Negasso Gidada Solon ( gez, ነጋሶ ጊዳዳ; 8 September 1943 – 27 April 2019) was an Ethiopian politician who was the
president of Ethiopia
The President of Ethiopia is the head of state of Ethiopia. The position is largely ceremonial with executive power vested in the Council of Ministers chaired by The Prime Minister. The current president is Sahle-Work Zewde, who took office on 2 ...
from 1995 until 2001.
Biography
Negasso was the son of Gidada Solon, one of the first local ministers of a Protestant church in the
Dembidolo
Dembidollo, ( om, Dambi Doolloo), also spelled Dembi Dolo, is a market town and separate woreda in south-western Ethiopia. It is the capital of Kelam Welega Zone of the Oromia Region. This town has a latitude and longitude of with an elevatio ...
area in western Ethiopia.
Negasso held a doctorate in social history from the
Goethe University
Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...
in
Frankfurt-am-Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
and was a part-time lecturer of history at
Addis Ababa University
Addis Ababa University (AAU) ( am, አዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, ...
. The title of his doctoral thesis was "History of the Sayyoo
Oromo of Southwestern Wallaga, Ethiopia, from about 1730 to 1886". He was married to
Regina Abelt
Regina Abelt (; born 12 May 1954) is a German-born public figure who served as the first First Lady of Ethiopia from 22 August 1995 until 8 October 2001.
Background
Abelt was born in Germany. She worked as an aid worker in Rwanda from 1979 t ...
, a German nurse and midwife. Being the First Lady of Ethiopia while holding the German Citizenship earned Abelt considerable, yet unwanted, attention by the German and European tabloid press. In marked contrast, Regina Abelt was virtually invisible in Ethiopia and never enjoyed the official title of First Lady which was instead used by the wife of the Prime Minister.
Negasso died in Germany on 27 April 2019, after battling health issues.
Political career
In Europe, he was an active member of the
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Negasso had been Minister of Information in 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 ...
and Central Committee member of the
Oromo People's Democratic Organisation
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) when he became president on 22 August 1995. He left office when his term expired on 8 October 2001. Before the end of his term, he was expelled from both the
OPDO
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 ...
and the
EPRDF
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; am, የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር, translit=Ye’Ītiyop’iya Ḥizibochi Ābiyotawī Dīmokirasīyawī Ginibari) was an eth ...
coalition on 22 June.
In the
2005 general elections, Negasso was elected to the Ethiopian
House of People's Representatives
The House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Located in the capital Addis Ababa, the House has 547 members. All are elected in theory for five-year term in single-seat constituencies. T ...
as an independent from Dembidolo in the
Mirab Welega Zone
West Welega Zone ( om, Wallagga Lixaa) is a zone in the western part of Oromia Region, Ethiopia. This zone is named after the former province of Welega, whose western part lay in the area West Welega now occupies.
West Wellega is bordered on the ...
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 ...
.
In July 2008, Negasso became a founding member of the
Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD), a new coalition of opposition parties and activists. Then in November 2009, he announced he had joined the
Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ), one of the eight parties in the FDD, "to try to unite Ethiopia". At the time of his announcement, he also asked forgiveness from Ethiopians for deceiving them that
Ethiopia's current constitution was ratified in 1995 with full participation of all political parties in a democratic manner. "There were a number of political parties that were excluded from the process," he said during the ceremony when he and
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 ...
were officially inducted into the UDJ.
" Ethiopia: Two ex-senior government officials join opposition party"
, ''Afrique en ligne'' website, published 26 November 2009 (accessed 22 December 2009)
References
External links
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Media ETHIOPIA People in Ethiopia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Negasso Gidada
1943 births
2019 deaths
Addis Ababa University faculty
People from Oromia Region
Members of the House of Peoples' Representatives
Presidents of Ethiopia
Goethe University Frankfurt alumni
Medrek politicians
Unity for Democracy and Justice politicians
Oromo Democratic Party politicians
Ethiopian Protestants
Oromo people
Labor ministers of Ethiopia
Communication ministers of Ethiopia
Ethiopian historians
People of the Ethiopian Civil War
20th-century Ethiopian politicians
21st-century Ethiopian politicians