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Tigray's caretaker leadership tells rebels to go home as their commander calls for attacks
Redae Halefom urged fighters in Mekelle to return to civilian life. A day earlier, Lt Gen Fisseha Kidanu went on a new rebel TV channel to say Tigray was still at war.
Key points
- Caretaker official Redae Halefom Woldeselassie urged Tigrayan fighters to lay down their weapons.
- Lt Gen Fisseha Kidanu, named as commander of the Tigray army, called for attacks on government-held positions.
- Government-allied forces entered Mekelle on 4 October, and a six-month caretaker administration now runs the region.
A senior figure in Tigray’s new caretaker administration on Friday urged rebel fighters to give up their weapons and go home, a day after the man named as their commander called on them to keep attacking Ethiopian government forces.
“This is not the time for settling scores. I call upon you to return to your homes and continue your civilian lives,” Redae Halefom Woldeselassie said in Mekelle, the regional capital. He said the fighting served a small clique of leaders, not the people of Tigray.
On Thursday, Lt Gen Fisseha Kidanu, identified as commander of the Tigray army, appeared on Tigray Broadcast Media, a new rebel television channel, from an undisclosed location. “Local militias across the region, alongside all volunteers joining the resistance, are expected to engage the enemy,” he said, insisting that Tigray was still at war.
A peace deal in pieces
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) pulled out of Mekelle after government-allied forces entered the city on 4 October. Ethiopia has since installed a caretaker administration for six months, promising to restore services, help displaced people return home and prepare for elections. Federal forces and their allies, including the Tigray Peace Force made up of former TPLF fighters, are running joint security operations.
On Monday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the TPLF of forcibly recruiting young people instead of disarming as the 2022 agreement required. The TPLF says it has inflicted heavy losses on government forces. Neither side’s battlefield claims can be independently checked. A drone strike on Tuesday was reported to have killed four people as they loaded goats onto a truck.
The renewed fighting has all but destroyed the Pretoria agreement of November 2022, which ended a two-year war that researchers at Ghent University estimate caused about 500,000 civilian deaths through violence, famine and the collapse of health services.