State Funeral to be Held for Dr. Nagasso on Sunday

Addis Ababa  May 04/2019  The former president of Ethiopia, Dr. Nagasso Gidada who served his country as head of state for 7 years will have a state burial ceremony tomorrow at Peter-Paul Cemetery.

Dr. Negasso Gidada, the second son of the late Reverend Gidada Solan was born in 1943 in Dembi Dollo town, Oromia Regional State, Kelem Wollega Zone.

He completed his secondary education in the former Nazareth Bible Academy and studied history in the former Haile Selassie 1st University, currently known as Addis Ababa University from 1966 to 1971.

From 1971 to 1974 he served as school director and history teacher in Aira, in Western Wollega.

In October 1974, he left for Germany and lived there until July 1991. During this time he studied History in the department of Ethnology at the J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main.

Dr. Negasso was one of the founding members of Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in exile.

He returned to his country in 1991 following the regime change in Ethiopia, and joined the former Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), now ODP, which makes up one of the four coalition of the ruling party Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front (EPRDF).

Back in Ethiopia, one of the milestones of Dr. Negaso’s political activities in early 1990s was his involvement in the drafting and adoption process of the Ethiopian constitution.

He became member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee, which was tasked to draft the present Constitution of Ethiopia.

Dr. Negaso also served as Chairman of the Constitutional Assembly, which adopted the current constitution.

Dr Negasso has also served as minister of information in the transitional government.

In 1995 he became the first Head of State of the federal government of Ethiopia and had signed on the Proclamation that adopted the final copy of the constitution. He served as president of Ethiopia for seven years, from 1995- 2002.

In 2008, after leaving the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front, Negasso became a founding member of the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD), a new coalition of opposition parties.

In November 2009, he announced he had joined the unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ).

Dr. Negasso died in Germany on April 27, 2019 at the age of 76. He is survived by three children from his previous marriages.