Security chief assassinated in Addis Ababa

The head of Ethiopia’s security and intelligence forces, Kinfe Gebremedhin, was assassinated in Addis Ababa on Saturday morning as he entered the armed forces officers’ club on official business, news agencies reported. The assailant was identified as Tsehaye Woldeselase, a major in the Ethiopian army and a fellow-member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Tsehaye was reported to have greeted Kinfe, and then shot him several times from behind. He was arrested on the spot the pro-Ethiopian government Walta Information Service said. Kinfe was a politburo member and key figure in the central committee of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s TPLF, the dominant group in the governing Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He was described by Walta as being “highly respected and esteemed by the TPLF rank and file”, and was at the forefront of attempts to resolve the recent disputes within the TPLF. Thousands attended his funeral on Monday in Addis Ababa, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and chief of military staff Lieutenant-General Tsadkan Gebre-Tensae and other senior ministers and officials, news agencies said. Kinfe had reportedly voted against Meles earlier in the year during a series of disagreements over Meles’s liberal economic policies and stance on relations with Eritrea, but swung back behind Meles in March when 12 of the 28 central committee members walked out, a regional analyst said.