An American citizen, John Marsh, who was in Ethiopia to witness the country’s sixth general election was discovered dead in the capital, Addis Ababa on Tuesday.
Mr. Marsh served as a member of the Carter Center’s observation team.
The Addis Ababa Police Commission confirmed in a statement that an American citizen was found dead in his bedroom at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
A worker at the hotel, who requested anonymity, had said: “At about 7 o’clock in the morning, our hotel room cleaner saw him on the ground next to his bed when she went to clean the bedroom.”
She quickly called the police to report what she witnessed, and they responded promptly to the site, where they discovered him dead, ‘The East African’ news outlet reported,
The cause of death was not immediately determined, with police stating that a postmortem will be conducted and an investigation would begin.
The Addis Ababa Police Commission is conducting the investigation in collaboration with the Federal Police Commission and the US Embassy in Addis Ababa.
Police earlier said a special election observer’s badge, various identity cards and a driver’s licence, with the words “National Driving License in California, USA”, were found in Marsh’s pockets.
Although there was no formal report published Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said that the death may have been caused by an illness.
According to police, they discovered medications at the scene and believe the death was natural. They noticed that there were no obvious injuries on the body.
The Carter Centee expressed condolences to Marsh’s family and friends in a tweet.
