ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia’s attorney general on Friday filed terrorism charges against five people accused of trying to “kill the prime minister” at a huge rally in the capital in June, barely two months after the reformist leader took office.

The charges say the five acted on the premise that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is not popular among Oromos, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, and wanted to pave the way for the once-banned Oromo Liberation Front.

That group’s leaders recently returned after Abiy’s government in July removed it from a terror list and invited all exiled groups to participate in politics.

Abiy, Ethiopia’s first prime minister from the Oromo ethnic group, has announced sweeping and largely popular reforms since taking office in April, but ethnic tensions in Africa’s second most populous country pose his biggest challenge.

A bomb thrown at the stage while Abiy waved to the crowd of tens of thousands in Addis Ababa’s Meskel Square on June 23 killed two people and wounded more than 150.

Some of the attack’s collaborators remain at large, including a woman who lives in neighboring Kenya and allegedly masterminded it, the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported Friday.

It said the suspects wore T-shirts bearing the prime minister’s image to disguise themselves as supporters.

At the time of the bombing, Abiy called it a “well-orchestrated attack” but one that failed.

Ethiopia’s ruling coalition, which came to power in 1991, holds its congress next week and is expected to take the next steps in implementing the political and economic reforms that include opening up state-run enterprises to investment and preparing for elections in 2020.

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Application for Diversity Immigrant Visa Program DV lottery 202 Application Will Start Oct 03

The U.S. Department of State annually administers the statutorily-mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For Fiscal Year 2020, 50,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will be available. There is no cost to register for the DV program.

Applicants must submit entries for the DV-2020 program electronically at dvlottery.state.gov

between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4),

Wednesday, October 3, 2018,

and noon, Eastern standard time (EST) (GMT-5),

Tuesday, November 6, 2018.

Do not wait until the last week of the registration period to enter, as heavy demand may result in website delays. No late entries or paper entries will be accepted.

The law allows only one entry per person during each registration period. The Department of State uses sophisticated technology to detect multiple entries.

Individuals with more than one entry will be disqualified.

Guardian – Ethiopia’s prime minister has appointed women to half the posts in his cabinet and created a new ministry of peace in a sweeping reshuffle that will reinforce the momentum of his radical reform programme in the vast, strategically significant African country.

Abiy Ahmed has turned the region’s politics on its head with a string of reforms since being appointed in April, earning comparisons to Nelson Mandela, Justin Trudeau, Barack Obama and Mikhail Gorbachev.

On Tuesday, he named the former construction minister, Aisha Mohammed, as defence minister – the first woman to hold that position in the country – and announced the creation of a new peace ministry led by Muferiat Kamil, former parliament speaker.

Kamil’s office will oversee the intelligence and security agencies, a move that reinforces the downgrading of the traditionally powerful security establishment in the authoritarian state.

The reshuffle comes amid a wave of ethnic violence.

“The main problem in this country is the lack of peace. This [peace] ministry will be working hard to ensure it prevails,” Abiy told lawmakers.

Since his appointment, Abiy has made peace with neighbouring Eritrea and presided over the partial privatisation of key economic sectors such as telecommunications.

The 42-year-old has also extended an olive branch to several rebel groups and promised to follow a policy of reconciliation and rein in the powerful security agencies. Yet the changes have not stopped ethnically charged violence, some of which has escalated since he was named premier.

About 1.4 million people out of a population of 102 million have been displaced by violence since last year, much of it between rival ethnic groups.

Though the economy has grown by nearly 10% on average for the past decade, the recent unrest has led to concerns over its long-term stability.

Ethiopia faces deep challenges: a critical shortage of foreign currency, only temporarily solved by an infusion of cash from the United Arab Emirates. There is growing inequality, a shortage of jobs for a huge number of graduates, significant environmental damage, ethnic tensions and a hunger for change.

Different interest groups have come together in recent years to constitute a powerful groundswell of discontent, with widespread anti-government protests led by young people. At least 70% of the population is below the age of 30.

The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the rebel coalition that ousted the Derg military regime in 1991, has been split by factional battles between four ethnically based parties as well as fierce competition between institutions and individuals.

The Tigrayans, an ethnic community centred in the north of Ethiopia, make up about 6% of the population but are generally considered to dominate the political and business elite.

