Kuma Demeksa ( om, Kumaa Dammaqsaa; born 1958) is an Ethiopian politician. Since 24 April 2015, he has been an Ethiopian
ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. From 2008 to 2013 he was mayor of
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
; previous positions include President of the
Oromia Region
Oromia (Amharic: ) ( om, Oromiyaa) is a regional state in Ethiopia and the homeland of the Oromo people. The capital of Oromia is Addis Ababa.
It is bordered by the Somali Region to the east; the Amhara Region, the Afar Region and the Benish ...
(1995–2001), and
Minister of Defense
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
(2005–2008). He was one of the founders, as well as a current member, of the
Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization
The Oromo Democratic Party ( om, Paartii Demokraatawaa Oromoo, ODP) was a political party in Ethiopia, and part of the alliance with the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front and the Tigrayan Peoples ...
(OPDO), which is part of the ruling coalition, the
(EPRDF).
Early life
Kuma was born in
Gore
Gore may refer to:
Places Australia
* Gore, Queensland
* Gore Creek (New South Wales)
* Gore Island (Queensland)
Canada
* Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community
* Gore, Quebec, a township municipality
* Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manitouli ...
with the name "Taye Teklemariam", a town in the
Illubabor Zone
Illubabor ( om, Illuu Abbaa Booraa) is a zone in Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Illubabora is named for the former province Illubabor. It is bordered on the south by the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, on the southwest by the ...
, the oldest of three children. His father is Wodajo Tokon, a priest, who took the name Teklemariam after baptism; his mother is Muluye. He attended the Menelik II Primary School in Bore, despite a daily walk of 12 kilometers to and from school; he attended Haileselassie I Senior Secondary School up to the tenth grade, when the
Red Terror
The Red Terror (russian: Красный террор, krasnyj terror) in Soviet Russia was a campaign of political repression and executions carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. It started in lat ...
closed his school. He then joined the army and was sent to the Jimma Police Training Camp in 1976. Not much is known about his years in the military, and his family had assumed he was dead when he returned to Gore in 1991 with his first wife and their daughter. Other sources claim that he spent several years as a prisoner of war in the
Eritrean war, and languished in the
Eritrean People's Liberation Front
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group ...
’s jails in
Nakfa. In circumstances that remain murky, Kuma and several other prisoners were released from Eritrean imprisonment to join the
Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Movement (which later joined the
Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) to form the ERDPF) and fight against the
Derg
The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally " c ...
in the
Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991.
The Derg overthre ...
.Taye, after given a name "Kuma" became an ethnic Oromo and joined (found) OPDO.
Political career
Following the fall of the Derg in 1991, Kuma was appointed as the Minister of Internal Affairs, the security agency of the
Transitional Government of Ethiopia
The Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was an era established immediately after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) seized power from the Marxist-Leninist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) in 1991. D ...
, which was dissolved four years later with the founding of the Federal Republic, at which time Kuma Demeska became President of Oromia. However, on 24 July 2001 he was replaced as President of Oromia by
Junedin Sado, as well as expelled from the Central Committee. This was part of the fallout of an internal split within the TPLF, senior partner in the ERDPF alliance, which left Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi
Meles Zenawi Asres (Tigrinya and ; , born Legesse Zenawi Asres; 9 May 1955 – 20 August 2012) was an Ethiopian soldier and politician who served as President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and then Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his ...
,
Sebhat Nega
Sebhat may refer to:
*Sebhat Aregawi (died 1914), late 19th and early 20th century Ethiopian ''Ras''
*Sebhat Gebre-Egziabher (1928–2012), Ethiopian writer
*Sebhat Ephrem
Sebhat Ephrem (Tigrinya: ስብሓት ኤፍረም; born 1951 in Bardae, ...
and
Arkebe Oqubay
Arkebe Oqubay ( ti, ኣርከበ ዑቕባይ; born 1957) is an Ethiopian politician who is serving as Senior Minister and Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. He is a Tigrayan descent.
Background
Arkebe is a member of the Tigray ...
on the one side, and
Tewolde Wolde Mariam,
Siye Abraha
Siye Abraha Hagos (, ''siyә abräha''; born 12 June 1955) is an Ethiopian politician who served as Ethiopian Minister of Defense from 1991 to 1995. He was a top official of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopian People's Revolutio ...
and
Gebru Asrat
Gebru Asrat is an Ethiopian politician, former president of Tigray Region (1991–2001), and one of the top leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) until around 2000, ...
on the other. Kuma was remembered as acting as a peacemaker between the two factions. Despite this setback, he was reappointed the Central Committee of the OPDO in 2003, and was also appointed as one of the three state ministers for
Capacity Building
Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...
.
Kuma Demeksa
Retrieved 19 March 2012.
See also
*Timeline of Addis Ababa
The following is a historical events of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, including its formation prior to 20th century by chronology.
Prior to 20th century
* 15th-century – "Barara" was identified as possible location of the city
* 1450 ...
, 2000s-present
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demeksa, Kuma
1958 births
Living people
Mayors of Addis Ababa
Presidents of Oromia Region
People from Oromia Region
Oromo Democratic Party politicians
Ambassadors of Ethiopia to Germany
Defence ministers of Ethiopia
20th-century Ethiopian politicians
21st-century Ethiopian politicians