By Dawit Endeshaw and Tamiru Tsige
Simegnew Bekele (Eng.), the general manager of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project, which it being built on the Nile River, has been found dead in his vehicle in Addis Ababa’s Meskel Square this morning, The Reporter has learnt.
It was also learnt that the engine of the vehicle he has been driving (a Toyota Land Cruiser V8, plate number AA, Code 3, A29722) was running when the police came to the scene.
The location where he was found is a place where sportspeople frequent especially in the morning and the vehicle was standing at a place where cross country buses load and unload. The Reporter witnessed that Simegnew has been wearing a scarf and a baseball cap.
In a press briefing this afternoon, the Commissioner General with the Federal Police Zeynu Jemal said that Simegnew’s vehicle was seen at the crime scene at 8:30 am and he checked in his office in the morning at 7:30.
But, it was at 10:57 am that the crime scene was marked by yellow tape.
According to the Commissioner, there has been a pistol on his right hand side and his left side of the neck has been hit with gun.
Before the removal of the body, Sileshi Bekele, the Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Azeb Asnake, the head of the Ethiopian Electric Power, and Zeinu have visited the scene.
Simegnew was in Addis Ababa to orient journalists on the current status of the GERD project which was rumored on social media to have lagged and will not be completed on schedule. He was also scheduled to take journalists for a visit to the project site.
