An official in Tigray's new federal-backed administration urged rebel fighters to lay down their weapons on Friday, hours after a rebel commander called for continued resistance despite losing the northern Ethiopian region's capital, the Associated Press reported.

The calls came nearly three weeks after rebels trying to overthrow the government lost control of Mekelle, Tigray's capital. Government-allied fighters entered Mekelle on October 4 after the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, withdrew, the AP said.

Redae Halefom Woldeselassie, the caretaker administration's chief executive for political and public mobilization, said rebel forces were collapsing and urged fighters to enter a disarmament and reintegration program. "This is not the time for settling scores, I call upon you to return to your homes and continue your civilian lives," he said in Mekelle.

Source: Associated Press — Ethiopia's Tigray rebels urged to disarm as commander vows to fight on

Hours earlier, Lt. Gen. Fisseha Kidanu, who was identified in a television broadcast as commander of the Tigray army, pledged to reverse recent military setbacks. "Local militias across the region — alongside all volunteers joining the resistance — are expected to engage the enemy," he said on Thursday on Tigray Broadcast Media, a new rebel television station. His location was not disclosed.

Fisseha urged attacks on government-held positions despite his opponents' advantages in drones and heavy weapons. The TPLF has also claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on government forces — claims the Associated Press said it could not independently verify.

Source: Associated Press via Plain Dealer — Ethiopia's Tigray rebels urged to disarm

Ethiopia's government has established a six-month caretaker administration promising to restore services, help displaced people return and prepare for elections. Its allies include the Tigray Peace Force, comprising former members of the TPLF's armed wing — a split within Tigrayan forces that has complicated the renewed conflict, the AP reported.

Redae said Ethiopian troops and allied forces were conducting joint security operations, including measures to prevent looting. He promised preparations for displaced residents to return but gave no timetable.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, speaking on Monday to the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, accused the TPLF of acquiring weapons and forcibly recruiting young people instead of disarming under the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement. He said his government had done everything within its capacity to implement the accord.

Wounded men describe a strike the AP could not verify

At Ayder Hospital in Mekelle, two wounded men — Luel Berhanu, 22, and Samuel Belay, 20 — told the AP they were loading goats onto a truck in Finariwa, about 80 kilometres (49 miles) south of the city, when a strike hit at around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday. They said four civilians were killed and about six people wounded. The AP said it could not independently verify the casualties or establish who carried out the attack, and Awaaz Punjab reports their account as their claim, not as established fact.

The renewed fighting has effectively shattered the Pretoria agreement, which ended the region's devastating 2020–2022 war. That conflict caused an estimated 500,000 civilian deaths through violence, famine and collapsed health services, according to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium, the AP reported.

Al Jazeera also reported on Friday that a Tigray rebel commander had rejected calls to disarm and vowed to keep fighting after government-aligned forces seized the regional capital, warning that fresh clashes could threaten the fragile truce that followed the 2022 deal.