Ethiopian forces enter strategic Tigray town of Adwa, witnesses say

Ethiopian government forces have entered the town of Adwa without a fight, days after capturing Adigrat from rebel fighters as flights resumed to Mekelle in the country’s northern Tigray region.

Residents of the northwestern town of Adwa, roughly 40km (24 miles) from Eritrea’s border, said federal forces and an allied militia entered the town on Sunday, a day after the withdrawal of fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa said he “did not wish to comment”.

“All the shops in the town are closed. Last night, many government institutions, including Adwa Hospital, were looted,” Aferwerki, a local resident who gave only one name, told AFP.

Conflict monitor ACLED said that Ethiopian drone strikes targeted a hotel in Adwa on October 4, wounding between “five and nine people, including security personnel”, who were taken to hospital. Some ACLED sources indicated that TPLF Chairman Debretsion Gebremichael and other senior officials were at the hotel, but stressed the information had not been verified.

Another resident who requested anonymity confirmed the TPLF forces withdrew from Adwa but said that although government forces were deployed in the town, they had not reached the centre.

“The roads are deserted. People are very afraid of theft,” he said.

Last week, Ethiopian forces captured Tigray’s regional capital Mekelle, days after the TPLF confirmed that it had withdrawn from the city and moved its regional administration “temporarily” to another location.

Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights from the capital, Addis Abba, to Mekelle on Sunday for the first time since September 23, when a seven-group armed alliance, including the TPLF, started fighting Ethiopian forces and captured the airport.

“I would like to assure you on this occasion that we will bring visible change, a change beyond mere hope,” Getachew Reda, a former Tigray leader who now advises Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told supporters greeting Reda and Ethiopia’s intelligence chief Redwan Hussein at Mekelle airport.

Ethiopia has accused Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt of backing the rebel alliance.

Khartoum and Cairo have denied involvement. Eritrea, which fought alongside Ethiopia’s federal army in the 2020-2022 war, severed diplomatic ties with Ethiopia over the accusations last week.