Ethiopian federal troops and allied fighters were in control of the Tigray capital Mekelle on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) withdrew from the city, while the leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan met in Egypt amid fears of a wider Horn of Africa war, Al Jazeera and AFP reported.
The TPLF said in a statement late Saturday that it had “temporarily moved out of Mekelle” and that its regional administration would “operate from somewhere else.” A source close to the pro-government Tigray Peace Force told Reuters its fighters entered the city center on Saturday afternoon, followed by the Ethiopian military.
How federal forces took the Tigray capital Mekelle
The advance began with the airport. Federal forces retook Mekelle’s Alula Aba Nega Airport on Saturday, residents told the Associated Press, reversing a TPLF takeover on Sept. 23 that had led Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to Mekelle, Axum and Shire.
Government troops entered the city without a fight as TPLF leaders and fighters left, Africanews reported, citing AFP. By Sunday, federal soldiers were patrolling and guarding key institutions, and communications were restored for the first time in more than a week. “We have taken control of Mekelle and we are marching forward,” a pro-government militia commander told AFP.
Residents, security and the risk of guerrilla war
Shops and businesses stayed shut on Sunday, with owners having moved stock ahead of time for fear of looting. “There are no police,” one resident told AFP, adding that neighbors had organized their own security overnight. Another resident said the drop in fighting brought some relief but that he feared the conflict would drag on.
TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael has signaled the group could return to guerrilla tactics. “We operate under a strategy to strike the enemy wherever we choose,” he said, according to AFP. When Mekelle fell to federal forces in November 2020, the TPLF regrouped and retook the city the following year. An analyst quoted by the AP said the Tigray Peace Force, a breakaway Tigrayan faction fighting alongside the army, makes the current conflict different from the last one.
The 2020–2022 war killed more than 600,000 people, according to the African Union. The Pretoria agreement that ended it was never fully implemented, and fighting resumed on Sept. 23 after seven armed and political groups formed an alliance aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. The Boston Report tracked the run-up in Ethiopia and Eritrea cutting ties as the Tigray war widened.
Regional summit in El-Alamein
As federal troops consolidated control, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi hosted Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in El-Alamein. Their joint statement called for disputes to be resolved peacefully, respect for international law and “non-interference in the internal affairs of states,” and voiced opposition to “unilateral measures” that could harm downstream countries, an apparent reference to Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Nile.
Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of directly backing the Tigrayan rebels, with support from Sudan and Egypt; all three deny it. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo has “absolutely nothing to do” with events in Ethiopia. On Saturday, the U.S. State Department urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to respect their neighbors’ sovereignty, exercise maximum restraint and return to dialogue, warning the tensions could affect the entire region.
What comes next for Tigray
The fall of the Tigray capital Mekelle gives Addis Ababa a major symbolic and logistical gain, but the TPLF’s decision to withdraw rather than fight for the city leaves its forces largely intact. Key questions include whether a new regional administration is installed, how quickly humanitarian access and flights resume, and whether tensions along the Eritrean border escalate. With Sudan’s war still raging next door, as seen in our coverage of the Sudan Kordofan corridor battle, the Horn of Africa now faces overlapping conflicts with cross-border stakes.