Ethiopian government on Thursday announced the appointment of a new chief of National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and army chief of staff.
The new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has appointed General Adem Mohammed as the new chief of Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service.
General Adem Mohammed, who was serving as deputy army chief of staff, has become director general of NISS taking over the position of Getachew Assefa, who has been in the post for close to two decades replacing Kinfe Gebremedhin who was shot in Addis Ababa in 2001.
NISS is re-established with a ministerial status, as an autonomous federal government office having its own legal personality and it is accountable to the Prime Minister.
In a related development, at the Palace of the President of Ethiopia Mulatu Teshome, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has also awarded Medal of Honor to the army chief of Staff General Samora Yunus and announced appointment of a new army chief of staff – General Seare Mekonnen.
Since taking office two months ago, Prime minister Abiy has been reshuffling and appointing ministers as part of his party’s reform program. The ruling coalition party the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was forced to embark on major reform program following the continuous deadly anti-government protests across the nation, mainly in Oromia and Amhara Region.
The killings of some of the protestors by the security forces aliniated the militarry and the intelligence from the people who protested against the regime.
The appointments of new chief of new minister of defense, Army chief of staff and the intelligence, among others is aimed to address these grievances of these people against the institutions, which should have been protecting the people from external forces instead of interfering in the internal politics as per the mandate given to them by the constitution of the country.