On the evening of Saturday, June 22, the Spokesperson for Office of the Prime Minister announced on state TV that a coup was attempted in the Amhara Regional State and that senior officials of the regional state were killed. A few hours later, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared on state TV, clad in a military suit, to reaffirm the spokesperson’s announcement.
However, in Bahir Dar, where the ‘attempted coup’ took place, and elsewhere in the Amhara region, people have different opinions. People here strongly believe that the cause of the deadly violence is an attempt by the federal government to unlawfully apprehend General Asamnew Tsege, who is identified in government propaganda as ‘the ring leader of the attempted coup’. General Asamnew was the head of the security bureau of the Amhara region.
Some observers trust that General Asamnew ordered the attack against senior political leaders who caved in to pressure from the central government to remove him from his post and arrest him. Others argue that the killing could be the work of federal security operatives, who wanted to create a pretext to get rid of not only General Asamnew but also unwanted senior regional leaders.
By branding General Asamnew’s desprate action as a coup, Abiy Ahmed’s government seems intent on distracting the public from the real cause of the deadly violence. Blockade of the internet means that people have to rely on state media for information.
Who is General Asamnew Tsege?
Asamnew Tsege was a veteran of the decades long military insurgency against the Derg regime.
After the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) deposed the Derg regime and assumed state power in 1991, Asamnew joined the Ethiopian Defense Force and rose to the rank of Brigadier General.
In 2008, frustrated by the lack of democratic progress in the country, General Asamnew led a failed coup attempt. He was captured right away and sentenced for life in prison along with his associates. After serving ten years in prison, he was released in 2018 as part of Abiy Ahmed’s overture to free political prisoners. Soon after his release, he was appointed to lead the security bureau of the Amhara Regional State.
As chief of the security bureau, General Asamnew quickly won the hearts and minds of the Amhara people. In the eyes of many in the region, he did an admirable job securing the region from hostile forces. He has vigorously dealt with serious security challenges, including a bloody conflict between the Amhara and Qemant people in the Northern part of the region and a military attack led by OLF-linked militia group in the eastern part of the region.
People also respected General Asamenew’s unwavering pro-Amhara stance in a political environment marked by ethnic tensions and conflicts.
Why did General Asamnew fall out with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed?
While praised internationally as a young, charismatic and reform-minded leader, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is facing growing opposition domestically for failing to establish peace and stability in the country.
The Prime Minister is widely viewed as unwilling to take action against armed Oromo groups. Since the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) entered the country in 2018, agreeing to put down their arms and engage in peaceful politics, OLF-linked soldiers have routinely carried out deadly military attacks in and around the Oromo region. Hundreds of thousands of people were internally displaced as a result of these attacks. Public officials were assassinated, commercial banks were robbed and foreign companies were attacked and ransacked in the hands of OLF militants.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his administration has turned a blind eye to these criminal activities, aggravating the security breakdown in the country.
General Asamnew Tsege was staunchly opposed against Abiy Ahmed’s policy of playing down the security crisis in the Oromo region while meddling in the security affairs of other regional states. The General has publicly expressed his dissatisfaction against Abiy Ahmed’s policy of pampering armed Oromo groups and gangs.
Who killed the army Chief?
Several hours after the deadly violence in Bahir Dar, the Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Defense Force, General Seare Mekonnen, was assassinated at his home in the capital. His long time friend, Major General Gezai Abera, who was with Seare at the time, was also killed.
The government claimed that the killing was part of the attempted coup in Bahir Dar, a claim that is remotely convincing. To begin with, General Asamnew’s military influence was confined to the Amhara region at best. He did not have the means to successfully coordinate a high-level assassination in Addis. Moreover, my well-placed sources confided to me that General Seare was as frustrated with the deteriorating security situation in the country as General Asamnew. If anything, the two generals were more likely to be allies than adversaries.
The assassination is most likely the work of military elements seeking to eliminate the Chief of Staff.
General Seare was one of the few experienced Tigrean generals who was not forced into retirement following Abiy Ahmed’s ascent to power. Now that he is out of the way, the deputy Chief of Staff, Birhanu Jula, who is an Oromo, will likely replace him, ensuring Oromos’ complete control of the country’s military and security establishment. Such sweeping control of military institutions by a single ethnic group is reminiscent of Tigrean domination during Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s era.
What’s next?
Abiy Ahmed will likely exert pressure on the surviving political leadership of the Amhara region to install a loyalist as president of the Regional State. He will also seek to prolong the army’s takeover of the Amhara region. There are already reports of large scale crack down taking place in the aftermath of the Bahir Dar incident. These moves will not bode well for the region, as they stoke up ethnic tensions and lead to a further deterioration of security in the region, and beyond.
About the author || The writer is an associate professor of public administration at Bahir Dar University and could be reached at etmobileq@gmail.com.
These were just targeted killings and not part of a coup.
