Ethiopian state outlets released a recording of the regional militia commander they say led the failed Amhara assault that killed dozens of people, including five top officials. Reuters reported that the voice belonged to the officer authorities had already named as the plot’s organiser and who was later killed in the security crackdown.
The audio was offered as public evidence after days of rumour and incomplete official briefings. Families and politicians were still absorbing the deaths of Amhara regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and army chief Gen. Seare Mekonnen when the recording circulated.
By putting the alleged leader’s voice on air, the government sought to harden its coup narrative and to justify the wave of arrests that followed. Critics of the crackdown were unlikely to treat a state-aired tape as the last word, yet the release marked a rare primary-source moment in a story dominated by second-hand claims.
The episode left a lasting archive point: not only who died on 22 June, but how the Ethiopian Government chose to prove its case to a shaken public.
Sources: Reuters