Se'are Mekonnen (; ; 1954 – 22 June 2019) was an Ethiopian general who served as the Chief of General Staff of the

Ethiopian National Defense Force The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) () is the combined military force of Ethiopia. ENDF is consisted of 10 command forces which is controlled by the Chief of General Staff. Commanders of the Military Supreme Commander – Taye At ...

from 2018 until his

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

on 22 June 2019.

Biography

A veteran of the

Tigray People's Liberation Front The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ), also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing Ethnic nationalism, ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a ter ...

during the

Ethiopian Civil War The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991. The Derg overthre ...

, General Se'are served as head of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command and the military's joint education and training department. He was appointed to the Chief of General Staff in 2018 by Prime Minister

Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali (; ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He rose through the ranks of government via the Information Networ ...

, succeeding

Samora Yunis Samora Muhammad Yunis ( Ge’ez: ሳሞራ መሐመድ ዩንስ) is an Ethiopian military officer. Born in the Tigray Region in the north of the country, Yunis rose to be a four-star general in the Ethiopian National Defence Forces and event ...

. Despite his partisan origins in the TPLF, Se'are was known to be an astute advocate for ethic regulation,

professionalism Professionalism is a set of standards that an individual is expected to adhere to in a workplace, usually in order to appear serious, uniform, or respectful. What constitutes professionalism is hotly debated and varies from workplace to workplac ...

, political neutrality of the armed forces during his tenure as Chief of General Staff, quoted in 2018 that "Ethnicity, is potent force for destruction, and must be discarded as an obstacle for building a modern army". On 22 June 2019 while responding to a coup attempt in the Amhara region along with his aide, Major General (retired) Gizae Aberra, Se'are was killed by his bodyguard according to government sources. The bodyguard who allegedly assassinated the general was treated for gunshot wounds he suffered at the time of the shoot-out, according to government sources. The widow of Se'are, Colonel Tsige Alemayehu, who was present with Se'are in their private residence, and alerted the authorities at the time the shootings took place, according to her interviews conducted by BBC and the local media OMN, dispute that despite her continuous efforts and failed attempts to reach out to the prosecutor and the Attorney General office to cooperate and testify against the suspect in the trial. She claimed she has yet to be called as a government witness. She also pledged the local and international community to support her quest for a fair trial and justice Se'are. The bodyguard on trial, Mesfin Tigabu, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seare Mekonnen 2019 deaths Ethiopian generals People from Tigray Region Assassinated Ethiopian military personnel 2019 murders in Ethiopia 1954 births