An Assassination Attempt on President Isaias Afewerki

On 13 August, 2009, around 4:00 PM, in the vicinity of Mai-Ata’l, an assassination attempt on the President of Eritrea, Isaias Afewerki,was conducted.

In this failed assassination attempt, the president was barely able to escape death. The man who tried to kill the president though, a former freedom fighter First Lieutenant Daniel Habte Yihdego, after an exchange of fire with the President’s security, was shot to death. He was 43 years old.

Daniel was born in 1966 in Asmara from his father Habte Yihdego and his mother Milite Bitsu-Amlak. When he reached school age, he attended “Amanuel” school. He joined EPLF in 1984. He has worked in his various capacity in different positions: first, as a teacher in Biet Timhrti Sewra; then as a fighter in the Western front; in Shelao, Gerger and Mensura, as a teacher; after 1990 in Kifle Serawit 85 as a soldier; after independence, in the Immigration Department. In 2009, he was “frozen” [a tactic the government uses to hold individuals out of favor at limbo till they are assigned to another job, a state that at times may last for years].