Konjit Teshome (Addis Ababa)
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has vowed that the killing of the Grand Renaissance Dam Manager Engineer Simegnew Bekele, who was found dead on Thursday in Addis Ababa, will not stop Ethiopia from building the Nile Dam.
Abiy Ahimed who started his first U.S tour on Thursday, addressed Ethiopian diaspora community in America on July 28th at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. He honored Engineer Simegnew as ‘a national hero’, and said the killing can’t stop Ethiopia from finishing the dam.
‘’It can be possible to kill Engineer Simegnew Bekele, but it can’t stop us from building the GERD. We can finish the dam’’ he said.
Engineer Simegnew Bekele, who tirelessly worked as GERD’s project manager starting from its foundation, was found dead on Thursday morning in Addis Ababa at Meskel square. He was laid to rest on Sunday July 29, 2018.
It is unknown who is behind the killing of the engineer. Federal police commission is investigating the matter.
Ethiopia started the construction of GERD over Blue Nile in 2011 and last month it reported that the construction of GERD passed 65 % completion.
