Mekelle City Mayor reportedly resigned , attempted assassination

Reasons for Mekelle City Mayor unspecified, but he said he survived an explosion over last weekend

borkena

Interim Mekelle City Mayor, Ataklti Haileselassie, reportedly resigned from his position. Addis Standard said that it got confirmation from Mr. Ataklti. 

He is to provide more detail about his resignation, according to the source. 

Mr. Ataklti was named as interim Mekelle City Mayor in December 2020 as TPLF forces lost control of the city two weeks after they launched a military attack on the army base of the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Defense Force. 

Addis Standard highlighted that the mayor was the first from the interim leaders of the Tigray region who exposed the presence of Eritrean troops in the region. It is, however, unspecified if his resignation has something to do with Eritrean troops in the region whose withdrawal is agreed upon following a meeting between  Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean president Isaias Afeworki in Asmara last week. 

On Sunday, Mr. Ataklti wrote a social media update on facebook saying there was an attempted attack on him. “For my brothers and sisters who were concerned for my life after attempted attack (explosion), I survived it with the grace of God. I would like to express my respect for your love and best wishes,” he wrote.  

Meanwhile, the interim administration announced that it made changes to the curfew imposed in the region as part of the state of emergency measure due to the law enforcement operation in the region. 

 EBC cited the region’s interim Justice office head, Abera Nigussie,  to report that the change for curfew is made following an improvement in the security situation of the region. 

Curfew hour used to be 7 P.M. for the past four months. Now it is extended to 8:00 P.M. 

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