Ethiopia: Former Prime Minister Tesfaye Dinka passes away

ESAT News (December 9, 2016)

Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Tesfaye Dinka passed away on Thursday  in Virginia, United States, where he lived in exile after the fall of the military regime.

The 77 year-old former diplomat served his country in a number of capacities. He also worked at the World Bank and other international institutions before his retirement.

Dinka was a graduate of the American University in Lebanon and an alumnus of the Syracuse  University in New York.

Dinka, who took over the premiership in 1991, led the negotiating team of the former military government at the London Peace Conference where his government, the Eritrean People’s  Liberation Front and the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, the party now in power in Ethiopia, were negotiating on the fate of Ethiopia after 17 years of civil war.

Dinka wrote a book titled “Ethiopia During the Derg Years: An Inside Account” but unfortunately passed away before the publishing of the book. According to Tsehai Publishers, his book will be released next month.

Dinka is survived by his wife, four children and four grandchildren.