Ethiopia reconnects Tigray’s capital to national power grid after year-long blackout

The capital of the Tigray region has been reconnected to Ethiopia’s national power grid after more than a year cut off due to the war in this northern region of Ethiopia.

The announcement by the national electricity company comes just over a month after the signing of a peace agreement between the Tigrayan rebels and the Ethiopian federal government, aimed at ending two years of devastating conflict.

“The line has been connected to the national grid after the repair work was completed,” the company’s statement read. Access and communications in parts of northern Ethiopia, including Tigray, are restricted or prohibited, making it impossible to independently verify the situation on the ground.

Tigray, Ethiopia’s northernmost region and home to six million people, has been deprived of many basic services, including telecommunications, electricity and banks, for over a year since the start of a conflict between the two sides. The provisions of the peace agreement, which does not explicitly include the restoration of electricity and telecommunications, are gradually being implemented.

About a month after the fighting stopped, the rebels said last Saturday (December 3) that they had “disengaged” 65% of their fighters from the front lines and “started to collect (their) heavy weapons and gather them in one place”.