Tigrayan forces seized the main airport in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region overnight, local sources said Wednesday, as Ethiopian Airlines suspended flights to several cities amid mounting fears of renewed conflict.
Three local sources, including a security source, told Reuters that Tigrayan forces had taken control of Mekelle airport from federal police.
State-owned Ethiopian Airlines said flights to the regional capital Mekelle and the cities of Shire and Axum had been suspended because of “the current situation in Tigray region.” The airline gave no further details, and the situation in Shire and Axum could not immediately be independently confirmed.
The seizure marks the latest escalation in months of worsening relations between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, which controls Tigray.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office, the federal government and the TPLF did not immediately comment on the airport takeover.
The tensions have revived fears of another major conflict in northern Ethiopia, less than four years after a peace agreement ended a devastating war between federal forces and the TPLF.
The 2020-2022 conflict followed the collapse of relations between Abiy and the TPLF, which had dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before Abiy became prime minister in 2018. Hundreds of thousands of people were estimated to have died during the war.
The two sides signed the Pretoria Agreement in November 2022, but relations have since deteriorated, with both accusing the other of violating the peace deal.
In May, the TPLF took control of Tigray’s regional government from the interim administration established under the Pretoria agreement.
Tensions escalated further on Sunday when the TPLF and six other armed groups from across Ethiopia announced the formation of an alliance aimed at removing Abiy’s government.
Abiy’s spokesperson Billene Seyoum said Monday that members of the alliance had already been cooperating and accused neighbouring Eritrea of providing them with financial backing.
Eritrea has repeatedly denied accusations that it supports armed groups operating in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian political analyst Jawar Mohammed, a former close ally of Abiy, said he did not believe the TPLF was confident enough to launch another full-scale war.
He said the latest moves could instead be intended to demonstrate strength and pressure the international community to intervene more forcefully in implementing the Pretoria peace agreement.
The Ethiopian military has also carried out several drone strikes against Tigrayan forces in recent months, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
The United States on Tuesday condemned a recent drone strike on a Catholic Relief Services humanitarian convoy in Tigray and called for a full investigation, without assigning responsibility for the attack.
The Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat said the Sunday strike destroyed a truck carrying food aid intended for internally displaced people.
The federal government has not publicly commented on the reported drone strikes in Tigray.
