Borkena News Desk
TORONTO, Canada – Amhara Media Corporation on Friday released the first part of an interview with Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed in which he shared his narrative on what is known as Sene 15 , the killings of top three regional leaders – including president of the region Ambachew Mekonnen.
The first part of the interview is an hour long and the prime minister touched up on different issues mostly political and security in what could be described as a revisionist lense.
The June 22, 2019 killings of the officials was presented in the same fashion with an apparent intent to dispel mistrust on Abiy Ahmed’s Administration.
Muluken Setiye, AMC journalist who interviewed him, posed several questions related to the tragic incident in which three top Amhara region officials (and later Defense Chief of the Ethiopian Defense Force, Seare Mekonen – although the journalist did not raise this part) were killed.
“What was the cause? Why do you think it happened? How do you remember it ? Is the current situation in the Amhara region related to it?” , the journalist questioned the prime minister.
Abiy responded, “ I think the Sene 15 incident emanated from two issues.” One issue, he said, was “erroneous evaluation based on wrong data.” It appeared he was referring to assessment of the political situation. The other issue he mentioned is “limping with two legs and unholy alliances.” In this one, he was implying that there were politicians who were in the government and who also worked with the opposition. But the image he painted was vague as it is unclear if he was referring to the three politicians who were killed in their offices on Sene 15 or Brgadier General Asamenew Tsige who was linked to the killing and was later killed in a shootout, also in Bahir Dar.
Abiy Ahmed also linked the incident to a tendency “to take power by force.” The official narrative of his government was that the three politicians were killed in an attempted “coup” – regional level coup. He also mentioned Seare Mekonnen, painting an image that they were close as they went to boarding school together. However, there has been a narrative widely circulating on social media that Abiy Ahmed was behind the killings of both the regional leaders in Amhara region and the killing of General Seare Mekonned and his friend Brigadier Genearal Gezai Abera. They were both killed in the residence of General Seare in Addis Ababa.
Abiy admitted that the killings brought about a political trust issue in his government. Watch the embedded interview below and share your views in the comment section.
Video: embedded from Amhara Media Corporation YouTube channel
Cover photo: Screenshot from the video
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