This is a list of presidents of Ethiopia, and also a list of heads of state after the fall of the Ethiopian Empire in 1974.
Until the Ethiopian Revolution of 1974, the heads of state of Ethiopia were either emperors or regents. From the coup d'état of the Derg leading to the fall of the empire in September 1974 until March 1975, the Derg considered the crown prince Asfaw Wossen (later regnal name Amha Selassie) as the king (not emperor) and the nominal head of state – which the crown prince refused to accept. During this time, the chairmen of the Derg, the leaders of the Derg, were to be considered as acting heads of state. On 21 March 1975, the Derg military junta abolished the monarchy and fully took over. Until the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1987, still dominated by Derg figures, chairmen of the Derg have to be considered heads of state – but not presidents. After the fall of the Derg and the establishment of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia in 1991, the first immediate president (Meles Zenawi) has to be considered an Interim President.
Since the formal establishment of the office of president in 1987, there have been 8 official presidents. The president is the head of state of Ethiopia. The current president is Taye Atske Selassie, elected on 7 October 2024 by members of the Federal Parliamentary Assembly. [1]
In the list, the chairmen of the Derg are considered to be heads of state – but are not considered to be president. Consequently, the numbering starts with the first establishment of the office of the president of Ethiopia in 1987.
No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Party (Coalition) | Elected | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||||
• Derg (Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia) (1974–1987) • | |||||||
– | Lieutenant general Aman Mikael Andom (1924–1974) Acting Head of State | 15 September 1974 | 17 November 1974 (Resigned) | 63 days | Military | — | |
– | Major Mengistu Haile Mariam (born 1937) Acting Head of State | 17 November 1974 | 28 November 1974 | 11 days | Military | — | |
– | Brigadier general Tafari Benti (1921–1977) | 28 November 1974 | 3 February 1977† | 2 years, 67 days | Military | — | |
– | Lieutenant colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam (born 1937) | 3 February 1977 | 10 September 1987 | 10 years, 219 days | Military COPWE WPE | — | |
• People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1987–1991) • | |||||||
1 | Mengistu Haile Mariam (born 1937) | 10 September 1987 | 21 May 1991 (Resigned) | 3 years, 253 days | WPE | 1987 | |
– | Tesfaye Gebre Kidan (1935–2004) Acting | 21 May 1991 | 27 May 1991 (Deposed) | 6 days | WPE | — | |
• Transitional Government of Ethiopia (1991–1995) • | |||||||
– | Meles Zenawi (1955–2012) Interim | 28 May 1991 | 22 August 1995 | 4 years, 86 days | TPLF (EPRDF) | — | |
• Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1995–present) • | |||||||
2 | Negasso Gidada (1943–2019) | 22 August 1995 | 8 October 2001 | 6 years, 47 days | ODP (EPRDF) Independent [lower-alpha 1] | 1995 | |
3 | Girma Wolde-Giorgis (1924–2018) | 8 October 2001 | 7 October 2013 | 11 years, 364 days | Independent | 2001 2007 | |
4 | Mulatu Teshome (born 1957) | 7 October 2013 | 25 October 2018 | 5 years, 18 days | ODP (EPRDF) | 2013 | |
5 | Sahle-Work Zewde (born 1950) | 25 October 2018 | 7 October 2024 | 5 years, 348 days | Independent | 2018 | |
6 | Taye Atske Selassie (born 1956) | 7 October 2024 | Incumbent | 19 days | Independent | 2024 |
Haile Selassie I was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930. Widely considered to be a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, he is accorded divine importance in Rastafari, a relatively new Abrahamic religion that emerged in the Colony of Jamaica in the 1930s. A few years before he began his reign over the Ethiopian Empire, Selassie defeated Ethiopian army commander Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul, who was the nephew of Empress Taytu Betul, during the Battle of Anchem. He belonged to the Solomonic dynasty, which was founded by Emperor Yekuno Amlak in 1270; Amlak's successors claimed that he was a lineal descendant of Menelik I, the legendary Emperor of Ethiopia who was supposedly born to King Solomon and Queen Makeda of the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Sheba, respectively. Modern historians regard the Solomonic linage claim as an unfounded myth created by Yekuno Amlak to justify wresting power from the Zagwe Dynasty.
