{"id":280034,"date":"2019-06-27T03:56:16","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T07:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/stories\/CAAqOQgKIjNDQklTSURvSmMzUnZjbmt0TXpZd1NoTUtFUWlFNnI2Q2pvQU1FVGtWRTNaMFE0MTlLQUFQAQ?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-10-04T11:15:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T15:15:40","slug":"questions-linger-over-how-the-amhara-weekend-attacks-were-planned-and-stopped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/280034","title":{"rendered":"Questions linger over how the Amhara weekend attacks were planned and stopped"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A week after twin assaults in Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa killed Amhara regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and army chief of staff Gen. Seare Mekonnen, investigators and the public still faced sharp gaps in the official story. Ethiopian authorities said Brig. Gen. Asaminew Tsige, then Amhara\u2019s security chief, organised the Amhara attack and that he was later shot dead by security forces.<\/p>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-754221\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/amhara-gondar-upload-1.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Questions linger over how the Amhara weekend attacks were planned and stopped\" \/>\n<p>Anadolu Agency\u2019s reporting pressed on those gaps: how a senior regional security officer could mount such a strike, how the Addis Ababa killing of the army chief fit the same plot, and what the rapid arrests that followed would prove in court. Wire services also recorded further violence elsewhere in the country in the same period, including reports of dozens killed in Benishangul-Gumuz after the Amhara assault.<\/p>\n<p>The government framed the Amhara events as a foiled coup against the regional administration. Opposition voices and Amhara activists disputed parts of that framing even as they condemned the killings. For many Ethiopians, the unanswered operational details mattered as much as the casualty list.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed\u2019s reform course had already opened political space and unsettled old security chains of command. The weekend\u2019s bloodshed showed how costly that unsettled moment could become when regional forces and federal authority pulled in different directions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com.tr\/en\/africa\/ethiopia-taking-layers-off-mysterious-coup-attempt\/1516995\">Anadolu Agency<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ethiopia: Taking layers off mysterious coup attempt&nbsp;&nbsp;Anadolu AgencyEthiopia Amhara unrest: Opposition supporters &#8216;arrested&#8217;&nbsp;&nbsp;BBC NewsTwin attacks threaten new Ethiopian government&#8217;s reforms&nbsp;&nbsp;ReutersEthiopia: 37 killed in a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":754221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/amhara-gondar-upload-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1aQG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280034"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785523,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280034\/revisions\/785523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}