW\u2019s Yohannes Gebregziabher reported<\/a> on the broadcaster\u2019s northern Ethiopia live blog. On Monday, Wazema Radio reported<\/a> that the Tigray Peace Force had confirmed the general was in the hands of government forces but had not said whether he was captured in battle, surrendered or was found in hiding, or when and where. Wazema also said residents told it that government forces and TPLF fighters fought in and around the town of Chila in Central Tigray from Sunday until noon on Monday, with heavy weapons and drones, and that the TPLF said in a statement that a drone strike in the area killed seven young men who were digging for gold by hand.<\/p>\n

The BBC named two other senior officers it said were taken with him, Col. Hagos Gebregziabher, known as Zemecha, and the head of the Southern Front\u2019s finance office. According to the BBC\u2019s sources, the Southern Front that John Medid led was made up of the 24th, 26th, 22nd, 44th and 43rd armies, based before the war at Alamata, Samre, Mekelle, Adi Gudem and Mekoni, and after the fighting in southern Tigray he handed it over to Brig. Gen. Abraha Tesfay, known as Dinkul. Before he joined the Tigray forces he was a senior commander in the federal army, and he later became one of the officers credited with rebuilding the Tigray forces after their early losses in the 2020 to 2022 war, BBC Amharic reported<\/a>. When the TPLF split, he sided with the party\u2019s chairman, Debretsion Gebremichael, against the interim administration of Getachew Reda, the BBC said, while DW reported that he had also held a different view from Debretsion\u2019s group and argued against a \u201cTsimdo,\u201d or alliance, with Eritrea.<\/p>\n

DW recalled that he is best known in Tigray for a speech in which he said a generation \u201cmust be prepared for sacrifice\u201d for \u201cthe next 50 years, 100 years,\u201d words that Tigrayan politicians, and Tigrayan mothers above all, criticized as cruel.<\/p>\n

On X, the news was argued over in Tigrigna, Amharic and Arabic. Abrha_M (@Abrha_MG<\/a>) wrote in Tigrigna, \u201cThank you John Medid. There is no need to belittle the price you paid for Tigray\u2019s national struggle since you were a child. In struggle there is sacrifice, falling, winning, being captured and surrendering,\u201d and posted a photo he said showed the general \u201cleading his command in Wegel Tena, Amhara 2021.\u201d An account posting as \u201cEritrea to \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf7s\u201d (@meha65796<\/a>) called it \u201cbright news of victory\u201d in Tigrigna and wrote that the general, \u201cknown for his cruel speech \u2018one generation must be prepared for sacrifice!\u2019,\u201d came under the control of the ENDF and the Tigray Peace Force in fighting at Chila, in Simret tabia, together with his staff and guards and with Col. Hagos, the Southern Front\u2019s head of operations. Mesfin (@princeMesfin<\/a>) looked at a photo of the general beside men in army uniform and wrote in Amharic, \u201cDon\u2019t they look like old friends who lost touch, not men who fought each other?\u201d and asked, \u201cHow many young men have died for nothing to keep the balance of power of these jokers?\u201d Nur Abda (@NurAbda<\/a>), who describes himself as the head of a center for strategic studies and regional integration initiatives in Ethiopia, wrote in Arabic that the general led the Southern Front that attacked the Kobo front on Sept. 23 \u201cwith the aim of advancing quickly toward the capital, Addis Ababa,\u201d and that \u201cit is still unclear whether he surrendered to the federal army, was found hiding or was arrested on the battlefield.\u201d Tinsae Mulatu (@TinsaeMON<\/a>), whose profile says he is from Tigray, wrote in English on Monday night that \u201cno independently verified evidence\u201d confirmed the surrender and that \u201ca photograph is not proof of surrender.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n