Girma Wolde-Giorgis should not be confused with Wolde Giyorgis.
| Girma Wolde-Giorgis | |
| Office: | President of Ethiopia |
| Primeminister: | Meles Zenawi Hailemariam Desalegn |
| Term Start: | 8 October 2001 |
| Term End: | 7 October 2013 |
| Predecessor: | Negasso Gidada |
| Successor: | Mulatu Teshome |
| Birth Date: | 28 December 1924 |
| Birth Place: | Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Empire |
| Resting Place: | Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Death Place: | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia[1] |
| Party: | Independent |
| Native Name Lang: | am |
Girma Wolde-Giorgis (; 28 December 1924 – 15 December 2018)[2] was an Ethiopian politician who was the president of Ethiopia from 2001 to 2013.[3] He was the second person to hold the office of president since the founding of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1995.
Girma was born on 28 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.
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 (ICAO). He was one of the first Ethiopians in the Ethiopian Air Force, which had been dominated by American technicians. Girma tried to motivate Ethiopians to join the airlines and wrote a book on fundamentals. He was an activist and at the Inter Parliamentary Summit in Yugoslavia, he condemned the apartheid system in South Africa.[6] Girma spoke Afan Oromo (Oromiffa), Amharic, and English fluently.[7]
Girma was elected president on 8 October 2001, as a relatively unknown and a surprising choice, by a unanimous vote of the Ethiopian Parliament.[8] 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 two six-year terms. He was re-elected as president on 9 October 2007.[9]
He was married and had five children. He was a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. He was widely renowned for his usual presence at Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Meskel Demera Festivals.
Girma died of natural causes on 15 December 2018, 13 days before his 94th birthday.[10]
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 and has served as its vice president.
Two days before Ethiopian Christmas, on 5 January 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 Eritrean–Ethiopian War of 1998–2000.
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.[11] [12] [13] Micro Business College is the publisher of the Ethiopian edition. The author acknowledges the role of Abera Tilahun, founder and president of Micros Business College in Ambo in introducing him to the former president and financing the publishing of the book.