Simegnew Bekele Aynalem ( am, ስመኘው በቀለ አይናለም; 13 September 1964 – 26 July 2018) was an

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

who served as chief project manager of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project as well as three other similar dam projects in Ethiopia. He was considered the "public face" of the dam project.

Biography

Simegnew was born in 1964 in the small town of Maksegnit located in Begmeder Province. He completed a course at the

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation Ethiopian Electric Power () is an Ethiopian electrical power industry and state-owned electric producer. It is engaged in development, investment, construction, operation, and management of power plants, power generation and power transmission. Th ...

(EEPCo) technical training center in 1986. He taught at the institution for a while after graduating with a degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

from

Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa University (AAU) ( am, አዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, ...

in 1997. He served as deputy project manager for the

Gilgel Gibe I The Gilgel Gibe I Dam is a rock-filled embankment dam on the Gilgel Gibe River in Ethiopia. It is located about northeast of Jimma in Oromia Region. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production. The Gilgel Gibe I hydroelectr ...

and the project manager for the Gilgel Gibe II dams. In 2011 he was designated as head of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project Office (GERDPO), since the start of its construction in 2011. In 2015 the ''Tigrai Online'' e-magazine named him as its person of the year.

Death

On the morning of 26 July 2018, Simegnew was found shot dead in his

Toyota Land Cruiser The (also sometimes spelled as LandCruiser) is a series of four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. It is Toyota's longest running series of models. , the sales of the Land Cruiser totalled more than ...

Meskel Square Meskel Square ( am, መስቀል አደባባይ, mesik’el ādebabay, Cross Square) is a public square in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is often a site for public gatherings or for demonstrations and festivals, notably, the Meskel F ...

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

. Speaking at a press conference, Ethiopian Federal Police Commissioner Zeinu Jemal said that he had been found with a Colt gun in his right hand and a bullet wound behind his right ear, however foul play has been suspected. Simegnew had been scheduled to give a press conference on the progress of the dam later that day, following comments by Prime Minister

Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali ( om, Abiyi Ahmed Alii; am, አብይ አሕመድ ዐሊ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who has been the 4th prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia since 2 April 2018. He won the 2019 ...

that construction could take up to ten more years, far more than previous projections. He was the public face of the dam being built near the country's western border with Sudan that, when completed, would be Africa's largest. Simegnew's death is the second of a high-profile company official at around that time. In May, gunmen ambushed and killed Deep Kamara, the country manager for Nigeria's

Dangote Cement Dangote Cement Plc is a Nigerian publicly-traded multinational cement manufacturer headquartered in Lagos. The company is engaged in the manufacture, preparation, import, packaging, and distribution of cement and related products in Nigeria, and h ...

, alongside two others in the Oromia region outside Addis Ababa. Simegnew's death sparked protests in Addis Ababa, with marchers demanding justice for what they assumed was his assassination. Tens of thousands of people gathered in Meskel Square and along Menelik II Avenue to witness his funeral procession on 29 July. Prime Minister

reacted to the news, saying he was "saddened and utterly shocked" by the engineer's death. On 7 September, police investigation reports suggested that Simegnew committed suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Conspiracy theories relating to his death circulated by some skeptics who promote anti-governmental rhetoric, whether he was killed by government agent or TPLF's recruiter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekele, Simegnew 1964 births 2018 deaths Ethiopian engineers Addis Ababa University alumni Deaths by firearm in Ethiopia 20th-century Ethiopian people 21st-century Ethiopian people

Biography

Death

See also

References