Killing of Burayu Police Commissioner Solomon Tadesse: Competing Claims Over Responsibility and Allegations of State Involvement

Case summary

Incident date: 21 February 2020

Location: Burayu, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

Victim: Commissioner Solomon Tadesse

Category: Targeted Killing / Alleged Political Killing

Status: Responsibility disputed; allegations of state involvement remain unresolved

Burayu City Police Commissioner Solomon Tadesse was shot and killed on 21 February 2020 while having lunch near Burayu, on the western outskirts of Addis Ababa. Commander Tesfaye Dinku, then head of the Oromia Regional State Special Force for the Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne, was wounded in the same attack.

Although Oromia regional authorities subsequently attributed the killing to an armed faction associated with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), later accounts challenged the official explanation and alleged that government-linked security structures were responsible. Some political and community accounts have also alleged that Solomon was targeted because of his political views or disagreements with powerful actors. The available public evidence reviewed by Ethiopia Rights Evidence does not establish that motive conclusively.

The case therefore presents two sharply conflicting narratives: an official attribution to an OLF-linked armed group, and subsequent allegations that Solomon was killed by a clandestine structure associated with the government.

The killing

Contemporaneous reporting establishes the basic circumstances of the attack.

Addis Standard reported on 21 February 2020 that Solomon Tadesse, Police Commissioner of Burayu City, had been shot dead and that Commander Tesfaye Dinku had also been shot and taken to hospital. According to Getachew Balcha, then head of the Oromia regional communication bureau, the two officials were attacked while having lunch at a location not far from Burayu. At the time of that report, no suspect had been apprehended. (Addis Standard)

Borkena similarly reported that Solomon was killed while having lunch near Burayu. It reported that three other men were shot, including Commander Tesfaye Dinku and an unidentified musician. At that stage, according to the regional communication official cited by BBC Amharic, no organisation had claimed responsibility, police had not established the identity of the attackers, and no arrest had yet been made. (Borkena)

Another contemporaneous report by New Business Ethiopia, citing state media, described Solomon as Burayu’s security administrator and reported that two police officers and another individual were wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire. (New Business Ethiopia)

These initial accounts are broadly consistent on the central facts: Solomon Tadesse was deliberately shot and killed while eating with colleagues, Commander Tesfaye Dinku was wounded, and the attackers had not been publicly identified immediately after the killing.

Government attribution and arrests

Within days, the position of the Oromia regional authorities changed from saying that the attackers were unidentified to attributing responsibility to an OLF-linked armed faction.

On 23–24 February 2020, Xinhua reported that Oromia regional police had arrested 17 people suspected of involvement in Solomon’s assassination. Authorities described the suspects as members of a breakaway faction of the Oromo Liberation Front and blamed that faction for the killing. (Xinhua News)

Borkena also subsequently reported that Oromia Police blamed the Oromo Liberation Army, describing the attack as part of a series of targeted killings of regional officials. (Borkena)

The arrests and official attribution are therefore part of the documented record. However, an accusation or arrest does not by itself establish criminal responsibility. Ethiopia Rights Evidence has not identified publicly available court judgments demonstrating that the 17 people reportedly arrested were ultimately convicted of Solomon Tadesse’s killing, nor documentation explaining the evidentiary basis on which responsibility was attributed to them.

That gap becomes particularly important because later accounts directly contradicted the government’s version of events.

A later allegation attributed to Taye Dendea

In July 2022, a significant counter-allegation appeared publicly.

On 25 July 2022, Odaa Tarbii, identified on its public channel as the international spokesperson of the Oromo Liberation Army, published a statement claiming that then-State Minister of Peace Taye Dendea had revealed that the government itself was responsible for the assassination of Solomon Tadesse and the attempted killing of Commander Tesfaye Dinku. The statement specifically contrasted this allegation with the government’s previous accusation against the OLA. (Telegram)

Taye Dendea was indeed serving as Ethiopia’s State Minister of Peace at that time; Ethiopian state media records confirm that he held that office in 2022. (ENA English)

However, an important evidentiary qualification is necessary. Ethiopia Rights Evidence has not located, among the sources reviewed for this article, the original statement, recording or publication in which Taye himself made the specific allegation concerning Solomon Tadesse. The available source is Odaa Tarbii’s account of what Taye allegedly revealed.

For that reason, the allegation should be recorded but cannot presently be treated as independently verified testimony from Taye Dendea.

2024 Oromia Support Group report alleges a government-linked killing structure

A more detailed allegation appeared in Oromia Support Group Report 67, published in October 2024.

The report describes a recording broadcast in June 2024 involving an anonymous individual whom it characterises as a “senior Oromo government figure” and later as an official holding a “high position leadership role in Oromia Region.” According to OSG, the recording was translated for the organisation by former Oromo Studies Association president Dr Ebissa Regassa. (Oromia Support Group)

The anonymous source alleged that clandestine security structures and “secret killing squads” had operated in Oromia and that a government-linked group had carried out violence while presenting itself as the OLA. The source alleged that such structures were intended, among other purposes, to discredit opposition movements and manipulate political and ethnic tensions. (Oromia Support Group)

Most importantly for Solomon Tadesse’s case, the source specifically named him.

