Tigrayan forces have seized control of Alula Aba Nega International Airport in Mekelle, Ethiopia, prompting the suspension of commercial flights and raising fears that the country could be sliding back toward large-scale conflict.
The airport, which serves Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, was taken from federal police overnight on September 23, according to local and security sources. Airport employees were reportedly instructed not to report for work after Tigrayan forces assumed control of the facility. The status of the federal police officers stationed at the airport was initially unclear.
Ethiopian Airlines subsequently suspended service to Mekelle as well as the Tigrayan cities of Axum and Shire, citing the security situation. Tigrayan forces were also reported to have seized Shire’s airport and possibly the airport at Axum.
Control of the airports is significant because they provide critical transportation links between Tigray and the rest of Ethiopia and could become strategically important if fighting intensifies.
The airport seizures came as renewed clashes erupted between Tigrayan and federal forces. Tigray’s regional government said its forces had entered what it described as a “defensive” war in response to attacks by the federal government. Federal authorities and Tigrayan leaders have traded accusations over responsibility for the renewed hostilities.
The developments threaten the Pretoria Peace Agreement, which ended the devastating 2020–2022 war between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The African Union has estimated that roughly 600,000 people died during that conflict.
The latest escalation follows the TPLF’s announcement that it had joined six other Ethiopian armed groups in a new alliance opposing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government. With airports now under regional control and fighting reported beyond Tigray, the situation represents one of the most serious challenges to the 2022 peace agreement since it was signed.