MEKELLE, Ethiopia: Ethiopia’s federal police fanned out Friday across the regional capital of Tigray after anti-government forces pulled out, calling on residents over loudspeakers to help establish a new administration following the rebels’ withdrawal.

Over the weekend, government-allied fighters had entered Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, after the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, announced its withdrawal.

The TPLF had joined six other opposition groups last month in an alliance seeking to oust Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Fighting escalated late last month, undermining the 2022 peace deal. The rebels seized the Mekelle airport and the city, one of Ethiopia’s largest.

On Saturday, the rebels said their forces had pulled out — similar to what they did in the previous two-year war, which ended with a peace agreement in 2022, apparently to spare the city from destruction.

Still, local government offices remained shut Friday in Mekelle as the city awaited new authorities, with police and the government-allied Tigray Peace Force in charge of security. Members of the city’s new civilian administration had arrived with federal police on Thursday but said they were awaiting instructions.

The Tigray Peace Force, which includes former members of the TPLF’s armed wing, imposed an overnight curfew Wednesday.

On Thursday, federal officers carrying rifles stood beside camouflage-painted pickup trucks along a tree-lined road. Others rode in open-backed vehicles as pedestrians, cars and three-wheeled taxis moved through an intersection. No administration had taken office in Mekelle by Friday morning.

Tigray’s television and radio stations have been off the air since the TPLF withdrawal. Abiy’s government promised to restore banking, electricity, telecommunications and water services but gave no timetable.

It also outlined plans to register people involved in the conflict and help them return to civilian life.

Reports of Eritrean troops raise regional tensions

Further north, a government-allied commander and a conflict monitoring group have separately reported Eritrean troops entering Ethiopia, raising fears of a wider conflict.

Ermiyas Ababu, a Tigray Peace Force commander, said Eritrean personnel entered Adigrat on Tuesday and Idaga Hamus on Wednesday, citing reports from his personnel in the area.

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data monitoring group, known as ACLED, said Eritrean troops crossed the border at Zelambesa on Wednesday and came under drone attack at Guada while traveling toward Idaga Hamus. It attributed the strikes to Ethiopia’s military.

The Associated Press could not independently verify either account.

Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel said in a statement: “We are not in the business of refuting wild allegations or narratives.” He accused Ethiopia of threatening regional peace through its pursuit of “sovereign access to the sea,” but did not explicitly confirm or deny the crossing.

Former allies face growing divisions

Eritrea has previously denied Ethiopian allegations that it supports the TPLF — its enemy during the 2020-2022 Tigray war, when Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces.

During that war, AP reporting documented accounts from survivors and witnesses accusing Eritrean soldiers of killings, rape and looting. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki dismissed allegations of abuses by his forces as “a fantasy” in 2023.

Eritrea announced last week that it was severing diplomatic ties after Ethiopia expelled 10 Eritrean diplomats and closed its embassy in Asmara.

Abiy reiterated Monday that landlocked Ethiopia must have access to the Red Sea. Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it remained committed to dialogue with its neighbors.