According to the OSG report, the anonymous official alleged that Police Commissioner Dachassa, Solomon Tadesse, who was killed in Burayu, and Commander Tesfaye Dinku had all been “eliminated by this group.” (Oromia Support Group)

This constitutes a direct allegation that Solomon’s killing was carried out by a clandestine government-linked structure rather than the OLF/OLA faction blamed by authorities in 2020.

The allegation is serious because the person was presented as an insider holding a senior position within the Oromia regional government. However, the source remains anonymous, and Ethiopia Rights Evidence has not identified an independent judicial or forensic investigation that has verified the allegation.

OSG itself also notes relevant information about the source’s political orientation: it states that both the broadcaster who presented the recording and the anonymous government figure were supporters of Fano and opposed Ethiopia’s multinational federal arrangement. That context is important when assessing the source independently. (Oromia Support Group)

The allegation therefore deserves documentation and investigation, but should not be presented as conclusively proven merely because it comes from a claimed government insider.

Was Solomon killed because of his political beliefs?

There are also allegations that Solomon Tadesse was killed because of his political beliefs, positions or disagreements with political and security actors.

The 2024 OSG allegations provide some contextual support for examining a possible political motive. The anonymous official claimed that the alleged clandestine group operated particularly in areas where the OLF enjoyed support and engaged in killings, intimidation and propaganda designed to manipulate Oromo political opinion. The same source then specifically included Solomon among officials allegedly eliminated by the group. (Oromia Support Group)

However, this does not establish that Solomon was killed specifically because of his personal political beliefs.

The publicly available evidence reviewed for this article does not yet establish:

• which particular political views Solomon held that allegedly caused him to become a target;
• whether he had openly disagreed with senior regional or federal officials before his death;
• whether threats were made against him because of those views;
• whether documentary or witness evidence connects such disagreements directly to the decision to kill him; or
• who ordered, planned and carried out the shooting.

Accordingly, Ethiopia Rights Evidence records political motive and state involvement as serious allegations requiring independent investigation, not as established findings of fact.

Conflicting narratives require independent investigation

The chronology raises questions that remain unanswered in the public record.

On 21 February 2020, regional officials said the perpetrators had not been identified and no suspect had been arrested. Within days, regional police announced the arrest of 17 alleged members of an OLF breakaway faction and attributed the assassination to that group. (Addis Standard)

Two years later, an OLA spokesperson publicly claimed that a serving State Minister of Peace had attributed Solomon’s killing to the government. (Telegram)

In 2024, the Oromia Support Group published a separate account attributed to an anonymous senior Oromia government figure alleging that Solomon Tadesse and Commander Tesfaye Dinku were among officials targeted by a clandestine government-linked group. (Oromia Support Group)

These competing accounts cannot all be accepted simultaneously without further evidence.

A credible investigation would need to examine, among other evidence:

• the case files concerning the 17 suspects arrested in February 2020;
• whether charges were filed and what subsequently happened to those cases;
• witness accounts from survivors of the shooting;
• ballistic, forensic and telecommunications evidence;
• the identities and operational affiliations of the gunmen;
• any threats or political disputes involving Solomon before his death;
• the original material underlying the allegation attributed to Taye Dendea;
• the authenticity and provenance of the recording documented by Oromia Support Group;
• allegations concerning clandestine security structures operating in Oromia; and
• whether any state official ordered, facilitated, concealed or subsequently misrepresented the attack.

Evidence assessment

Confirmed: Solomon Tadesse, Burayu City’s police commissioner/security chief, was shot and killed on 21 February 2020 while having lunch near Burayu.

Confirmed: Commander Tesfaye Dinku and other individuals were wounded in the attack. (Addis Standard)

Confirmed: Immediately after the killing, regional officials said no suspect had yet been apprehended. (Addis Standard)

Confirmed: Oromia regional police subsequently announced the arrest of 17 people and attributed the killing to an OLF breakaway faction. (Xinhua News)

Documented allegation: In July 2022, Odaa Tarbii claimed that then-State Minister of Peace Taye Dendea had said the government was responsible for Solomon’s assassination and the attempted killing of Tesfaye Dinku. The underlying original statement by Taye has not been independently verified in the sources reviewed. (Telegram)

Documented allegation: In 2024, Oromia Support Group reported that an anonymous senior Oromia government figure alleged that Solomon Tadesse and Commander Tesfaye Dinku had been targeted by a clandestine government-linked group. (Oromia Support Group)

Unresolved allegation: Solomon may have been targeted because of his political views or disagreements. The evidence reviewed does not yet establish the specific political motive or demonstrate who ordered his killing.

Conclusion

More than six years after the killing of Commissioner Solomon Tadesse, publicly available accounts leave fundamental questions unresolved.

The government’s initial explanation attributed the assassination to an OLF-linked armed faction and was accompanied by the reported arrest of 17 suspects. Later allegations, however, came from sources claiming knowledge of government structures and directly accused government-linked actors of responsibility.

The existence of these contradictory accounts does not itself prove state responsibility. Nor does the government’s attribution to an armed opposition group establish that attribution beyond reasonable doubt.

What it demonstrates is the need for an independent investigation capable of determining who carried out the attack, who ordered it, what happened to the suspects arrested in 2020, and whether Solomon Tadesse was targeted because of his political positions or for another reason.

Until such evidence is available, Ethiopia Rights Evidence records the killing as a targeted assassination with disputed responsibility and serious, documented allegations requiring further investigation into possible state involvement and political motive.