The twin incidents in Addis Abeba and Bahir Dar...

Jun 29 , 2019

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The twin incidents in Addis Abeba and Bahir Dar late last week have opened the floodgates to widespread speculations and grand conspiracy theories on the motive and the actual events surrounding the multiple assassinations. The characterisation by federal authorities of the incident in Bahir Dar as a “failed coup d`etat” has lost its currency since. The telling and retelling of the sad events in both places will continue for decades to come, with variations of all kinds branching out upon the conveniences of the narrators, gossip anticipates.

A few hours after hell broke loose on June 22, 2019, in Bahir Dar, another incident took place in Addis Abeba, inside the residence of Army Chief-of-Staff, Se`are Mekonnen (Gen), located behind Desalegn Hotel on Cape Verde St., which began after 9:00 pm, according to gossip. He was with his old pal, Ge`zai Abera, a retired army general, chatting in the garden of the front yard.

The Chief of Staff was coordinating a force deployment in response to the catastrophic development in Bahir Dar, which began in the late afternoon. A disgruntled head of Amhara Regional State’s security bureau, Asamenew Tsegie (Br. Gen.), orchestrated the murders of the regional state’s President, Ambachew Mekonnen (PhD), and two of his close aides, including the region’s Attorney General, Migbaru Kebede, while they were in a meeting with four others. Se`are was preparing to go to the army`s headquarters when bullets showered on him and his comrade-in-resistance friends since their days of the insurgency back in the late 1970s.

A soldier in his late 20s and a team leader of the security detail for the Chief of Staff, Mesafint Tigabu, allegedly shot Ge`zai first before he finished a round of eight bullets all on Se`are, gossip disclosed. Three members of the security detail were inside a room in the service quarters behind the one-storey villa, while a soldier was deployed outside the gate, claims gossip. Assuming that the gunshots were discharged from the outside, they all rushed out only to be told that there was no attack from the outside, says gossip. They were probably misled by seeing Mesafint lying in between the bodies of the two fallen Generals, claims gossip.

The alleged attacker then got up and ran over to a room in the service quarters where he began firing back at the remaining members of the security detail before he shot himself in the neck, reveals gossip. Dressed in a brown t-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers, Mesafint was found gasping for air. Immediately, he was taken to a hospital where he survived, gossip says. His situation has stabilised since, while he still remains alive up until press time of this newspaper on Saturday night.

The two Generals were not so lucky. General Ge`zai died on the spot, according to gossip. Chief-of-Staff Se`are was taken to a close by hospital on Rwanda St., Washington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, gossip says. His body was later taken to the army`s hospital, Tor Hailoch, on Chad St.

A highly decorated military officer, General Se`are was not only the first Chief of Staff to be killed while in service of his country, but he was also the first high-level official, both in the military and civil branches, to fall in the hands of a bodyguard assigned to security detail.

His passing leaves behind too many unanswered questions, gossip foresees.

How are the two incidents that transpired on the same evening connected? How did a team leader of a security detail for the most powerful military leader evade a standard surveillance check on his background and behaviour while on duty? Why was the family`s concern on his alleged erratic behaviour ignored? Who was responsible for his assignment made four or five months earlier and who were the people he was talking to on the phone a few hours before he allegedly committed the assassination?

Investigators have recovered his phone to check the log of the calls and texts he made, claims gossip. When Mesafint recovers fully, confessions are expected to provide leads to probe the plot further, says gossip.

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PUBLISHED ON Jun 29,2019 [ VOL 20 , NO 1000]

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