Veteran Ethiopian diplomat dies in the US

ADDIS ABABA – Renowned Ethiopian diplomat and security analyst Kassa Kebede has died in the United States, according to a brief statement by the Ethiopian ministry of foreign affairs.

According to the statement published on the foreign ministry’s Facebook page, the veteran diplomat died on Sunday, but details regarding the cause of his death were not immediately available.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia has learnt with dismay the passing away of Ambassador Dr. Kassa Kebede. He had served his country assuming various positions, including being an ambassador of Ethiopia in Geneva,” the foreign ministry statement said.

“The Ministry and its staff express condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased,” the statement added.

He is believed to be in his seventieth at the time of his death.

Ambassador Kebede served on various diplomatic roles under Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam’s Ethiopian communist regime before the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) could take over power in 1991.

Kebede had served as Ethiopia’s ambassador to Switzerland, and the State of Israel.

He fled the country just two days before the TPLF’s May 20, 1991 takeover.

He briefly returned to the country in 2018 following the fall of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front after nearly three decades in exile.