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Half a billion birr withdrawn in three days at Mekelle CBE branches

Recent statements from Tigray’s security forces have triggered a massive deposit rush in Mekelle and elsewhere, with banks reportedly witnessing more than half a billion birr or more in withdrawals in the span of a week amid fears of further instability in the region.

In a statement released on January 23, 2025, Lt. Col. Gebre Gebretsadiq, spokesperson of the Tigray security forces [often referred to as the Tigray Defense Force] accused key political and military appointees in the Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) of failing to serve the public interest and carry out their duty to fulfill the terms of the Pretoria Agreement.

The Spokesperson revealed that the TDF was moving to replace officials in senior administrative positions as a result of the purported failures.

TIA representatives characterized the statement as an attempt at a soft coup.

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Sources informed The Reporter that, following the military’s announcement on its stance on the power struggle between leaders of the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), residents in Mekelle began to withdraw their money from banks and purchase essential goods (mainly food) in anticipation of a deteriorating security situation.

The source says that more than half a billion birr in cash was withdrawn from accounts at Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) branches in Mekelle within three days of the TDF statement.

“One-hundred-and-eighty million birr was withdrawn the day after the statement, followed by 240 million birr the next day, and another 140 million birr on Monday,” said the source.

Officers at the state-owned bank had not responded to The Reporter’s requests for comment on the issue before this week’s edition was submitted for publishing.

“We have been traumatized and have gone through immense suffering during the war and the siege that followed it. People don’t want to go through that all over again,” said one Mekelle resident, who spoke to The Reporter anonymously. “We want to go out and publicly oppose what is going on between the two TPLF factions, but we also don’t want to add fuel to what is an already escalated issue. So, we do what we can to protect ourselves and buy what we can to prepare ourselves for the unpredictable future.”

Memories of the central bank’s order to freeze all commercial bank accounts opened in Tigray following the outbreak of war in late 2020 likely add to the fears.

Another resident said that prices of fuel and other commodities have been surging by the week as the back and forth between the TPLF faction led by Chairperson Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD) and TIA President Getachew Reda continues to worsen.

Mekelle’s residents are paying between 275 and 300 birr for a liter of fuel, according to one resident.

“That’s if you can endure the long queues [for fuel] stretching along the roads day and night,” he said.

An ex-TDF combatant, who spoke anonymously, told The Reporter that two of his friends have moved to Addis Ababa in order to get away from the deteriorating political tensions in Tigray.

“As a result of what they went through during the war, people are easily panicked by turmoil in the region’s leadership. This has led to price surges on almost everything,” he said. “The leadership should have given the people some stability, but instead they have made everything worse.”

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#Security #Doubts #Political #Tensions #Lead #Massive #Deposit #Rush #Panicridden #Tigray

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