Abiy was seen as a relative political outsider before being picked for the top job by the EPRDF council. He is the first leader from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic community, the Oromo, who have complained for decades of economic, cultural and political marginalisation. Abiy has also appeared publicly with his wife and daughters, an unusual step for senior Ethiopian politicians.

Some worry that “Abiymania” is a personality cult; others liken it to the sort of adoration that has often followed Ethiopian leaders, including the former emperor, Haile Selassie.

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Kenya’s Harambee Stars thumped Walia Ibex of Ethiopia 3-0 in the Afcon 2019 qualifiers Group F return match at the Kasarani Stadium Sunday.

Michael Olunga and Eric Johanna scored in the the first half with Victor Wanyama adding the third in the other half from the spot to seal the humongous.

The win was Kenya’s second in the group and takes their points tally to seven and an inch closer to the Afcon slated for Cameroon next year.

With Sierra suspended by Fifa, Stars have basically qualified for the continental championship however, fans will have to wait for a confirmation on the fate of Sierra Leone.

The game witnessed a massive crowd that filled the 60,000 sitter capacity facility to the brim.

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Ethiopia elects 1st female president; ‘sets the standard’

By ELIAS MESERET

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopian lawmakers on Thursday unanimously elected the country’s first female president, days after approving one of the world’s few “gender-balanced” Cabinets.

Seasoned diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde succeeds Mulatu Teshome in the largely ceremonial post.

“In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalizes women as decision-makers in public life,” the chief of staff for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a Twitter post.

Sahle-Work called Ethiopia’s recent transfer of power to the reformist prime minister “exemplary” and said she will focus on bringing together all sides to achieve peace in a country with multiple ethnic-based conflicts in recent months.

Ethiopian lawmakers last week approved a new Cabinet with a record 50 percent female ministers, including the country’s first woman defense minister.

The moves are the latest in sweeping political and economic reforms in Africa’s second most populous country since Abiy took office in April following months of nationwide anti-government protests demanding wider freedoms.

Sahle-Work has worked within various United Nations organs and was the first director-general of the U.N. office in Nairobi.

Until recently she was the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative to the African Union.

Source: apnews.com

Washington Post

ADDIS ABABA, Ethi­o­pia — Ethiopia’s Parliament on Thursday approved the East African country’s first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde, a veteran of the United Nations and the diplomatic corps.

The position of president is ceremonial in Ethiopia, with executive power vested in the office of the prime minister. But the appointment is deeply symbolic and follows up on last week’s cabinet reshuffle. Half the ministers in the government are women in Africa’s second-most populous country.

“In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalizes women as decision-makers in public life,” tweeted Fitsum Arega, the prime minister’s chief of staff and de facto government spokesman

Parliament accepted the resignation of Mulatu Teshome, who had served as president since 2013.

In remarks in Parliament after she took her oath of office, Sahle-Work emphasized the importance of respecting women and the need to build a “society that rejects the oppression of women.” She also promised to work for peace and unity in the country.

She added that those who think she has already talked too much about women should expect even more.

Ethiopia’s young new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in April, has initiated a whirlwind of changes, releasing political prisoners, inviting back exiles and making peace with the country’s chief opponent, Eritrea, after two decades of hostilities.

Abiy has also publicly declared the need to promote women in what has been a largely patriarchal, conservative society.

A woman now heads one of the most powerful ministries in the country, the Ministry of Peace, which controls the intelligence agency and security forces. Muferiat Kamil, the former speaker of the house, heads the ministry, which aims to tackle the widespread ethnic unrest that has erupted in the country since the easing of the authoritarian control.

Amid these moves, however, the government has been criticized for failing to contain the ethnic unrest in the countryside and for the arrest of thousands of people in Addis Ababa, some of whom then spent time in reeducation camps.

Sahle-Work, 68, becomes modern Ethiopia’s first female head of state, though in the country’s history, there have been empresses who wielded great power.

Sehin Teferra, co-founder of the feminist Setaweet movement, said the appointment is so important because, on the whole, gender equality in Ethi­o­pia is “abysmal” with “very high levels of violence against women.”

“We are always in the top of the gender inequality index, and we do very badly in terms of representation,” she said. However, she added, the government now is making a powerful statement with the new cabinet and with this appointment.

