Ethiopia has restored power to Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray state. It should be recalled that during the two-year civil war that ended last month, Federal troops fought rebels there.
According to city sources, after being without electricity for more than a year, local residents are finally resuming full use of it.
“Electricity has been everywhere in the city since yesterday (Tuesday),” said a resident.
A spokesman for the government-owned Ethiopian Electric Electricity (EEP) was quoted by the state-affiliated Fana broadcast as saying that power had been restored following repair on a high-voltage line.
Services in Shire town and the surrounding areas have also been restored by state-run telecommunications company Ethio Telecom.
Foreign-based families have revealed to newsmen how, after two years, they were finally able to call their loved ones.
After fighting broke out in the Tigray region in November 2020, power and telecommunications services were suspended. Meanwhile, a month after a truce was reached to put an end to the two-year fighting in the northern Tigray region, the rebels’ top commander reports that more than half of their fighters had left the frontlines in Ethiopia.
“We have accomplished 65% disengagement of our army,” Tadesse Wereda, commander-in-chief of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said in a video posted on the TPLF’s Facebook page late on Saturday.
“Our army left the front lines and moved to the place prepared for them to camp,” he said.