Mekelle City Liberated from Tigray People’s Liberation Front

The fall of Mekelle brings the three weeks war in Ethiopia to an end heralding that TPLF Tyranny is a thing of the past. 7,000 Ethiopian troops rescued

Borkena

November 24, 2020

What started as a law enforcement operation on November 4 morphed into a full-fledged war against TPLF leaders. And Ethiopia’s strong defense force completed what will possibly go down in history as the three weeks war against TPLF – a political force that ruled Ethiopia with an iron fist for nearly three decades. It is over now.

Mekelle City is now liberated from the control of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Less than twenty-four hours after the launch of the final operation to enforce the rule of law, the Ethiopian Defense Force controlled Mekelle fully on Sunday in the afternoon.

Chief of staff of the Ethiopian Defense Force, General Berhanu Jula, has confirmed to Ethiopians that the army has controlled Mekelle.

The fall of the city was foreseeable as the Ethiopian Defense Force was marching to it from four directions after liberating almost all parts of the Tigray region of Ethiopia from TPLF control.

On November 4, the TPLF force attacked several military bases of the northern command of the Ethiopian Defense Force while thousands of the army were sleeping around 11 p.m. Thousands were mercilessly massacred while army commanders were taken prisoner. Furthermore, TPLF seized heavy weapons including missiles and rockets which Ethiopia purchased to defend itself from a foreign enemy.

TPLF did so in what it called a “pre-emptive attack” and with the hope of marching to Addis Ababa to topple Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and assume Federal government power again. TPLF has prepared over 250,000 troops including special forces and militia.

Over 60 percent of the Ethiopian Defense Force was said to be based in the Tigray region. The Ethiopian Defense Force had to reorganize the Defense Force to launch a counter-offensive against the TPLF leaders.

At least four military generals were recalled from early retirement to lead the war. In a matter of two weeks, much of the Tigray region was liberated from TPLF control. And then TPLF had to fire rockets to Asmara and two Ethiopian cities (Bahir Dar and Gondar) partly to internationalize the conflict and partly to assert that it still has the power to unleash an attack.

According to the Defense Chief of Staff, 7000 members of Ethiopian Defense Forces from the northern command who were detained in Tigray region following the “pre-emptive attack” on November 4 are rescued after TPLF lost control of Mekelle. The Northern command is now under the control of the Ethiopian Defense Forces and several heavy weaponry is reportedly recovered. 

What is next?

Now Mekelle is under the control of the Ethiopian Defense Force, the next step is to hunt down TPLF leaders and bring them to justice as confirmed by the Ethiopian government.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wrote a congratulatory message to Ethiopians including in the Tigray region and pledged that reconstruction work will commence soon.

TPLF spokesperson, Getachew Reda, said this week that controlling Mekelle “does not mean anything” during an interview with Dimtsi Woyane. “I can assure you that Tigray will not be governable,” he added.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has set up a transitional administration for the Tigray region which will be led by ethnic Tigreans until the next election.