Walk through Mekelle today and you will see shutters going up and banks serving customers again. Yet the Tigray conflict has left a city that is open but anxious. Ethiopian federal forces and allied fighters retook the Tigray regional capital on October 4, as renewed fighting raised fears that a fragile recovery could be derailed once more.
Open shops, empty pockets
The state is still recovering from the 2020–2022 war between federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). In the latest news cycle, the headline is reopening, but the reality is hardship. In March, the interim administration said it could no longer pay monthly salaries for about 137,000 civil servants because expected federal transfers had not arrived.
“Things may be reopening, but that does not mean our problems are over,” said Gebregziabher, a public servant in Mekelle. Delayed pay has left workers struggling with food, rent and school costs, and years of conflict have drained family savings.
Students lose time again
Young people carry some of the heaviest worry. Shewit, a grade 10 student in Adigrat, fears losing another year. Some university students have gone to Addis Ababa to seek transfers, and more than 5,000 returning students had applied for temporary placements elsewhere by mid-September. For a generation that has already lost years to war, every interruption pushes graduation and jobs further away.
Fears along the Eritrean border
The Ethiopia conflict has a regional edge. Accounts of troop movements near the border conflict with one another. The Associated Press reported claims that Eritrean troops had entered Adigrat, though it could not verify them. Ethiopia’s foreign minister accused Eritrea of sending troops up to 60 kilometres into Tigray and appealed to the UN Security Council. Eritrea denied invading and said the accusation amounted to a declaration of war. These Tigray war fears are fuelled by the fact that the two governments fought on the same side in the last war.
An uncertain road ahead
On October 16, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a six-month caretaker administration to restore services, help displaced people return and prepare for elections. The TPLF opposes the federal advance, and it is unclear how effectively the new body can work across the region.
For now, the regional tensions in Ethiopia are felt in small, daily questions: will salaries arrive, will schools open, will families return safely? As one resident of Zalambessa put it, people know what war means here, and nobody wants it again.
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