Authorities arrest 35 coup suspects

On 25 April 2009 authorities in Ethiopia announced that they have arrested 35 suspects, charging them with plotting to take over the government in an alleged coup. According to government officials, civilians and former soldiers were involved in the plot. Authorities claim that they seized a stockpile of weapons and uniforms that were to be used in the coup attempt. Spokesmen for the Ethiopian intelligence agency claim that Berhanu Nega, an opposition figure who left the country in 2007 and became an economics professor at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, financially backed the plotters. Berhanu served as mayor of the capital city, Addis Abbaba, until 2005, when he was arrested along with other politicians and accused of treason. He was freed in 2007 and left the country as part of a pardon deal.