— The Ethiopian army general accused of leading a failed coup in a restive northern region was killed Monday in a firefight with security forces amid a crackdown in which more than 180 others have been arrested. Gen. Asamnew Tsige was killed on the outskirts of Bahir Dar, capital of the northern Amhara region, according to Nigussu Tilahun, a spokesman in the prime minister’s office. The killings were widely seen as an attack on Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who has pushed through sweeping changes since his election last year. He had recently used social media posts to incite a rebellion in Amhara, according to reports in Ethiopian media. Although Abiy’s policies are widely popular, some members of the previous regime are unhappy with the changes, and the prime minister has survived a number of threats.

Source: Ethiopian News June 24, 2019 22:17 UTC