Breaking: Mekelle city interim mayor resigns

By Medihane Ekubamichael @Medihane 

Addis Abeba March 30/2021 – Ataklti Haileselassie, the Interim Mayor of Mekelle city, has resigned from his post, Ataklti has confirmed to Addis Standard, but said he would provide more details on the circumstances surrounding his resignation “tomorrow.”

Atakliti was appointed by the federally arranged Tigray regional state interim administration in December 2020, shortly after Prime Ministr Abiy Ahmed declared the war in Tigray over on November 28.

In early January, while responding to questions from community members who participated in a meeting, Ataklit became the first high level official to admit the presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray and said it was “a daily question of the interim administration,” and that “relevant military leaders have been asked to give explanations.” He told the residents that Eritrean forces were “being withdrawn from the country in a short time” and that it was “a mistake to associate this with the interim administration.”

Four months after his promise, Eritrean forces remain in Tigray and have committed atrocities which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Atakliti is not the only official to depart from the interim adminstration. In mid March Amdom Gebreselassie, Deputy Head of Communication Affairs bureau , and Alula Habteab, Head of the bureau of Construction, Road and Transport have been discharged from their duties through a letter they received from Mulu Nega (PhD), Head of Tigray Interim Administration.

The federally appointed interim administration of Tigray regional state has a cabinet comprising 16 members who were appointed to fill the administration vacuum left in the wake of the ousting of the TPLF led government, which was elected on Spetember 09/2020 in a process dismissed by the House of Federation as “null and void.” AS