Although Girma was an Amhara, he was a part of the ruling Prosperity Party and had a close relationship with Prime Minister Abiy. He was in support of the controversial decision to disarm the regional forces in favor of a centralized army, which the federal government is calling “military reorganization.” To many of the Amhara people — a population spanning 30 million — this policy is a power grab by the Ethiopian government. This would effectively dismantle the Amhara regional forces and militia, leaving them defenseless to outside threats, including those from the national government. For this, and his loyalty to the ruling party, Girma was seen as a traitor to his ethnicity and hated by many Amharas.
Five people were killed in the attack, including Mr. Girma Yeshitla, the executive member of the Prosperity Party and the head of the Amhara Regional Prosperity Party branch office.
It has been said that Mr. Girma Yeshitla, the senior leader of the ruling Prosperity Party, was killed while he was returning to Debre Berhan from North Showa mid-field after traveling for work in the North Showa zone of the Amhara region.
The attack on Mr. Girma and the people who were with him took place on Thursday, April 19/2015. In the afternoon, the Amhara region stated in a statement that it was “armed irregular forces” in a place called Menz Gwasa.
The region confirmed that five people were killed in this attack, including Mr. Girma Yeshitla, the senior leader of the Prosperity Party.
The federal government’s approach seems to be to detain people first, make judgements of innocence or guilt later, if at all. Even though it stands to reason that no such investigation could be thoroughly completed in the time between the murders and Abiy’s statement. In relation to the murders, the Ethiopian Joint Security and Intelligence Task Force have arrested 47 people, claiming that they were involved in a plot to overthrow the federal government by assassinating senior Amhara officials. Among those arrested are journalists who have been accused of terrorism offenses. The task force has also accused 11 media personalities from Ethio360 and other prominent media based in the US of being responsible for the attack. The government is currently working to extradite these officials to Ethiopia to face punishment.
