Siye Abraha

Siye Abraha (also Seeye Abraha) was one of the leaders of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and later a member of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). After the TPLF defeated the Derg in the Ethiopian Civil War, Siye served in the government of Ethiopia as Minister of Defence, and was Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray from its founding in 1995 until 2000.

He was Minister at the beginning of the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. Ethiomedia states that "many observers credit [him] as the architect of the 1998-2000 War whose battle successes had brought Ethiopian forces closer to storming the Eritrean capital of Asmara." Despite Ethiopian successes, the TPLF divided into two groups. One group, which included Siye, believed that the leadership was about to surrender the party to foreign "imperialist" interests. The other group which included Prime Minister Meles Zenawi argued that the TPLF was sinking into decadence, involving itself in Bonapartism and accusing their opponents of extensive corruption.

Siye was arrested in July 2002, accused by the Federal Ethics and Anticorruption Commission of abuse of office by aiding his associates to unfairly obtain bank loans and buying state properties. He was afterwards charged with two specific acts: that he had pressured the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to provide loans to his brother, Mihretab Abraha; and that he helped Mihretab obtain a 19% discount for 15 trucks he purchased from AMCE, a truck-assembly plant in which the Ethiopian government owned a 30% stake. In a hearing, the Federal judge, Birtukan Mideksa, set Siye free for lack of evidence, however he was subsequently arrested by the government the moment he left the building and imprisoned for six years.

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