Sebhat Ephrem (

Tigrinya (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literatur ...

: ስብሓት ኤፍረም; born 1951 in Bardae, Eritrea) is the Minister of Energy and Mines for Eritrea, a former Minister of Defence and former

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 ...

commander during the

Eritrean War of Independence The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991. Eritrea was an Italian colony from the 1880s until the ...

. Sebhat completed high school at the Luel Mekonnen High School in Asmara and his elementary school at Evangelical School in Asmara, Eritrea. He later attended Addis Ababa University for two years before joining the EPLF in 1972. As a fighter, he quickly rose up the ranks from a political commissar to becoming part of the executive committee. Sebhat Ephrem served from June 1992 to March 1994 as the Governor of Asmara. From March 1994 to May 1995 he served as the Minister of Health. In both positions he brought structure and reorganization to these offices. After leaving the military in June 1992, he returned to the army in May 1995 with the rank of general and was appointed and confirmed as Minister of Defense. It is believed that in 1998 he was the only 4-star general in the Eritrean defence forces. In 2019, Sebhat was subject to an assassination attempt that left him in critical condition, from which he later recovered.

References

Eritrean soldiers Living people 1951 births People's Front for Democracy and Justice politicians Government ministers of Eritrea Eritrean People's Liberation Front members People of the Ethiopian Civil War {{Africa-mil-bio-stub