A major cultural and religious festival celebrating women and the Virgin Mary has been cancelled in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, amid fears of further drone attacks.
The annual Ashenda festival was due to culminate on Saturday with a mass gathering at a stadium expected to attract thousands of young women.
The three-day festival coincides with the Orthodox Christian commemoration of the Virgin Mary. Its name, which means “the tall green grass” in Tigrinya, has evolved into a major cultural celebration of women across Tigray and other parts of northern Ethiopia.
During Ashenda, girls and young women traditionally dress in colourful clothing, braid their hair in distinctive styles, and gather to sing, dance and socialise—activities that are often discouraged at other times of the year.
However, concerns over security forced organisers to cancel the main stadium event following a series of reported drone strikes in the region.
Dori Asgedom, head of Tigray’s culture and tourism bureau, said the gathering would not proceed because of “ongoing drone strikes and the threat of war”.
“The drone attack on innocent citizens in Mekelle city is an act that history will not forgive and should be condemned,” he said.
The latest reported strike hit Mekelle on Thursday, injuring 13 civilians and damaging homes, according to Tigray’s communications affairs bureau.
Regional authorities also reported two drone strikes near Dandera, about 15km (nine miles) from Mekelle, on 18 August. They said one person was killed and another injured. A separate strike in Raya-Alamata district on 10 August reportedly killed three people.
Tigray’s regional administration has blamed federal forces for the recent attacks, but the Ethiopian government has not responded to requests for comment on the allegations.
Following Thursday’s attack, regional authorities urged the international community to condemn the incident and take urgent diplomatic steps to prevent further escalation.
The cancellation has renewed concerns over the fragile peace in Tigray, which is still recovering from a devastating two-year war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia’s federal government.
The conflict ended in 2022 with a peace agreement that was estimated to have left hundreds of thousands of people dead.
But tensions have risen again this year after the TPLF removed the interim administration established under the peace deal and reinstated its pre-war council.
Both the TPLF and the federal government accuse each other of failing to fully implement the peace agreement, fuelling fears that fighting could resume.
