Tigrayan forces seized the main airport in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region overnight, three local sources said on Wednesday, and Ethiopian Airlines immediately suspended flights to the area as fears grew of a return to war.
The state owned carrier said on social media that services to the regional capital Mekelle and the cities of Shire and Axum had been halted because of the current situation in Tigray. It gave no further details. Reuters could not immediately confirm conditions in Shire and Axum.
Three local sources, including one security official, told Reuters that Tigrayan forces had taken Mekelle airport from federal police during the night.
The development follows months of worsening relations between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the party that governs the region. The two sides fought a war from 2020 to 2022 that left hundreds of thousands dead.
On Sunday the TPLF and six other armed groups from across Ethiopia announced they had formed an alliance with the aim of overthrowing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government.
Spokespeople for Mr Abiy, the federal government and the TPLF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The 2020 to 2022 conflict began after relations collapsed between the TPLF, which had dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades, and Mr Abiy, who became prime minister in 2018 and ended that dominance.
The two sides signed the Pretoria Agreement in November 2022 to end the fighting, but each has since accused the other of breaking the deal.
In May the TPLF took control of the regional government from the interim administration set up under the peace agreement.
Mr Abiy’s spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters on Monday that members of the newly announced alliance had been working together for some time with financial support from Eritrea, Ethiopia’s neighbour and historic rival. Eritrea has repeatedly denied backing armed groups inside Ethiopia.
Ethiopian political analyst Jawar Mohammed, once a close ally of Mr Abiy, said he did not believe the TPLF had the confidence to start a full scale war.
“It could be flexing muscles to appeal to the international community to step in and activate Pretoria more strongly,” he said.
In recent months the Ethiopian military has carried out several drone strikes against Tigrayan forces, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project.
On Tuesday the United States condemned a recent drone strike on a Catholic Relief Services aid convoy in Tigray and called for a full investigation, without naming those responsible.
The Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat in northern Tigray said the Sunday strike destroyed a lorry carrying more than 41,000 tonnes of food aid intended for internally displaced people.
The federal government has not commented on any of the reported strikes in Tigray.
By A.Ikechukwu
