Residents sought to flee mounting tensions in the Tigray region of Ethiopia on Friday as a political faction confirmed to AFP they had seized control of the town hall in state capital Mekele.
Ethiopia’s most northerly state, which borders Eritrea, saw a devastating conflict between Tigrayan rebels and the federal government in 2020-22 which claimed up to 600,000 lives, according to some estimates.
Now the tensions come from an internal power struggle within Tigray between Getachew Reda, head of the state’s regional administration, and Debretsion Gebremichael, head of the dominant local party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
“People are in terror that if armed conflict breaks out it will be worse than the war they endured,” said Solomon Hagos, a university lecturer in Mekele, who asked for one of his names to be changed for security reasons.
Another resident said people were trying to flee.
“We were trapped in Mekele during the previous war, we do not want that to happen again,” said Mihret, 27, who only gave one name.
“We are trying to leave the region and we went to the airport but all the flights are full currently, we are looking for ways to leave the region, we are afraid,” he added.
Debretsion’s faction seized control of Mekele’s town hall on Thursday to reinstate its chosen mayor, as well as the local radio station.
A spokesman for Debretsion told AFP: “The previous elected mayor was fired by Getachew, which was not legal. So now the previous one has been put back in place.”
Armed supporters of Debretsion also took over the municipality in Adigrat, Tigray’s second-largest town near the Eritrean border, ousting the mayor appointed by Getachew.
“We are afraid of a new siege, of a civil war between Tigrayans,” said Mehari Gebremariam, a civil servant in Adigrat.
Eritrea tensions
The tensions threaten to draw in Eritrea, which has a history of war with Ethiopia, adding another layer of fear among locals.
A war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998-2000 resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was lauded for finally reaching a peace agreement with Eritrea when he came to power in 2018 and won the Nobel Peace Prize.
But relations have soured since the end of the Tigray conflict in 2022.
Eritrea claimed in February that Ethiopia was waging an “intense campaign” against it.
A security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that armed Ethiopian convoys was heading towards the region of Afar, which borders Eritrea, in recent days.
“A war between Ethiopia and Eritrea could break out at any moment,” said General Tsadkan Gebretensae, senior strategist for the Tigray forces in Getachew’s administration, in remarks published this week.
The tensions have led to panic in Mekele.
“People are currently rushing to make withdrawals from banks because they fear the political tensions could lead to a suspension of basic services,” Hagos told AFP, adding that he had stocked up on food for fear of coming inflation.
He said locals could not cope with the idea of another war.
“Our people are exhausted. Our economy is devastated,” he said.