“I think appointing one or two women would not have made the change, but with this critical mass, when you have 10 [ministers] out of 20, then yes, I think it will do a lot in terms of addressing people’s attitudes,” Sehin said.

There is still a long way to go, cautioned Blen Sailhu, a lawyer and women’s rights activist, because, especially in rural society, women are not seen as leaders.

“All these developments are exciting, but it is something that’s happening up top,” she said. “In order for the shift to happen at a grass-roots level, the work is going to take years.” She said factors such as widespread teen marriage and the lack of access to secondary education are holding women back.

Sahle-Work was previously the special representative of the U.N. secretary general to the African Union. Before that, she headed the United Nations’ Nairobi office with the rank of undersecretary general.

She began her diplomatic career as ambassador to Senegal in 1989 with responsibilities in neighboring African countries and later went to Djibouti before eventually serving as ambassador to France, where she had previously studied.

Among her many roles with the United Nations was head of the U.N. Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic until 2011.

According to Ethiopia’s constitution, the president is the head of state with ceremonial duties such as opening Parliament, appointing ambassadors following the prime minister’s recommendation and receiving the credentials of foreign envoys.

But Sehin predicted that having such an experienced diplomat in the presidential role would change it.

“I am sure she will elevate the position,” she said. “We see it as more than ceremonial.”

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PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed support for Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ambitious reforms and diplomatic peace efforts.

The 42-year-old African leader was on a working visit Monday to France in his first trip to Europe since taking office in April.

In a joint declaration, France welcomed “the rapprochement between Ethiopia and Eritrea.” Both countries pledged to “continue their efforts in order to promote peace and prosperity in the region.”

Ethiopia’s new leader “chose a courageous path, we will stand by his side,” Macron said at a news conference.

Abiy said he expects Macron to play a key role in peacemaking efforts between Eritrea and Djibouti — Ethiopia’s neighbors which have agreed last month to normalize ties a decade after a border dispute led to brief military clashes.

Within a few months, Abiy has implemented sweeping economic and political reforms, among them making peace with longtime rival Eritrea, which has set off a series of diplomatic thaws in Africa’s turbulent Horn of Africa region.

Abiy has released thousands of prisoners, promised free and fair elections in 2020, welcomed home once-banned opposition groups and begun opening up the state-run economy.

Last week, Ethiopian lawmakers approved the country’s first female president, who is also Africa’s only current female head of state.

But the push for democratic reforms in Africa’s second most populous country hasn’t been smooth. With the widening political space and returning opposition voices, ethnic and other tensions have flared and human rights groups have warned against a return to the repressive tactics of mass arrests and internet cutoffs. Abiy also has been the target of an assassination attempt.

“Overall the reform process is contributing to the greater peace in the country,” Abiy said in Paris.

Macron and Abiy also pledged to increase cultural cooperation, especially on World Heritage sites such as the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.

France will contribute to the maintenance and renovation of the site, Abiy said.

Macron announced he will visit Ethiopia in March.

Source: Yahoo News

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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s parliament on Thursday swore in the country’s first female supreme court president, building on efforts by reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to achieve gender parity in government.

The appointment of Meaza Ashenafi comes two weeks after Abiy named 10 female ministers to make Ethiopia the third country in Africa – after Rwanda and Seychelles – to have its cabinet split equally between men and women.

A prominent rights campaigner, Meaza recently served as an adviser on women’s rights at the Addis Ababa-based United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Naming her as his pick to head the Supreme Court, Abiy told lawmakers the court system needed improved capacities “to successfully implement demands made with regards to justice, democracy and change in our country.

“I have made the nomination with the firm belief that she has the capacity required, with her vast international experience in mind.”

Parliament unanimously approved Abiy’s choice.

Under Ethiopia’s constitution, the court system operates independent of government.

Last week the Horn of Africa country named Sahle-Work Zewde as president, also the first woman to hold that post.

Since his appointment in April, Abiy has presided over a series of reforms that have included the pardoning of dissidents long outlawed by the government and diplomatic overtures to long-term enemy Eritrea.

But they have so far failed to curtail unrest with over two million people displaced this year due to clashes – many pitting different ethnic groups against each other – in several parts of the country.

