Ethiopia says it has taken full control of Tigray capital Mekelle

The Ethiopian military had earlier hit the city centre ‘with heavy weaponry and artillery’

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Saturday that the army had entered the capital of Tigray and "completed" an offensive against the region’s dissident leaders.

"I am pleased to share that we have completed and ceased the military operations in the Tigray region," he said in a tweet. Less than an hour earlier, he said: "The federal government is now fully in control of the city of Mekelle".

However the leader of Tigray People's Liberation Front forces, who have been fighting Ethiopian troops since November 4, said the TPLF was not giving up.

"Their brutality can only add (to) our resolve to fight these invaders to the last," TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael said in a message. Asked by Reuters in a text message if that meant his forces will continue fighting, he replied: “Certainly. This is about defending our right to self determination.”

The city of half a million braced for an all-out offensive by government forces against its dissident leaders.

Mr Abiy, who won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced on November 4 he had ordered military operations against the TPLF, Tigray’s ruling party.

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in the Tigray Region gather at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in the Tigray Region gather at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

The outbreak of conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region has left some 2.3 million children in urgent need of assistance and thousands more at risk in refugee camps, the UN children's agency said. AFP

Ethiopian women and children in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

An Ethiopian refugee who fled fighting in the Tigray Region looks on from behind a fence as she waits with others at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

An Ethiopian refugee who fled fighting in the Tigray Region looks on from behind a fence as she waits with others at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in the Tigray Region receive aid at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in the Tigray Region gather at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

An Ethiopian girl who fled fighting in the Tigray Region sits by a plastic jerrycan at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in the Tigray Region walk by at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State. AFP

Thousands of people have been killed in more than three weeks of fierce fighting and tens of thousands have streamed over the border into Sudan. Displacement within Tigray is thought to be widespread.

Mr Abiy announced on Thursday he had ordered a “final” offensive and Ethiopia’s military said it had encircled Mekelle.

A communications power cut in Tigray has made it difficult to verify claims about how the fighting is going.

A spokesman for a crisis committee formed in response to hostilities in Tigray did not respond to a request for comment about reported shelling in Mekelle, which has already been hit by air strikes.

But Addis Ababa on Saturday said the “aerial engagement has been precise and targets only TPLF’s military depot, weaponry and arsenals”, avoiding "civilian facilities”.

The Tigray government accused Mr Abiy of teaming up with Isaias Afwerki, the president of neighbouring Eritrea, for the assault on Mekelle.

“The Tigray regional state would like it to be known to friends and enemies alike that it will give proportional response to the massacres and property damages being done by those fascists,” it said.

An Ethiopian refugee who fled fighting in Tigray province arrives at a reception centre in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province. AFP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province lay in the shade in a straw shack at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province. AFP

The UN refugee agency says Ethiopia's growing conflict has resulted in thousands fleeing from the Tigray region into Sudan. AP

Ethiopians who fled the ongoing fighting in Tigray region, collect water from the Setit river on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in eastern Kassala state. World Food Program, HO via REUTERS

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province lay in a hut at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province. AFP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province lay in the shade by a shack at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province. AFP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province lay in a hut at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province. AFP

An Ethiopian refugee who fled fighting in Tigray province sits with a child in a hut at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province. AFP

A make-shift shelter housing Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province. AFP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province walk with supplies at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province. AFP

The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before Mr Abiy came to power in 2018, and fought a border war with Eritrea between 1998 and 2000 that killed tens of thousands.

Mr Abiy won his Nobel Prize in large part for initiating a rapprochement with Mr Isaias in 2018.

Ethiopia has denied enlisting Eritrean military support against Tigray but has acknowledged using Eritrean territory.

Residents of the border city of Humera in western Tigray said that shells fired from Eritrea hit both residential and commercial structures during fighting earlier this month.

At least one rocket fired from Tigray was aimed at Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, on Friday night, regional diplomats said. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The TPLF claimed responsibility for rockets fired towards Asmara two weeks ago, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack.

Global concern has heightened in recent days with world leaders and human rights groups sounding warnings of possible rules of war contraventions during the operations.

The UN has spent weeks lobbying for full access to Tigray, so far unsuccessfully.

Mr Abiy’s office said this week it would open a “humanitarian access route”. Hundreds of UN and international NGO workers are currently in Mekelle, but they are grappling with shortages of food, cash and other essentials.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had received 1,300 requests from people in Ethiopia and abroad frantically trying to contact their relatives.

“We know this is just the tip of the iceberg,” it said.

Pope Francis on Saturday tweeted for “everyone to pray for #Ethiopia where armed clashes have intensified and are causing a serious humanitarian situation”.

Mr Abiy’s government has said the military campaign in Tigray was triggered by attacks by pro-TPLF forces on federal army camps in Tigray that began on the night of November 3.

He has repeatedly snubbed international calls for a halt to fighting and negotiations with TPLF leaders, saying they must be disarmed and apprehended.

On Friday he met three former presidents of African countries – Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa – sent by the African Union as mediators.

The AU said Mr Abiy had told envoys that military operations in Tigray “would not last long”.