Ethiopian security forces announced on Sunday April 30 that they had arrested 47 suspects after the murder of a leader of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's ruling party, whom they accuse of plotting to overthrow the regime.
Girma Yeshitila, leader of the Prosperity Party in the recently troubled northern region of Amhara, was killed along with four others in an attack on Thursday.
Suspects in possession of weapons and bombs
The 47 people arrested are suspected of terrorism and were found in possession of weapons, bombs and satellite communication equipment, security forces said in a statement carried by public broadcaster EBC.
"
The suspects worked together locally and in foreign countries with the aim of taking control of the regional government in order to overthrow the federal government by assassinating senior Amhara officials," the security forces said in their statement
.
The murder of Girma Yeshitila was perpetrated by these "
extremist forces
", the statement added, without specifying the date of the arrests.
"Irregular Forces"
A member of the executive committee of the Prosperity Party, which has 45 members, Girma Yeshitila was frequently targeted on social media by Amhara nationalists, who called him a “traitor” because of
his
closeness to Abiy Ahmed.
According to the Amhara regional government, "
irregular forces
" on Thursday attacked the vehicles carrying Girma Yeshitila, his bodyguards and family members, as he was heading towards Debre Birhan, a major town in the region, located about 100 km northeast of Addis Ababa.
In April, Amhara was the scene of several days of armed unrest triggered by the federal government's desire to dismantle the region's "
special forces
", illegal paramilitary units set up by the Amhara authorities, such as those of several other regions of Ethiopia for about fifteen years.
The anger is all the greater in part of the Amhara population as the Amhara "
special forces " and the Fano, local "
self-defense
" militias
, have provided crucial assistance to the federal army in the conflict which engulfs it. opposed from November 2020 to the Tigray authorities, who went into rebellion against Addis Ababa.
Despite the peace agreement signed in November in Pretoria,
Amhara and Fano "
special forces " still control the western part of Tigray, which they dispute with the Tigrayans.