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Photo: Daily NewsDigital Satellites (file photo).

By Andualem Sisay

Ethiopia is set to launch its first earth observatory satellite in September 2019, joining a list of few African countries that have put the devices into orbit.

“The satellite will be launched from China while the control and command station will be in Ethiopia,” said Dr Solomon Belay Tessema, the director general of the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute at the Addis Ababa University.

He added that “most preliminary and critical design is done by our scientists.”

China has provided training and $6 million for the project, according to Dr Solomon.

He said the design, development and manufacturing of the satellite, done in collaboration with the Chinese, cost $8 million.

“Our main goals for launching this first satellite are two. The first is to build technology application capacity and skills of our engineers through collaborations with different countries’ space scientists and institutions,” said Dr Solomon.

He noted that the technology and knowledge transfer will enable the Ethiopian scientists “design, build and launch the second satellite independently.”

There are 20 Ethiopian aerospace engineers involved in the satellite project.

About 60 masters and PhD students are also taking part in research and training at the space institute as well as the country’s multibillion-dollar Entoto Observatory and Research Centre, Dr Solomon said.

The Entoto observatory centre, the only of its kind in the region, has two one-metre telescopes and a spectrograph to measure wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.

Collaboration

Ethiopia is collaborating with universities and observatory centres from around the world including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, South Korea, Chile and South Africa.

Some of the students in its space programme are from Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

The second goal, he said, was to save the country from spending money buying data and information it could collect for its development agenda.

He told The EastAfrican that the satellite will be used to gather data on water, agriculture, climate change and the environment.

Ethiopia will join seven other African countries that have built and launched satellites. They are South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Morocco, and neighbouring Kenya – which launched its nano-satellite in May 2018.

Angola launched its first satellite in December 2017 but lost it four months later. Russia, which built the communication satellite, is building another one for Angola set to be launched in 2020.

In 2017, the African Union passed an African space policy calling for the adoption of a framework to use satellite communication for economic progress and the development of a continental outer-space programme.

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Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia won the men’s race of the New York City Marathon on Sunday, with a time of 2 hours 5 minutes and 59 seconds, surging ahead of two other runners near the finish in Central Park. Mary Keitany, the world-record holder in the women’s marathon, won the women’s race in a time of 2 hours 22 minutes and 48 seconds, her fourth victory in the event.

Desisa, 28, won his first New York marathon, defeating Shura Kitata, 22, of Ethiopia and Geoffrey Kamworor, 25, of Kenya, the defending champion.

The 2018 #TCSNYCMarathon Champion: Lelisa Desisa! pic.twitter.com/aH5H4VbXZe

— TCS New York City Marathon (@nycmarathon) November 4, 2018

The race, with more than 50,000 runners winding 26.2 miles through all five boroughs, unfolded in buttery fall sunshine on a cool, breezy morning that brought out thousands of spectators.

Victory lap! pic.twitter.com/tvbRGKib96

— TCS New York City Marathon (@nycmarathon) November 4, 2018

Keitany, 36, of Kenya, made her sixth appearance in the New York marathon.

She had come in second last year but won in 2014, 2016 and 2016. She beat Vivian Cheruiyot, 35, of Kenya, who ran 2 hours 26 minutes 2 seconds and Shalane Flanagan, 37, of the United States, who came in third with a time of 2 hours 26 minutes 22 seconds.

Read More on New York Times

By ANDUALEM SISAY

Ethiopia is set to launch its first earth observatory satellite in September 2019, joining a list of few African countries that have put the devices into orbit.

“The satellite will be launched from China while the control and command station will be in Ethiopia,” said Dr Solomon Belay Tessema, the director general of the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute at the Addis Ababa University.

He added that “most preliminary and critical design is done by our scientists.”

China has provided training and $6 million for the project, according to Dr Solomon.

He said the design, development and manufacturing of the satellite, done in collaboration with the Chinese, cost $8 million.

“Our main goals for launching this first satellite are two. The first is to build technology application capacity and skills of our engineers through collaborations with different countries’ space scientists and institutions,” said Dr Solomon.

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Police in Ethiopia say they have discovered a mass grave with 200 bodies near the border between the Somali and Oromia regions of the country.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced over the past year by violence there.