For lack of life in a society where the rights of the common man/woman has been respected continuously, say for at least a generation, we have been left but to make up and live with ‘uplifting’ myths. We create heroes just as a psychological remuneration for the injustice we have been subjected to. I will give you an example. I was in the former British Protectorate of Aden when the late Emperor’s own bodyguards tried to overthrow him. I remember how I was awakened by my adoptee Hadrami uncle to tell me my ‘cousin(Ibna Ammuk)’ was suddenly gone like King Farouq of Egypt. I did not know what to make of it. But it was over as quickly as it started. I found out(BBC Arabic and Al-Qahirah) that the rebels had murdered many high officials of the late Emperor when they opposed the idea of the coup. All of the rebels of the coup were rounded up or killed including the leader. Please do not call me Emperor Selassie hugger now but he did not just send the leader to the gallows. The record shows that Mengistu was put on trial and sentenced to death even though it was portrayed as a show trial. Am I wrong? The demonic Mengistu didn’t show an iota of such process in court for all of his victims. The leaders of the regime that followed him did not show anything that they were men of law. Again, I will give you an example. I heard that it was able to capture those who conducted the massacre of innocent peasant farmers in Bedeno and its surroundings in 1992. It must have taken them to some joint and shoot them without due process. They disappeared in thin air. Please hold on to this story for me. I will come back to it later.
Now we read a story that the killer of those state officials in Amhara region was apprehended while trying to elude the police in a three wheel taxi and killed. The questions I immediately raised were: Was he killed in the exchange of fire with police? The vehicle he was hitching a ride was not the 1965 Ford GT40 and it is one of the slowest vehicles on the road. Did the police try to surround him and wait or at least using their sharpshooter render him unconscious to capture him alive? It seemed he had a second thought about taking his own life after he realized that his killing did not cut the mustard for him. His demise in such ways the details of which is only known to the officials has opened the door for many to spin it into creating a dangerous environment. Now some of you may say ‘Ittu, why do you care about a criminal?’ To me a human life is the most sacred creation of The Almighty Our Creator. We have no right to just sniff it away. No sir!!! Was there even a warrant to arrest him? I am asking all these questions because I am led to believe, after all the reforms put in place since April 2018, that things will not be done the ‘usual’ ways as in the ‘good ole days’.
Mengistu’s killings were rendered a thorough opacity and we were left only to laud the action that took a crack at overthrowing the ‘archaic’ ruler. His summary execution of 13 high level officials was completely glossed over even by those who were highly read men of law. I remember how a book written by a certain foreigner with ulterior motives was the most sought after by leaders and members of the student unions here in the USA and Europe, I myself was given a mission by friends who hail from the Western Hararghe region to find the book and send them. The author was the one Richard Greenfield. I had read the book and it tells the story of the coup in detail. It kept me wondering who could it be that moron who spilled the beans to that foreigner in such a detailed manner. That catapulted Mengistu into a cult and a hero figure. Those he summarily executed were not even mentioned at all.
When the other Mengistu summarily executed 60 officials in 1974 I remember reading the story on major US newspapers and watching it all on major TV evening news. Many of those among us had applauded the massacre with the very few condemning it. Others told me it was a quarrel among the ‘neftegnas’ and I’ve no business in it. Then I found out thru my relatives that there several Oromos among them. Those victims were rarely mentioned in magazines and pamphlets of the opposition in the decades to come. What I found out about many of those victims thru my wara Chercher friend that they had fought fascist Italian forces tooth and nail when they occupied the country by force in the 1930’s. They were the ones who tied up more than 200,000 ruthless fascist soldiers and kept them busy until the Allied forces arrived in 1941. Mind you and just imagine if those 200,000 well trained and armed soldiers were free to join Rommel in the North African theater. Just think about that!!! But that demonic Mengistu took them out and mowed them down like they were predatory animals that just mauled people. His predecessor Mengistu had also killed similar patriots including the one and only Abebe bin Aregay who was the leader of the patriots and Mussolini’s nightmare. In both cases the crime committed was glossed over and thrown by the way side.
We like myths and get high by them. Those savage murderers of innocent peasants in Bedeno had disappaeared without a trace after being captured by the late PM security forces. Now ‘liberation’ front leaders have brought them up by asking questions. They were labeled martyrs and the story of those they murdered has been glossed over. When the leader of a ‘liberation’ front was asking the whereabouts of his disappeared members it includes those savages too. In a sense he has a case. As a government, the primary objective should be to capture such criminals alive so they can face justice in a court of law. The same extrajudicial killings were carried out on the captured members of EPRP. We will never know how it took place. At least the demonic Mengistu had left a trail of paperwork that tells how the massacre was decided and carried out.
That is why I ask the question in what circumstances was this general killed. For the sake of stability of the old country and peace/security for the common man/woman it should be investigated by an independent body. Otherwise, as we see it here it is going to be another fodder for spreading hatred by one brother over the other. One cardinal truth we should never remember that we are extremely fortunate that we live in safe places thousands of miles away from the old country. It is a blessing that we should never turn into it a curse for that poor farmer and urban dweller who toil day and night just to make ends meet. We should stop hurling derogatory utterances from our comfy homes at others just because they have said something we don’t like. In the meantime, we can tell that some of you who engaged in such vile behavior are not even the stakeholders of the old country. Your main objective since the late 1960’s has been to send that gem of the colored asunder so you can come in and loot at will when nobody is watching. I know you how you work since the 1960’s. Stay within your boundary and stay busy tending your own affairs. You have too much on your plate already and the old country will never go asunder. Mark my word, NEVER!!!!!!