by Simegnew Bekele, the project manager of the multi-billion dollar Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, was greeted by a wave of grief in Ethiopia.
Condolences flooded the social media with journalists, businessmen, ambbadadors and even Ethiopian Airlines, flag bearers, after the body of Mr. Simegnew was found Thursday in a car in Addis Ababa.
The police investigate the circumstances of his death. He died as a result of a gunshot wound and a gun was found in his car, which was parked on Meskel Square in the city center.
In the afternoon, hundreds of protesters descended into the capital. The hometown of Mr. Simegnew of Gondar, with protesters demanding "justice" for the deceased engineer.
To understand why a project manager was able to bring about such a shock and widespread mourning – normally seen in other countries after the death of royalty, celebrities or politicians – one must look at what the Grand Ethiopian Dam came to represent.
"Patriotic Ambitions"
Straddling the Nile, the dam has been described as the most ambitious infrastructure project ever made on the continent. Once built, the 1.8 km (1.1 mile) wide and 155 m (5.5 ft. 5 in.) Dam will triple the country's electricity production.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which will be Africa's largest hydropower plant, is one of the major infrastructure projects that hopes to put Ethiopia on the path to becoming a middle-income nation by 2025.
Its breadth and potential have brought a rare unity to the country, which has faced political and ethnic conflicts over the years, Beletu Bulbula Sorsu, editor-in-chief Chief of Afaan Oromo Service of the BBC, says.
"The project unites the Ethiopians," she says
Image caption
Authorities say that Mr. Simegnew will receive funerals "that a national hero deserves"
Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Africa Wall Street Journal correspondent who knew Mr. Simegnew, said that he came to represent these patriotic ambitions.
"He was someone who was extremely patriotic and had dedicated his life to the improvement of his country," she told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio program.
"He seemed to have devoted his entire life to Ethiopia's future by bringing what he could, what was his engineering skills."
Not a "great man" [19659010The53-year-oldgraduatedfromAddisAbabaUniversityinCivilEngineeringandcontinuedtoleadtwootherdamprojects-theGilgelGibeIandGilgelGibeIIdams
Caption of the Image
The new dam will regulate the flow of the Nile
He drew public attention in 2011, when he was named head of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
. Ms. Beletu says that he was often questioned by the press and that he was generally perceived as untainted, modest and approachable.
"He was not a" big man ", she said about Mr. Simegnew's honesty
" He behaved like he was a man. " he was one of the workers working on the project. "
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"He gave his life for the dam," she said, explaining that he spent most of his time around the dam, the Benishangul-Gumuz region, in Ethiopia, near Sudan, nearly 1,000 km northwest of his home in Addis Ababa.
"It's a tough place to live and it's been there for over six years," she adds.
A man of symbols
M. Simegnew has become the symbol of the dam and its death could become emblematic of the project's problems.
"He was the project spokesperson, he was the leading man and I do not know how he will be replaced so easily," says Ms. Stevis-Gridneff.
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The dam is supposed to be 60% complete, but it There is more and more anger
. Ahmed said that at the current pace of construction, the dam may not be completed in the next 10 years.
Ethiopians are proud that the dam is a largely self-financing project. But a crisis of dollar shortages slowed down its construction, says Stevis-Gridneff.
Then there is a geopolitical tension that the dam has created downstream with Egypt that worries that the infrastructure project will strain its water supply.
"Although the project encounters difficulties for practical reasons, I also consider his death a real blow to the symbolism of this project and the way it was recorded in the psyche of normal Ethiopians". Simegnew was to be buried one day after his death. But a statement from a national committee set up to hold his funeral said that he had postponed the funeral.
They instead arranged for larger funerals on Sunday, July 29 "than a national hero like him deserves".
