Ethiopian federal forces were in full control of the Tigray rebels’ regional capital , a local journalist said on Sunday (October 4, 2026), while Ethiopia’s regional rivals gathered in Egypt to discuss the risk of a wider war.
The mini-summit in Alamein — on the sidelines of an African Business Forum — was set to bring together Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The TPLF has long been the dominant force in Tigray, ousting a government-appointed administration this year. The rebels’ leader Debretsion Gebremichael implied this week that the group would continue guerrilla-style attacks as they did when Mekelle fell to government forces in 2020 during the last war.
“We have taken control of Mekelle and we are marching forward,” a commander with a pro-government militia told AFP. “We operate under a strategy to strike the enemy wherever we choose,” Mr. Debretsion said. Addressing the African Union’s mid-year coordination summit, Sisi said Egypt opposed foreign interference in African states and called for relations to be based on “mutual respect, good neighbourliness, dialogue and consultation, far from unilateral policies or narrow interests”. He said cross-border challenges “require cooperation, not competition, and dialogue, not confrontation”, including in managing natural resources and transboundary rivers in accordance with international law.
