Girma Wolde-Giorgis

This article contains a patronymic name. This person is addressed by his given name, Girma, and not as Wolde-Giorgis (the original or modified given name of his father).
Girma Wolde-Giorgis
ግርማ ወልደ ጊዮርጊስ
President of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
In office
8 October 2001  7 October 2013
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
Hailemariam Desalegn
Preceded by Negasso Gidada
Succeeded by Mulatu Teshome
Personal details
Born December 1924 (age 91)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Political party Independent
Religion Ethiopian Orthodoxy

Girma Wolde-Giorgis (Ge'ez: ግርማ ወልደ ጊዮርጊስ; born December 1924) is an Ethiopian politician who was the President of Ethiopia from 2001 to 2013.[1] He was the second person to hold the office of President since the founding of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia in 1995.

Political career

He was elected President on 8 October 2001, as a relative unknown and a surprise choice, by a unanimous vote of the Ethiopian Parliament.[2] The Ethiopian presidency is largely a symbolic office with little power. Most of the power is vested in the hands of the Prime Minister. Presidents serve six-year terms. Girma was re-elected as President on 9 October 2007.[3]

Background

Girma was born in December 1924 in Addis Ababa.[4][5] He first attended an Ethiopian Orthodox Church school and later joined the Teferi Mekonnen School in Addis Ababa where he followed his education until the Italian invasion. The school was then renamed "Scuola Principe di Piemonte" (Prince of Piedmonte School) for the Crown Prince of Italy, in Addis Ababa.

Between 1950 and 1952, he received certificates in Management (from the Netherlands), in Air Traffic Management (in Sweden) and Air Traffic Control (in Canada) under a training programme sponsored by the International Civil Aviation Organization. He was one of the first Ethiopians in the Ethiopian airforce dominated by American technicians. Girma tried to motivate Ethiopians to join the airlines and wrote a book on fundamentals. He was an activist and in the Inter Parliamentary Summit in Yugoslavia, he condemned the apartheid system in South Africa.[6] Girma speaks Afan Oromo (Oromiffa), Amharic, Tigrinya, Italian, English, and French fluently.

Personal life

Girma Wolde-Giorgis is from the plurality Oromo ethnic group. He is married and has five children. Girma is a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He is widely renowned for his usual presence at Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church Meskel Demera Festivals.

Government service

Experience in non-governmental offices

Between 1965 and 1974:

While in the then province of Eritrea before 1990:

Upon returning to Addis Ababa in 1990, he served as Board Member of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and Head of its International Logistics Department.

He launched an environmental protection association called Lem Ethiopia in March 1992 to date serving as Vice President of the Board of the Association.

Two days before Ethiopian Christmas, on January 5, 2014 he made a clear statement on Ethiopia TV, calling for pacification between Ethiopia and Eritrea, calling it his last personal task and fight. He is coordinating from his office a group of people trying to launch peace talks, after fifteen years of disagreements, culminating in the Ethio Erithrean war[7]of 1998-2000.

Official biography

Indian author Sivakumar K.P. has produced the official biography of Girma Wolde Giorgis. The book, Under the Shade of a Gaashe, was released on 15 July 2015 at the official residence of the former president.[8][9][10] Micro Business College is the publisher of the Ethiopian edition.

References

Political offices
Preceded by
Negasso Gidada
President of Ethiopia
2001–2013
Succeeded by
Mulatu Teshome
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