Local media reported that the grave was found during a probe into alleged atrocities committed by the former president of Ethiopia’s Somali region.

Abdi Mohammed is awaiting trial over allegations he fuelled ethnic clashes.

A notorious regional security force known as the Liyu police is accused of carrying out killings in the area between the Somali and Oromia regions and it reported directly to the regional president.

The police are trying to identify the 200 bodies found.

Mr Mohammed was forced to resign in August and was arrested weeks later after violence broke out in the regional capital, Jijiga.

He is alleged to have overseen widespread rights abuses including torture, rape and killings during his 13-year rule.

Last month the state-linked broadcaster Fana reported that he attempted to escape police custody by climbing through a window ahead of a court appearance

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Gondar

AFP – The presidents of Somalia and Eritrea met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday to cement regional economic ties as relations warm between the once-rival nations.

Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki arrived in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar for the summit. They also visited a university.

The meeting is intended to “cement the outcome of the Horn of Africa economic integration agreement,” Ethiopia’s state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported.

The three leaders had in met in September to lay the groundwork for the agreement, the details of which remain vague.

“This is a testimony, this is a witness for everyone that the history of the Horn of Africa has changed,” the Somali president told officials during a speech in Gondar.

“Now we are moving for regional collaboration in economic development in order to be sure that we fight poverty in this region,” he added.

A former province of Ethiopia, Eritrea broke away in 1993 but was back at war with its southern neighbour five years later when a border dispute sparked fighting.

A peace deal ended the war two years later, but Ethiopia and Eritrea remained bitter foes after Addis Ababa refused to accept a United Nations-backed boundary demarcation.

Shortly after his April inauguration, Abiy reversed that policy, leading the two neighbours to sign a peace deal last July.

Abiy and Isaias have since met repeatedly around the region, and the speed of the rapprochement has surprised even veteran Ethiopia politicians.

“There are things you think are impossible like normalisation with Eritrea,” Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde told the South African Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday.

“For Ethiopia, this normalisation is helping a lot, not just for Ethiopia and Eritrea, but the region as a whole,” she said.

“Our vision is to have the same kind of relationship with all our neighbouring countries.”

The peace deal with Eritrea unlocked a flood of diplomacy in the Horn of Africa, with Somalia and Eritrea establishing diplomatic ties after decades of animosity, while rivals Djibouti and Eritrea have also moved to ease long standing tensions.

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UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to lift sanctions against Eritrea following its thaw in relations with Ethiopia and other neighboring countries — but it kept an arms embargo on Somalia and a ban on trade in charcoal, a key source of funds for al-Shabab militants.

The resolution approved by the U.N.’s most powerful body commended “efforts toward peace, stability and reconciliation in the region” sparked by Ethiopia’s reformist prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in April and accepted an international commission’s border decision that favored Eritrea.

Ethiopia is the regional power and actions by the country’s leader set off several diplomatic thaws, including one between Eritrea and Somalia. Leaders of Djibouti and Eritrea, which also had a turbulent relationship after multiple border clashes, met with the help of Ethiopia, though there has been no breakthrough.

Ahmed’s office said after the vote that the lifting of sanctions will have far-reaching effects in improving stability and building lasting peace and normal relations in the Horn of Africa region.

“It will further enhance the collaborative gains that have been achieved in the region over the past few months,” the Ethiopian prime minister’s office said.

Eritrea, a former Italian colony, gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. It had a decades-long border dispute with Ethiopia, including a war from 1998-2000 in which about 80,000 people died.

The Security Council imposed an arms embargo and other tough sanctions on Eritrea in 2009 for supplying weapons to Somalia’s Islamic extremist al-Shabab rebels, who are opposed to the Somali government, and for refusing to resolve a border dispute with Djibouti, a key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa. Read More on Washington Post

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s former deputy intelligence chief has been arrested, Attorney General Berhanu Tsegaye said on Thursday, in the latest move targeting security officials for human rights abuses and corruption.

“Former deputy of NISS and Federal Police Commission Commissioner General Yared Zerihun has been apprehended by police,” Berhanu Tsegaye said on Twitter early on Thursday.

He did not disclose any details, but the arrest followed that of dozens of security officials on charges of human rights abuse and corruption.

