Latest / Best of: Features / Ethiopian federal forces retake Mekelle airport from Tigrayan fighters, residents say

Transcript

Ethiopian federal forces retake Mekelle airport from Tigrayan fighters, residents say · Best of: Features

• 0:05
  Ethiopian federal forces retake Mikel airport from Tigrayan fighters, residents say. Written
• 0:11
  by Rodney Muhammouza and Amir Amankiaro. This article is being read by
• 0:16
  an automated voice generated by Everlet. Kampala, Uganda, the AP.
• 0:22
  Ethiopian Federal forces have taken the airport in Makel, the capital of
• 0:26
  the northern Tigray region, according to people in the city who spoke
• 0:30
  to the Associated Press on Saturday, reversing a takeover by Tigrayan fighters
• 0:34
  that prompted the suspension of commercial flights last month. It wasn't immediately
• 0:39
  clear when Federal forces recaptured Alula Abenega Airport. Those who provided the
• 0:44
  information declined to be identified for fear of retribution amid uncertainty over
• 0:49
  who controlled the city. Severe disruptions to Internet and cell phone networks
• 0:54
  have made gathering and verifying information from Tigray difficult. Details of how
• 0:59
  the airport changed hands, including whether fighting took place there, remained unclear.
• 1:04
  The military is in full control of the airport. That much I
• 1:08
  can confirm, an Ethiopian general said on condition of anonymity. Neither the
• 1:12
  Ethiopian government nor the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, had issued
• 1:17
  an official statement on the airport's reported capture. It wasn't clear who
• 1:21
  controlled McKell itself, and The
• 1:24
  AP contributor in the city said residents feared looting amid the uncertainty.
• 1:29
  Many reports indicate that the government and Allied forces have begun to
• 1:32
  control Tigrayan capital, said Jalale Getachu Biru, an Ethiopia analyst for AKLED,
• 1:37
  an independent global monitor that collects, analyzes, and maps data on conflict.
• 1:43
  The AP could not independently verify those reports. TPLF fighters seized the
• 1:48
  airport on september twenty third, prompting Ethiopian Airlines to suspend flights to
• 1:53
  McKel and the Tigraethan cities of Axum and Shire. The African Union
• 1:57
  urged restraint, warning that renewed tensions threatened the peace agreement signed in
• 2:01
  twenty twenty two. Federal troops are fighting alongside Allied Tigrayan forces against
• 2:07
  the
• 2:07
  TPLF, The AP previously reported that The Tigray Peace Force, a breakaway
• 2:12
  faction of the Tigrayan rebels, was operating alongside Federal forces in the
• 2:16
  neighboring Afar region. The reported change in control follows a sharp deterioration
• 2:21
  in relations between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea. Ethiopia on Thursday ordered ten
• 2:26
  Eritrean diplomats to leave, and announced the closure of its embassy in
• 2:30
  Eritrea. Eritrea said that it would sever diplomatic ties. Ethiopian authorities have
• 2:36
  accused Eritrea of supporting the TPLF, an allegation Eritrea has denied. The
• 2:41
  US State Department in a statement Saturday urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to
• 2:45
  show restraint and return to talks. Increasing cross border tensions between Ethiopia
• 2:50
  and Eritrea have the potential to affect the entire region, State Department
• 2:55
  spokesman Tommy Piggott said. The Horn of Africa cannot sustain another military
• 2:59
  conflict and humanitarian crisis. A conflict jeopardizes ongoing US collaboration on shared
• 3:05
  interests with both countries. The government of Prime Minister Abi Ahmed, if
• 3:10
  it takes control of Mikkel, is very likely to leave regional security
• 3:14
  in the hands of the Tigray Peace Force, which comprises former members
• 3:18
  of the Tigray Defence Forces, Biru said. Abi has tried and failed
• 3:22
  to subdue Tegray's rebellious leaders in recent months, with TPLF Chairman Debretchan
• 3:27
  Gebray Michel openly challenging him. Renewed fighting has shattered a twenty twenty
• 3:31
  two peace deal that ended a devastating two year war between Federal
• 3:35
  troops, backed by Eritrea and Allied militias, and the TPLF. This is
• 3:41
  an extraordinary and largely unexpected turn in a war whose direction looked
• 3:45
  very different only days ago. Getachu Temar, an independent attorney and human
• 3:49
  rights defender who is from Ethiopia, said of the possible fall of
• 3:53
  McKell in an analysis posted on X. But the most consequential question
• 3:57
  is not whether McHel falls, it is what this fall means politically.
• 4:02
  He said the emergence of the Tigray Peace Force makes the current
• 4:05
  conflict different from the previous one. When McHel fell to Federal forces
• 4:09
  in november twenty twenty, the TPLF retained something far more important. A
• 4:14
  substantial political and social constituency for armed resistance remained intact. Within months,
• 4:20
  Tigrayan forces returned to Mikel and the military balance was dramatically reversed.
• 4:25
  The fighting has brought renewed hardship to civilians still recovering from the
• 4:29
  previous twenty twenty to twenty twenty two war. Residents of McKell told
• 4:34
  the AP earlier this week that communications, banking, and other essential services
• 4:39
  had been disrupted. In September, residents described fears of renewed isolation following
• 4:45
  the suspension of flights. They also reported that roads connecting Tigray and
• 4:49
  Afar had been closed to civilian traffic, although the AP couldn't independently
• 4:54
  verify the closures. Chiaro reported from Hamburg, Germany. Associated Press writers Khalid
• 5:00
  Kazihha in Nairobi, Kenya, and Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this
• 5:04
  report.