Ethiopia's GERD project engineer committed suicide - police

Ethiopia engineer Simegnew Bekele who was found dead in July 2018 in the capital Addis Ababa committed suicide according to police investigations.

Federal Police Commission Commissioner General Zeyinu Jemal on Friday told the press at a briefing in the capital that the engineer killed himself. Ethiopians mourned his passing with people calling it an assassination and fightback against ongoing reforms.

Bekele was the lead engineer of the Great Ethiopia Rennaissance Dam, GERD, project which upon completion was set to be the biggest hydro-electric facility in Africa.

The police also said Simegnew’s car engine was running at the time of his death, adding that the car was on automatic lock when the police arrived at the scene at the famed Meskel Square.

Police chief Jemal also said that despite today’s announcement ruling the death of Simegnew as suicide, police investigations are still ongoing to get to the bottom of related critical details relating to the incident.

The federal police had been conducting investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death, a number of people were arrested and arraigned before the courts.

Federal police preliminary investigation revealed that the death of Engineer Simegnew was suicide.

— FANA BROADCASTING C (@fanatelevision) September 7, 2018