Tigrayan rebel forces have seized control of the main airport in the regional capital Mekelle, security and local sources have said, in a sharp escalation of tensions that threatens to unravel a 2022 peace deal that ended one of Africa’s deadliest wars.
Staff arriving for work at Alula Aba Nega Airport on Wednesday morning were told to return home after supervisors said the facility had been taken over by Tigray forces, an airport employee told AFP. The account was confirmed by a foreign security source based in Ethiopia.
A small contingent of federal police had been guarding the airport. Their condition was not immediately known.
Flight tracking data showed that the morning service between Mekelle and the federal capital Addis Ababa had been cancelled. Ethiopian Airlines later said it had suspended all flights to Tigray – including to Mekelle, Shire and Axum – “due to the current situation in Tigray region”. 5286
The takeover comes days after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which governs the northern region, announced it had joined a new alliance of seven anti-government armed groups seeking to remove Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and establish a transitional administration. 5286
The TPLF fought a devastating two-year civil war with the federal government from 2020 to 2022 that killed an estimated 600,000 people, according to African Union figures. The war ended with the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in November 2022, which allowed federal institutions, including federal police at airports, to return to Tigray and restored commercial flights – seen as a key symbol of normalisation.
That agreement has come under growing strain.
In recent months, sporadic clashes have been reported along Tigray’s borders with the Afar and Amhara regions. The federal government has been accused of launching drone strikes inside Tigray and massing troops at the regional border, while rights groups have accused the TPLF of forced recruitment campaigns this year as it prepares for renewed conflict.
On Wednesday, the Tigray regional government said its fighters had entered a “defensive war” against federal troops, while an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy said Tigrayan forces had launched an offensive against federal positions in Afar and Amhara and taken over federal-controlled airports in Tigray.
In May, the TPLF seized control of Tigray’s interim regional administration set up under the Pretoria deal, further straining relations with Addis Ababa.
The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 until 2018, when Abiy came to power and sidelined the party, eventually triggering the war. Abiy’s government now faces multiple insurgencies beyond Tigray, including protracted conflicts with the Oromo Liberation Army in Oromia, Ethiopia’s most populous region, and with Fano militias in neighbouring Amhara.
There was no immediate comment from federal government spokespeople on Wednesday’s airport seizure. The TPLF also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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