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Ethiopian federal forces and allied fighters entered Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, on 4 October after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) announced its withdrawal. The army had retaken the city's airport a day earlier; the TPLF seized it on 23 September, when the latest fighting began. The TPLF called the retreat a "tactical decision" to spare the city and said its regional government would operate from elsewhere and keep fighting. A shift to guerrilla war in rural Tigray would prolong displacement into Afar and Amhara and keep the Eritrean border tense. Watch who runs Mekelle: federal officials have promised a new interim administration and regional elections within months.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said on 4 October they had seized positions at Al-Kadalou, about 60 kilometres from Ed Damazin, the capital of Sudan's Blue Nile state. The alliance claimed eight positions and 20 combat vehicles, while the army said it had repelled an advance in the Minza and Bashkarkat areas; neither claim can be verified. Officials said drones targeted the governor's residence in Ed Damazin on 3 October. Fighting near the Ethiopian border and the Roseires dam opens a south-eastern front that could push refugees into Ethiopia and South Sudan. The alliance names Ed Damazin and Roseires as its next targets.
Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a television interview broadcast on 3 October that he sent fighter jets to Niger because he saw the 28–29 August mutiny in Niamey as a provocation against Algeria. Algeria deployed four Sukhoi Su-30 jets and a refuelling aircraft at Niger's request on 30 August; Tebboune noted that Niger's prime minister was in Algiers when the mutiny began. The deployment is a rare Algerian military operation abroad and marks a thaw with Niamey after the 2025 drone dispute with Mali strained Algeria's ties with the Sahel juntas. It gives Algiers a security role alongside Russia, the juntas' main military partner.
