Ethiopia: State funeral held for high-profile engineer

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - Tens of thousands of Ethiopians bade farewell to the engineer, who led the nation’s largest flagship project -- the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam -- being built at a cost of nearly $5billion on the Nile.

Semegnew Bekele, the engineer, was found dead on Thursday in his car on a busy street locally known as Meskel Square.

Police said that a gunshot took the life of the engineer but they have so far failed to ascertain whether it was a suicide or a murder.

The State funeral was held with a great solemn procession led by a brass band that gave tunes of requiem, and with people carrying wreaths of flower and a long motorcade following the undertaker van.

Bekele, 53, was laid to rest at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa in the presence of President Mulatu Teshome and many other high profile personalities.

Bekele was also the project manager of two other huge hydro dam projects -- Gibe I and II.

Ethiopian Prime Minister, who is currently in the U.S., said in a statement that he was “distraught” over the death of Semegnew.

Underlining that assassination cannot be ruled out in the case, he said his country would not back off from the reforms being carried out in the political, social and economic fields.