Tamrat Layne Admassu ( gez, ታምራት ላይኔ አድማሱ; born 1955) is an Ethiopian former politician and a converted born-again Christian. He had served as

Prime Minister of Ethiopia The Prime Minister of Ethiopia is the head of government and Chief Executive of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a parliamentary republic with a Prime Minister as head of the government and the Commander-in-Chief of the Ethiopian Armed Forces. The Pri ...

during 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. ...

after the end of the Derg regime. Previously during the 1980s, he was a leader of the

Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement The Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) ( am, አማራ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ፓርቲ), originally known as Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), was a political party in Ethiopia. The party was one of four members of the Ethiopian People's ...

(the forerunner of the

Amhara National Democratic Movement The Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) ( am, አማራ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ፓርቲ), originally known as Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), was a political party in Ethiopia. The party was one of four members of the Ethiopian People's R ...

), one of the groups that fought against Ethiopian dictator

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Wor ...

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 overthrew ...

Biography

Tamrat Layne was born in 1955 and raised by a single mother in

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 ...

. He led the Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement during the 1980s, fighting against

in the

. In an interview in 1988, he acknowledged that the goals of his movement were similar to that of the

Tigrayan People's Liberation Front The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ti, ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit=Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist paramilita ...

, such as its approach to national self-determination and foreign affairs. A self-proclaimed atheist, he believed that "freedom comes out of the barrel of the gun." When Mengistu was overthrown in 1991, Tamrat Layne became one of the three-man

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 ...

TPLF The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ti, ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit=Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist paramilitar ...

ruling the country and then in the democratically elected government, the other members being

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 ...

(President) and Siye Abraha (Minister of Defence). His position was Prime Minister of the

Transitional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

, in which capacity he served from 6 June 1991 until 22 August 1995, when President Meles Zenawi succeeded him as Prime Minister. While in power, he realized that his communist-socialist ideology was mistaken. He staffed important government posts with friends. Tamrat became deputy prime minister until October 1996. He also served as deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. On 16 March 2000 the

Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia , insignia = , insigniasize = , insigniacaption = , insigniaalt = , flag = , flagsize = , flagalt = , flagborder = , fla ...

sentenced Tamrat to 18 years in prison after being convicted of corruption and embezzlement charges. He was accused of being involved in an illegal 16 million-dollar deal with a business to export Ethiopian textiles and 1,000 tons of state-owned coffee through a fake company. He claimed to be innocent of all charges against him. Kept in solitary confinement, he studied Buddhism, Islam, and eventually Christianity after a nurse slipped him Christian literature. He reported that while in prison, over the course of three consecutive nights he encountered a figure that he identified as Jesus Christ. After serving 12 years of his 18-year sentence, Tamrat was released from prison in December 2008. He is currently an active member of Christian churches across the United States with his teachings of self understanding and life's purpose Since then, he has shared his faith experience with others. He has made appearances at several churches and universities.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tamrat Layne 1955 births Living people Prime Ministers of Ethiopia Defence ministers of Ethiopia Ethiopian evangelicals Converts to evangelical Christianity Amhara Democratic Party politicians People from Addis Ababa 20th-century Ethiopian politicians