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REPORT: Mengistu Survives Assassination Attempt.
On November 3, Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam survived an assassination attempt on his life. Harare police spokesman, Zivanai Pamire, said Col. Mengistu, who lives in a heavily guarded villa in a Harare suburb, had been taking stroll with his wife, Wubananchi Bishaw, when shots were fired.
Ethiopian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Fantahun Haile Michael, said his government had nothing to do with the assassination attempt and that he heard about the incident from the media. He told journalists that his government "did not believe in such acts."
The would-be assassin, Solomon Haile Gebre Michael, is detained in a military hospital under heavy police guard. He is undergoing treatment in hospital for injuries he sustained in an exchange of fire with Col. Mengistu's security guards. Police said that a cartridge case found at the scene indicated that Solomon had fired on Mengistu with one of the two silencer-fitted heavy calibre modified pistols he was carrying before guards shot him. Solomon was arrested with an Ethiopian passport.
A second suspect, Abrahama Goitom Kinfe, was apprehended on November 4 in a raid inside his apartment. Among the cache of sophisticated weapons found concealed in the apartment were three pistols, two of them fitted with silencers. They also recovered thousands of dollars in cash,...