Al Jazeera correspondent recounts reporting during fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray

An Al Jazeera correspondent has described his team’s work during renewed fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. The clashes erupted on September 23 after a 2022 peace agreement between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) collapsed.

The team travelled from Addis Ababa through the Afar region to Mekelle. In Erbeti, about 900km from the capital, journalists heard artillery fire and left because remaining there threatened their safety.

Withdrawal under artillery fire

Residents were leaving Erbeti with belongings loaded into cars and small trucks. The journalists withdrew along unpaved roads to Afdera, about 100km east, and spent the night in their car in the desert as temperatures stayed above 35C.

The following day, temperatures reached 50C. After preparing reports and coordinating with the newsroom, the team returned towards the fighting and came within about 3km of the front line.

Wearing body armour and helmets, the journalists filmed and recorded brief accounts from soldiers. The assignment ended when troops ordered them to evacuate immediately, with shelling continuing in the mountains.

Mekelle after the takeover

After several days travelling difficult routes through Afar, Amhara and Tigray, the team reached Mekelle the day after federal forces and their allies entered the regional capital. TPLF forces had withdrawn.

The city appeared exhausted. Some shops had reopened and cars moved quietly, while residents cautiously resumed daily life. Some welcomed the soldiers; others remained silent or declined to speak on camera because they feared what would happen next.

The correspondent said the team appeared to be the only media group in Mekelle, as far as it knew. With no assurances that exit routes would remain open, journalists repeatedly assessed their movements and checked information.

Verifying reports amid uncertainty

He said the journalists had to distinguish between what they witnessed, what residents told them and what the warring parties announced. After two weeks moving between front-line areas, exhaustion became constant, while rumours that the team had been arrested or trapped worried colleagues and relatives.

The correspondent’s live television appearance reassured people trying to contact the team that the journalists were still in the city and alive. He later learned that some Mekelle residents discovered from the broadcast that government forces had taken control of the city.