People living in Mekelle, the main city in Ethiopia's war-scarred Tigray, have told the BBC they fear they could soon be dragged into conflict again.

Growing tensions threaten the fragile peace agreement signed in late 2022, which brought an end to a brutal civil war that claimed an estimated half a million lives.

Many here are preparing for the worst - either leaving for the federal capital, Addis Ababa, on sold-out flights, or stocking up on emergency supplies and withdrawing their savings from the bank.

"It's all because of the anxiety," one resident said.

Tseganesh Kassa, an ex-combatant from Shire, a city in central Tigray, badly wounded her leg during the war. She now walks on crutches and requires regular medical treatment.

She says war "rocked my family".

"I am now a disabled person and my family has been [ruined] economically. I don't want to see that again. Displaced people living in makeshift camps haven't even been returned to their homes.

"No-one can handle another [war]."

Tigray was the epicentre of the conflict.

The guns were silenced when two of the main warring groups, Ethiopia's federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the leading political party in the region, signed a peace agreement.

This led to the formation of an interim administration tasked with running the region until elections were held. But in recent months there has been a growing power struggle between senior figures within TPLF and Tigray's interim administration.

The administration accuses certain TPLF politicians of attempting to seize power by force.

Some within the TPLF accuse the interim administration's leadership of failing to support ex-fighters or bring back people displaced by the war.

Territories that were once under Tigray's administration before the fighting but are now are under others' control is also a hot issue.

Both sides accuse each other of engaging in treasonous activities that involve "external actors".

There are now concerns the peace agreement could unravel, and even fears over the prospect of a direct conflict between Ethiopia and its neighbour Eritrea.

During the Tigray war, Ethiopia's government was supported by Eritrea. But relations have deteriorated between the two countries since the peace deal, which Eritrea did not sign.

Since then, there seems to be a feeling in Eritrea that it has become the fall guy for the atrocities reportedly committed during the war.

All parties were accused of gross abuses during the civil war - including the mass killing of civilians and widespread sexual violence. Eritrean soldiers were particularly accused of being behind the deaths dozens of the civilians in the historic city of Aksum.

Tigray's interim administration says Eritrean troops are still occupying parts of the region's land along shared borders where they continue to commit abuses.

Meanwhile Eritrea's information minister called the allegations "fabricated" adding the areas in question are "Eritrean sovereign territories".

Tigrayan officials want the return of these and other disputed areas currently under the control of forces from neighbouring Amhara region, as outlined in the peace deal.

Ethiopia's ambitions to have access to the sea is another factor souring relations with Eritrea.

There are fears that the two neighbours could return to war six years after they mended their fraught relations.

If violence returns to Tigray - or if clashes break out between Ethiopia and Eritrea - the implications will far reaching in an already volatile region.

In Mekelle, residents are weary of the prospect of further conflict.

"The youths are tired of violence," Tesfay Gebreabgzi, a shoe-shiner in his 20s, tells the BBC. "During the [civil] war, lots of people had the desire to fight. Now there's only fatigue."

Haimanot Gebremariam, a vegetable vendor in her 50s, says her two children joined the fighting on the Tigrayan side after war broke out in 2020.

But while her daughter returned safely, her son sustained permanent wounds. She says she does not want to see a return to "the dark days". The situation now "is very concerning", she tells the BBC.

"We still live with the trauma and the scar of the previous war. We don't want to shed tears again."

The Tigray region has not fully recovered from the disastrous impact of the conflict.

Nearly a million displaced people have still not returned home and some key infrastructure — including schools and health facilities - have not yet been rebuilt.

Nonetheless, despite the palpable anxiety, there is a semblance of normality in Mekelle. Businesses and shops are working regularly. And there is not a heavy presence of security forces on the streets.

But having lived through one of Africa's deadliest conflicts in recent memory, many are closely following every small development.

In one coffee house, young people are glued to their phones, watching clips from recent press statements made by the head of Tigray's interim administration, Getachew Reda, who is currently hundreds of miles away in Addis Ababa for "consultations" with federal authorities.

In another cafe, a young man said he was waiting to hear what the city's new mayor - who was appointed on Thursday by the dissident TPLF faction - would do to calm the public.

Everyone, it seems, is waiting to see what the next days and weeks will bring.