Haile Mariam Desalegne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Haile-Mariam Desalegne is an Ethiopian politician and academic. He was premier of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR) between November 2001 and March 2006.

Haile Mariam obtained a bachelor degree in civil engineering with distinctions from Addis Ababa University in 1988. He was employed as a graduate assistant in the Arba Minch Water Technology Insititute (now Arba Minch University). Ethiopian universities have a tradition of employing fresh graduates with good academic standing as graduate assistants (unlike graduate assistants in the US, the Ethiopian ones are not graduate students but just employees helping senior staff in the undergraduate education).

After two years of working in this capacity, he won a scholarship to Tampere University of Technology in Finland and obtained a masters degree in sanitation engineering. Upon his return to Ethiopia he served in different academic and administrative capacities including the dean of the Technology Institute in Arba Minch. In his six years tenure as dean, he earned a reputation as being a hard worker, a visionary, and listening to the concerns of others, especially students.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 90s and early 2000s, he became seriously involved in politics as member of the EPRDF (Ethiopia's ruling party) and soon catapulted to becoming the deputy president of SNNPR. His predecessor, Abate Kisho, was removed from power on corruption charges widely believed to be politically motivated. Many allege that although Abate Kisho had in fact committed corruption, which is not a new phenomena to the impoverished East African nation, he was demoted for supporting the anti-Meles Zenawi faction when the TPLF (the core of the EPRDF) split in 2000. At this point, Haile Mariam assumed presidency.

During his tenure, Haile Mariam managed to garner his people's respect - which is something scarce in Ethiopian politics. many hold the view that he is free of corruption. A black spot in his other wise good tenure was the massacre of dozens of ethnic Sidamas during a controversy related to ownership of Awassa - the capital of the region. When the Sidamas demonstrated opposing the regional government's decision to take offices of the sidama zone out of Awassa, police shot live bullets into the demonstrators and many lost their lives. It is rumored that Haile Mariam offered to resign after that incident but stayed on because of pressure from the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi.

In March 2006, after a controversial parliamentary election which took place in May 2005, Haile Mariam resigned from his post. Although the official explanation was poor health, critics of the regime say he was removed from power to make way for an ethnic Sidama; Haile Mariam belongs to the Wolayta people. The SNNPR comprises over 40 ethnic groups and power struggle along ethnic lines is not uncommon.

After handing over the regional presidency to Shiferaw Shigute, a Sidama, Haile Mariam took up a post in the office of the prime minister. Ethiopia watchers say he sacrificed his other wise bright academic career for joining the EPRDF.^{[citation needed]}