Tigray administration demands rebel surrender as commander pledges resistance

An official serving in the federally appointed interim authority for Ethiopia's northern Tigray region has called on rebel combatants to surrender their arms, following statements from a rebel general promising to keep fighting despite losing the regional capital.

The appeal came after fighters aligned with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) were pushed out of Mekelle earlier this month. Ethiopian authorities established a temporary six-month administration in the wake of the takeover, pledging to re-establish public services, facilitate the return of displaced civilians, and prepare the region for upcoming polls.

Despite the change of control in Mekelle, armed clashes have persisted across the region. Local residents reported an unmanned aircraft strike earlier in the week that reportedly killed four civilians and wounded six others while they loaded livestock onto a vehicle, though independent confirmation of the casualties remains unavailable.

Speaking in Mekelle, senior regional caretaker official Redae Halefom Woldeselassie stated that insurgent ranks were deteriorating and argued that continuing the struggle served only a faction of rebel elites rather than the wider population. He urged fighters to stop seeking retribution, lay down their arms, and return to peaceful civilian life, ruling out any possibility of the rebels recapturing the city. Redae added that federal forces and allied personnel are carrying out joint security patrols to curb looting and maintain order.

His statement arrived shortly after a televised address by Lieutenant General Fisseha Kidanu, who was introduced as commander of the regional forces. Speaking from an undisclosed site on Tigray Broadcast Media, Fisseha asserted that the territory remains in an active state of war and directed regional militias and volunteers to battle federal troops and their allies. Acknowledging the federal coalition's technological edge in heavy armaments and aerial drones, he nevertheless called for assaults against government-controlled positions.

The renewed combat represents a severe rupture of the November 2022 Pretoria peace deal, which had formally halted two years of intense warfare. That prior conflict claimed roughly 500,000 civilian lives as a result of active violence, starvation, and the failure of healthcare networks, according to findings by researchers at Belgium's Ghent University.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed recently accused TPLF leadership of violating the disarmament provisions of the 2022 accord by compelling youth into active combat. The dynamics of the current confrontation have grown increasingly fractured on the ground, with government-aligned units including the Tigray Peace Force, a faction formed by former fighters from the TPLF's own military wing.