Tigray rebels urged to disarm as commander vows to fight Ethiopia’s gov’t

An official in Tigray's new federally backed administration has called on rebel fighters to lay down their weapons, just hours after a rebel commander vowed to keep fighting Ethiopia's government, the Associated Press reported on Friday.

According to the report, Redae Halefom Woldeselassie, a senior official in the caretaker administration installed by Addis Ababa, said rebel forces were collapsing and urged fighters to return to civilian life. "This is not the time for settling scores – I call upon you to return to your homes and continue your civilian lives," he said in Mekelle.

The appeal came after Lieutenant General Fisseha Kidanu, identified in a television broadcast as commander of the Tigray army, pledged to reverse recent military setbacks and insisted Tigray was still at war. Speaking on Tigray Broadcast Media, he urged local militias and volunteers to attack government-held positions despite the government's advantages in drones and heavy weapons, the AP reported.

TPLF fighters were forced to withdraw from Mekelle in early October after government-allied forces moved in to crush a rebel attempt to retake the city, according to the report. Ethiopia's government then installed a six-month caretaker administration, promising to restore services, help displaced people return and prepare for elections.

The AP noted that fighting has continued: Mekelle residents reported a drone strike on Tuesday that killed four people and injured six others as they loaded goats onto a truck — casualties the agency said it could not independently verify. The renewed conflict has effectively shattered the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement that ended the region's devastating 2020-2022 war, which researchers at Ghent University estimate caused about 500,000 civilian deaths.