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Fighting in Tigray continues after Ethiopian federal capture of Mekelle
Combat is still reported in Ethiopia’s Tigray region even after federal forces entered the regional capital Mekelle less than two weeks after fighting resumed with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, raising fresh doubts about the durability of the 2022 deal that ended the previous two‑year war.
New reports from northern Ethiopia say fighting is continuing in Tigray despite the federal army’s capture of the regional capital, Mekelle.
Ethiopian federal forces entered Mekelle less than two weeks after combat restarted in late September between the national army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). This new round of clashes comes after a 2022 agreement that had ended a two‑year civil war between Addis Ababa and Tigrayan forces.
The TPLF has described its departure from Mekelle and other main towns as a “strategic withdrawal,” indicating that it pulled out of key urban centers rather than face encirclement. That suggests Tigrayan fighters may now be regrouping away from the cities even as federal troops hold the main towns.
The renewed violence threatens what remained of the 2022 settlement, which had allowed some displaced people to return and limited reconstruction to begin in places like Mekelle. With fighting once again reported in Tigray, civilians who had started to rebuild face the possibility of shifting front lines and another round of displacement.
Aid agencies that re‑entered the region after the last war now confront a less predictable security environment. Supply routes that had reopened under the peace deal may become unreliable again if clashes spread along key roads.
Strategic signals to track include whether federal forces advance deeper into rural Tigray, any announcement of new talks between the government and the TPLF, and steps that affect humanitarian access such as restrictions on convoys. Those moves will indicate whether Ethiopia is edging toward a broader relapse into conflict in its north or whether the current fighting is contained.