Ethiopian forces retake Mekelle airport, ten days after Tigrayan fighters seized it

Ethiopian federal forces have retaken Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, according to residents and a humanitarian source who spoke to Reuters on Saturday. The airport, about 10 kilometres from the city centre, was one of three Tigrayan airfields seized when fighting restarted on 23 September. Ethiopian Airlines then suspended flights to Mekelle, Axum and Shire. Ten days later the field is reported back in government hands. Neither the federal government nor the Tigray People's Liberation Front has issued a formal statement.

The Associated Press, quoting people in the city and an Ethiopian general who would not be named, said the military was in full control of the airport. The AP could not fix the hour the field changed hands, or whether the takeover involved a fight on the runway. Phone and internet links into Tigray have been badly cut, which is why the accounts are coming from unnamed residents and from a general speaking on condition of anonymity. A Mekelle resident told Reuters they could hear gunfire outside the city centre, had seen some Tigrayan Defence Force fighters leave their posts and head home, and had seen looting of government buildings.

AFP's picture is a step behind the airport claim. A local journalist and residents told the agency that TPLF fighters and leaders were leaving the city, and that federal troops had not yet been seen in the centre. One resident said government and public property could be looted because no security force was in the city. Another said they wanted a return to order and were afraid for their life. Those two reports can both be true if the army holds the airfield and has not yet walked into the streets. They cannot both be true if someone claims the city itself has been secured. As of Saturday, nobody official has claimed that.

The airport is the practical prize. Without it, Mekelle has no scheduled air link, aid flights have nowhere obvious to land, and the federal government cannot move troops or officials in by air. With it, Addis Ababa has a foothold 10 kilometres from the capital of the region, and Ethiopian Airlines has a field it could reopen. The carrier has not said when, or whether, the Mekelle service returns. Axum and Shire were also taken on 23 September. Saturday's accounts do not say who holds those two.

The wider break is already public. This week the federal government severed diplomatic ties with Eritrea and accused Asmara of backing the rebel alliance, alongside Sudan and Egypt. All three deny it. The African Union has urged restraint and warned that the new fighting threatens the peace agreement signed in 2022. That agreement stopped the last war. It did not dissolve the TPLF, and it did not settle who commands the security forces in Tigray. The September seizure of three airports showed the gap. The reported recapture of one of them shows that the gap is being fought over, not closed.

What would settle the Saturday claim is a named official, a photograph of the terminal, or a flight plan. Until one of those appears, the best open record is the overlap between Reuters, the AP and AFP. Federal forces are reported at the airport. Tigrayan fighters are reported leaving. The city centre is reported thin of police. Looting has been reported. The 2022 deal is still the document both sides will be asked to cite, and it does not, on its own, say who sleeps at Alula Aba Nega tonight.