On Monday, the wife of Yared Zerihun was also arrested. Sources told Reuters that she was trying to hide him. Yared was moved from that role to head the federal police in April but resigned three months later.

On Tuesday, Ethiopia arrested the former head of a military-run industrial conglomerate and flew him in handcuffs to the capital, a day after authorities announced investigations targeting senior members of the security forces.

Kinfe Dagnew, a brigadier general in Ethiopia’s army and former chief executive of METEC, was taken into custody close to the border with Sudan and Eritrea. Kinfe is due in court on Thursday, after appearing there briefly on Wednesday and requesting a lawyer.

On Monday, Berhanu said investigations had uncovered corruption at METEC (Metal and Engineering Corporation), which makes military equipment and is involved in sectors from agriculture to construction.

Kinfe and Yared’s arrests are the most high-profile since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in April promising to rein in the security services and tackle what he called economic mismanagement, corruption and rights abuses.

He has pushed through reforms that have upended decades-old policies and hierarchies in east Africa’s economic powerhouse – including moves to let private investors get stakes in the huge conglomerates run by the army and other state bodies.

In August, Ethiopia removed METEC from the $4 billion Grand Renaissance Dam project on the River Nile due to numerous delays in completing the project.

(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by George Obulutsa and Leslie Adler)

Source: USNEWS.com

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Ethiopia said on Thursday it had arrested the former deputy intelligence chief after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration launched a crackdown this week on senior security officials suspected of human rights abuses and corruption.

Also on Thursday, state-affiliated television Fana Broadcasting said police had arrested the head of the security division at state-owned Ethio Telecom network.

Since Monday more than 60 officials, some from the intelligence services and some from the military-run industrial conglomerate METEC, have been arrested. Some have already appeared in court. A judge has denied them bail and given police 14 days further to investigate. None have been charged.

Fana Broadcasting said Gudeta Olana, head of security at Ethio Telecom, had also been apprehended by police. It gave no reason for the arrest.

In a statement from the prime minister’s office on Thursday, Abiy warned against the “cancer” of corruption and human rights abuse in the Horn of Africa nation. “All the criminals will be revealed from where they are hiding,” he said.

The detentions have been broadly welcomed by rights groups and opposition politicians as a first step by Abiy towards fulfilling pledges made when he took office in April to tackle impunity and seek justice for past crimes by the government.

“Former deputy of NISS and Federal Police Commission Commissioner General Yared Zerihun has been apprehended by police,” Attorney General Berhanu Tsegaye said on Twitter early on Thursday.

He did not disclose details. Yared’s wife was arrested on Monday and sources told Reuters that she had been trying to hide him. Yared was appointed head of the federal police in April but resigned three months later.

The whereabouts of former intelligence chief Getachew Assefa are unknown, government sources say, and the attorney general declined at a news conference on Monday to say whether the government had issued an arrest warrant for him.

Tsegaye has said evidence showed “the senior leadership of the national security agency” had instructed members of Abiy’s Oromo ethnic group to attack him at a rally in June, in which two people were killed and scores wounded.

Analysts and diplomats are describing the arrests as a “full frontal assault on the establishment”. Though 42-year-old Abiy began sacking senior officials upon taking office, this week’s detentions have picked up the pace of his stated efforts to rein in the security services and tackle economic mismanagement and other problems.

Abiy is Ethiopia’s first leader from its majority Oromo ethnic group. He was chosen by the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), as its new head after three years of street protests and strikes piled pressure on it to reform.

Kinfe Dagnew, a brigadier general in Ethiopia’s army and former chief executive of METEC, was arrested on Tuesday close to the border with Sudan and Eritrea. He is due in court on Thursday, after a brief hearing on Wednesday at which he requested a lawyer.

The attorney general has said that investigations uncovered corruption at METEC (Metal and Engineering Corporation), which makes military equipment and is involved in sectors from agriculture to construction.

In August, Ethiopia removed METEC from the $4 billion Grand Renaissance Dam project on the River Nile due to delays and failure to complete the installation of turbines.

“There’s clear evidence that these people at METEC committed sophisticated, high-level economic crime,” said Hallelujah Lulie, Addis Ababa-based programme director at the Amani Africa thinktank. “I don’t think he can reform the economy without addressing the issue of METEC,” he said, referring to Abiy.

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