Tigray authorities confirmed Wednesday that Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region, has been reconnected to the national grid after more than a year of power outages caused by the war in this part of northern Ethiopia.
The announcement comes a day after the state power company announced it and just one week after the Ethiopian federal government and Tigray rebels signed a peace deal on November 2 to end a devastating two-year conflict.
“It has been confirmed that Mekele, is now connected to the national grid,” Kindeya Gebrehiwot, head of the rebels in the Tigray, wrote on Twitter, “It has spread to other parts of Tigre that are still without electricity.”
Ethiopia’s northernmost Tigray region of 6 million people has been effectively cut off from the rest of the world since the conflict began between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal government and the local authorities of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The fighting began in November 2020 when Abiy Ahmed sent federal forces to arrest the regional leader, for months they had questioned his authority and accused him of attacking a federal base.
The government and rebels signed an agreement in Pretoria on 2 November, which included the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal and disarmament of Tigray forces, the restoration of federal authorities in Tigray, and the destruction of the humanitarian situation, which included the resumption of access to the area.
In a question-and-answer session with the MP on 15 November, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said authorities had begun restoring telecommunications and power in some conflict areas.
Provisions of the agreement that do not specifically include the restoration of power and telecommunications will be implemented in stages.