Among others, his elder brother was taken out from Atse Yohannes High School in Mekelle, where he was a physics teacher, and shot dead in front of his students.
He also had a key role during the 1998-2000 Ethio-Eritrean War both in reversing the Aggression of the other side and in the design of the conditions for the deployment UN Peace Keeping Forces.
He had also played significant role in the introduction of the economic rehabilitation and restructuring policies following the end of the war in the early nineties.
[3][4] Siye was arrested in July of 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.
[5] 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.
In July 2008, Siye became a founding member of the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD), a new coalition of opposition parties and activists.