Tesfaye Dinka Yadessa was Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
Education
He did his elementary education in Ambo, and then attended the General Wingate Secondary School in Addis Ababa. He has a Bachelor from the American University of Beirut, and an Master of Business Administration and Master of Science (Industrial Engineering)from Syracuse University.
Career
Born in Ambo, Tesfaye is an ethnic Oromo. Prior to his appointment as Prime Minister, Tesfaye served in various ministerial posts, successively as Acting Minister of National Resources Development, Minister of Industry, Finance, and Foreign Affairs. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister of the People"s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
He was a technocrat and had no say on Mengistu’s monumental decision such as the infamous collectivization program of the mid-80s which uprooted thousands peasants from the northern part of the country and resettled them in the southern and western part of Ethiopia.
In the last days of Mengistu"s rule, he was appointed Prime Minister. He led the government delegation to the abortive London peace conference of 27 May 1991, which was intended to broker an end to the Ethiopian Civil War.
Other attendees included Isaias Afwerki who led the EPLF, Meles Zenawi the leader of the TPLF, and Lencho Letta the deputy secretary general of the Oromo Liberation Front. United States Assistant Secretary of State Herman J. Cohen served as mediator.
Ostensibly, the conference was supposed to explore ways to set up a transitional government in Ethiopia, but it was overtaken by events before its formal start.
The talks had yet to get under way when Cohen received a message claiming that Lieutenant General Tesfaye Gebre Kidan, acting President of Ethiopia, had lost control of the government"s remaining armed units and Addis Ababa was threatened with a complete breakdown of law and order. To prevent uncontrolled destruction and looting, Cohen recommended that EPRDF forces immediately move into Addis Ababa and establish control. Although Tesfaye Dinka strenuously objected, he spoke from a position of weakness and could not prevail.
He and the government delegation publicly stated that they will boycott the meeting, and thus the London conference continued the next day without the participation of the government delegation.
Tesfaye worked in the 1990s for the World Bank and other agencies. He has lived for years in the United States. and is now Senior Advisor to the Global Coalition for Africa, an organization dedicated to the economic development of Africa.
Membership
He was a leading member of the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam and alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Workers" Party of Ethiopia. He was the member of Mengistu’s civilian high-level officials with no blood on his hand. Tesfaye Dinka is considered by many to have been a moderate member of the Mengistu regime, and part of the faction of government officials who advised Mengistu to negotiate with the Eritrean People"s Liberation Front (EPLF) and the Tigray People"s Liberation Front (TPLF).