Tigray resumes daily life amid fears of wider war

In Mekelle, shops are reopening and banks are resuming services after Ethiopian federal forces and allied fighters retook the regional capital on October 4. Residents remain anxious about renewed fighting and economic hardship, including delayed public-sector salaries and family savings depleted by the 2020–2022 war. In March, Tigray’s interim administration said it could no longer pay about 137,000 civil servants because expected federal budget transfers had not arrived. In April, the regional finance bureau reported an 8.5-billion-birr shortfall affecting salaries and development projects.