A failed coup in Amhara regional state left four people dead, including Ethiopia’s army chief of staff and the region’s president, the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Sunday. The attack began on Saturday evening in Bahir Dar, the regional capital. Gunmen killed regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and his adviser Ezez Wassie. Regional attorney general Migbaru Kebede was badly hurt and was under treatment, the prime minister’s office said.
In Addis Ababa the same night, army chief General Seare Mekonnen and retired Major General Gezai Abera were killed at Seare’s home by Seare’s bodyguard. Press secretary Billene Seyoum told CNN that Seare had been coordinating the response to the Bahir Dar attack when he was shot. Abiy blamed Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige and others. Asaminew was head of the region’s peace and security bureau. He had received amnesty and left prison the year before. The prime minister’s office said the federal government was in full control of Amhara, one of nine regional states.
Abiy, in military fatigues at a televised press conference on Saturday, said the attempt was the work of ill-motivated individuals and not of an ethnic group. He asked armed and unarmed citizens to stand with the government, share information, and defend the country’s unity. He recalled a grenade attack at a rally he attended in June 2018, which he said had also been overcome. The United States embassy in Addis Ababa issued a security alert after reports of gunfire in the capital and violence in and around Bahir Dar. Abiy had taken office in 2018 after Hailemariam Desalegn resigned following protests. His government had freed prisoners, unblocked websites, made peace with Eritrea, and lifted a state of emergency. Agence France-Presse, cited by CNN, said ethnic clashes had displaced more than a million people. Sunday’s statement was about four dead, a wounded prosecutor, and a regional security chief named as the organiser.
Sources: CNN