Ethiopian forces retake Mekelle from TPLF rebels — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Tigray Peace Forces militia and the Ethiopian military entered central Mekelle on Saturday, with the militia confirming control in a Facebook post.
- TPLF confirmed retreating from the capital and announced the regional government would temporarily relocate to another location in Tigray.
- The loss of Mekelle reverses the TPLF's position after it launched a major offensive against the Ethiopian military on September 23, in what analysts call the worst escalation since the 2020-2022 civil war.
- Ethiopia's federal government severed diplomatic ties with Eritrea last week, accusing Asmara — alongside Sudan and Egypt — of supporting the rebel alliance.
- Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty denied backing the TPLF, calling the crisis a domestic Ethiopian matter ahead of a Sunday regional summit with his Eritrean, Somali, and Sudanese counterparts.
- Egypt frames Ethiopia's Nile dam as "life or death for 110 million people," a longstanding bilateral flashpoint now layered onto the Tigray fighting.
Why it matters: The fall of Mekelle wipes out the TPLF's biggest gain from its September 23 offensive and hands the federal government a decisive battlefield win, but Ethiopia's diplomatic rupture with Eritrea and a Sunday summit pulling in Egypt, Somalia, and Sudan's army chief show the war is already drawing in neighbors — with the Nile dam dispute as a parallel Egypt-Ethiopia flashpoint.
Ask SkimNews
