{"id":280093,"date":"2019-06-27T03:56:16","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T07:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/stories\/CAAqOQgKIjNDQklTSURvSmMzUnZjbmt0TXpZd1NoTUtFUWlFNnI2Q2pvQU1FVFgyVTNMOEpjQjJLQUFQAQ?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-10-04T11:15:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T15:15:42","slug":"ethiopias-ambassador-to-qatar-says-power-must-come-through-votes-not-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/280093","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia\u2019s ambassador to Qatar says power must come through votes, not guns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Samia Zekaria, Ethiopia\u2019s ambassador to Qatar, told Al Jazeera that the failed Amhara power grab was the work of people trying to seize authority against the will of the population, and that life had returned toward normal after the shock. She said the attempt \u201ccame completely unexpectedly given the ongoing political and democratic reforms\u201d under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.<\/p>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-466807\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Abiy-Ahmeds-Expansionist-Goals-Pose-Risks-to-Africa-and-Global-Stability.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Ethiopia\u2019s ambassador to Qatar says power must come through votes, not guns\" \/>\n<p>Authorities accused Brig. Gen. Asaminew Tsige of organising the 22 June attacks in Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa that killed the Amhara regional president and the national army chief of staff, among others. Asaminew was later shot dead by security forces. Zekaria called the episode a national tragedy and said Ethiopians wanted peace.<\/p>\n<p>In the same interview she discussed human rights and Ethiopia\u2019s mediating role in Sudan. She argued that lasting power in Ethiopia should come through voting, not violence, and tied that claim to the reform programme that had released prisoners, widened political space, and reshaped the cabinet since 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The exchange offered a clear diplomatic line from Addis Ababa\u2019s foreign service at a moment when regional partners were watching whether Ethiopia\u2019s openings would survive the weekend\u2019s killings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/06\/qa-power-ethiopia-voting-violence-190626115954182.html\">Al Jazeera<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Q&amp;A: &#8216;Power in Ethiopia to come through voting, not violence&#8217;&nbsp;&nbsp;Al Jazeera EnglishSamia Zekaria, Ethiopian ambassador to Qatar, discusses recent instability, human rights and regional mediating efforts.View full coverage on Google News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":466807,"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-280093","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\/2023\/11\/Abiy-Ahmeds-Expansionist-Goals-Pose-Risks-to-Africa-and-Global-Stability.jpg?fit=275%2C183&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1aRD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280093","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=280093"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785549,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280093\/revisions\/785549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}