Qualla: Mekelle https://qualla.com/mekelle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/f/k/h/mekelle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Mekelle https://qualla.com/mekelle Mekelle: Introduction https://qualla.com/mekelle/ Photo credit A.Savin, FAL. In September and October 1943, British planes bombed Mekelle. In October 1989, the Ethiopian Air Force bombed Mekelle. In June 1998, the Eritrean Air Force bombed the Ayder School in Mekelle, killing twelve. During the Tigray War that began in 2020, the city was bombed again, this time by joint Ethiopian and Eritrean forces. A century of ordinance has fallen on this Tigrayan capital, and yet Mekelle is still a city of around 545,000 people, the second-largest in Ethiopia, ringed by treeless hills and the eucalyptus the twentieth century planted. The 51-meter Tigray Martyrs Memorial, tallest in a skyline that is mostly not tall, pays respects to the 60,000 fighters who died and 100,000 who were injured in the overthrow of the Marxist Derg regime. Mekelle's people have paid repeatedly for the strategic importance of the place they live.

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Image: A.Savin | FAL

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/f/k/h/mekelle-wp/sfkh-mekelle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Mekelle: A Tributary District Becomes a Capital https://qualla.com/mekelle/ Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0. Mekelle begins as a small notation in the tax records of Emperor Tewodros II - a tributary district within Enderta with its own negarit drum. It was Emperor Yohannes IV, the Tigrayan who became atse in the late nineteenth century, who made Mekelle his political capital. The choic...

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Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/f/k/h/mekelle-wp/sfkh-mekelle-a-tributary-district-becomes-a-capital.mp3 0:06 2 full Mekelle: Italian Occupation and Postwar Growth https://qualla.com/mekelle/ Photo credit A.Savin, FAL. Mekelle changed under twentieth-century pressure. The dejazmach Abreha Araya Demtsu built his own splendid palace, now the Abreha Castle Hotel, on a hill opposite Yohannes's grand palace. He founded a new Saturday Market, a new church, and attracted Muslim traders, women service ...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/f/k/h/mekelle-wp/sfkh-mekelle-italian-occupation-and-postwar-growth.mp3 0:06 3 full Mekelle: Hunger Camps and a Daring Prison Break https://qualla.com/mekelle/ Photo credit Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 3.0. Then came the famine. During the 1983-85 Ethiopian famine, Mekelle became notorious for seven hunger camps around the city housing 75,000 refugees, with 20,000 more waiting to enter. In March 1985, 50 to 60 people were dying in those camps every day. These were not abstract stati...

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Image: Ji-Elle | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/f/k/h/mekelle-wp/sfkh-mekelle-hunger-camps-and-a-daring-prison-break.mp3 0:06 4 full Mekelle: The Tigray War and What the War Looked Like https://qualla.com/mekelle/ Photo credit A.Savin, FAL. On June 28, 2021 Mekelle was recaptured by the Tigray Defense Forces after federal Ethiopian forces had held it during the Tigray War. What this meant for civilians needs to be named. Joint Ethiopian and Eritrean forces conducted aerial bombardments on the city. Reports from Dece...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/f/k/h/mekelle-wp/sfkh-mekelle-the-tigray-war-and-what-the-war-looked-like.mp3 0:06 5 full Mekelle: What Mekelle Still Holds https://qualla.com/mekelle/ Photo credit A.Savin, FAL. Mekelle today is Ethiopia's economic and educational center for the north. Local industry includes Mesfin Industrial Engineering, the Messebo Cement Factory, both under the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray. The $100 million Mekelle Industrial Park hosts foreign tex...

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]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/f/k/h/mekelle-wp/sfkh-mekelle-what-mekelle-still-holds.mp3 0:06 6 full