Ethiopia secures Tigray capital as regional leaders convene in Egypt
Addis Ababa: Ethiopian federal forces held Tigray’s regional capital on Sunday after rebel leaders and fighters withdrew, as neighbouring countries with strained ties to Addis Ababa met in Egypt to assess the danger of the conflict spreading.
- Advertisement -
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) launched attacks on federal forces on September 23, reviving fears of a return to the devastating civil war that raged from 2020 to 2022.
Presidents from Egypt, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea — all of whom have difficult relations with Ethiopia — were due to meet in the Egyptian city of Alamein on Sunday to discuss the fighting.
Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of openly supporting the Tigray rebels, with backing from Sudan and Egypt. All three countries deny the allegations.
In a rapid counter-offensive, Ethiopian troops advanced deep into territory controlled by the rebels and entered the regional capital, Mekelle, on Saturday without encountering resistance. TPLF leaders and fighters had already left the city.
Federal troops patrolled Mekelle and occupied key institutions on Sunday, a local journalist told AFP. Communications were restored for the first time in more than a week.
“We have taken control of Mekelle and we are marching forward,” a commander with a pro-government militia told AFP.
Shops and businesses remained shut, while owners had moved their stock to safer places in anticipation of looting and vandalism.
“There are no police. Last night, we had to organise ourselves and take care of security,” one resident told AFP, speaking anonymously, as others did, because of the uncertainty surrounding the situation.
Egypt mini-summit
The Alamein meeting was scheduled to include Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, along with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). The talks were being held on the sidelines of an African Business Forum.
Eritrea, which shares a lengthy border with Tigray, has the most direct stake in the fighting.
It accuses landlocked Ethiopia of seeking to invade the country and secure access to its coastline. Analysts say Eritrea has supported Ethiopian rebels in an effort to prevent the conflict from reaching its own border.
The TPLF has long been Tigray’s dominant political and military force, and earlier this year removed an administration appointed by the federal government.
Debretsion Gebremichael, the rebels’ leader, suggested this week that the group would resume guerrilla-style attacks, as it did after Mekelle was captured by government forces in 2020 during the previous war.
That insurgency eventually enabled the TPLF to recapture the city the following year.
“We operate under a strategy to strike the enemy wherever we choose,” Debretsion said.
The TPLF governed Ethiopia from 1991 until 2018, when it was sidelined following the rise of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who comes from the Oromia region.
The resulting tensions contributed to a civil war that lasted from 2020 to 2022 and killed more than 600,000 people, according to the African Union, making it one of the world’s deadliest conflicts in recent times.
The 2022 Pretoria peace agreement, brokered by African institutions and Washington, was never fully implemented. It nevertheless helped preserve a measure of peace until last year.
