ETHIOPIA ELECTS NEW PRESIDENT
The Joint Session of the House of the People’s Representatives and the House of Federation has unanimously elected Girma Wolde Giorgis as the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia for a six-year term on October 7th 2001.
H.E. President Girma Wolde Giorgis, a veteran politician, has wide experience of Ethiopian politics having served under Emperor Haile Selassie and under the Derg before becoming an independent MP in the first democratically elected parliament – the House of People’s Representatives - in 1995.
In his maiden speech the new president vowed “to lead and serve the country diligently and fairly”. Her added: “Today’s handover of power and responsibility not only marks my election as President but also heralds the ever-strengthening of the democratic order that has prevailed in the country”, a sentiment that was echoed by the outgoing president, Dr. Negaso Gidada.
H.E. President Girma, previously Director General of the Ethiopian Aviation Authority, was Parliamentary Speaker under Emperor Haile Selassie. He was President of the Red Cross in Eritrea in the early ‘70s and also worked as Chairman of the Ethiopian Author Association. When the Derg regime fell and the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power, he became a private businessman in Addis Ababa and was one of the founders of “Lem Ethiopia”, an environmental protection and development organisation.
H.E. President Girma
speaks six languages including English, Italian and French. He is married with
five children.
For a full biography of HE President Girma, click here