Mengistu Haile Mariam is an Ethiopian former politician and former military officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991. He was the chairman of the Derg, the Marxist-Leninist military junta that governed Ethiopia, from 1977 to 1987, and the president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.
The emperor of Ethiopia, also known as the Atse, was the hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The emperor was the head of state and head of government, with ultimate executive, judicial and legislative power in that country. A National Geographic article from 1965 called Imperial Ethiopia "nominally a constitutional monarchy; in fact it was a benevolent autocracy".
Aman Mikael Andom was an Eritrean general, and the first post-imperial acting head of state of Ethiopia. Aman was also the first Chairman of the Derg. He was appointed to this position following the coup d'état that ousted Emperor Haile Selassie on 12 September 1974, and served until his assassination in a shootout with his former supporters.
The Derg, officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military dictatorship that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership or junta formally "civilianized" the administration but stayed in power until 1991.
Prince Makonnen Haile Selassie, Duke of Harar was the second son, and second-youngest child, of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Empress Menen Asfaw. He was made Mesfin of Harar upon the coronation of his parents in 1930.
Amha Selassie was Emperor-in-exile of Ethiopia. As son of Haile Selassie, he was Crown Prince and was proclaimed monarch three times. He was first proclaimed Emperor during an unsuccessful coup attempt against his father in December 1960, during which he alleged that he was detained and compelled to accept the title. After his father was deposed in a later coup, he was proclaimed King in absentia by the Derg on 12 September 1974 in an act which he never accepted as legitimate and that ended in the abolition of the Ethiopian monarchy on 21 March 1975. He was again proclaimed Emperor in exile on 8 April 1989. This time he sanctioned the proclamation and accepted its legitimacy. After his accession, his full reign name was His Imperial Majesty Emperor Amha Selassie I, Elect of God, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and King of Kings of Ethiopia.
Princess Tenagnework Haile Selassie, GBE was the eldest child of Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen Asfaw.
Zera Yacob Amha Selassie is the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie and son of Amha Selassie of the Ethiopian Empire. He has been head of the Imperial House of Ethiopia since 17 February 1997 as recognized by the Crown Council of Ethiopia.
Abune Theophilos, also known as Abune Tewophilos, was the second Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. He officially succeeded Abuna Basilios in 1971 after he had assumed the role of acting patriarch upon Abuna Basilios's death in 1970.
The Crown Council of Ethiopia is a community organization and cultural center with the mission of preserving the culture(s) of the former Ethiopian Empire, as well as promoting development and humanitarian efforts. Today, the Crown Council has abandoned its former mission of being a Government-in-exile, redefining its role as a humanitarian and cultural preservation organization representing Ethiopians, Eritreans, and their diaspora. It is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area in the United States, where a large concentration of Ethiopian Americans and Eritrean Americans are located.
The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991.
The Ethiopian Empire, historically known as Abyssinia or simply Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It existed from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak around 1270 until the 1974 coup d'état by the Derg, which ended the reign of the final Emperor, Haile Selassie. In the late 19th century, under Emperor Menelik II, the empire expanded significantly to the south, and in 1952, Eritrea was federated under Selassie's rule. Despite being surrounded by hostile forces throughout much of its history, the empire maintained a kingdom centered on its ancient Christian heritage.
Le'ul RasMengesha Seyoum is a member of the imperial family of the Ethiopian Empire. In 1974, the monarchy was abolished by the Derg, a communist military junta.
The National Palace, formerly Jubilee Palace, is a palace in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is an official residence of President of Ethiopia since the Derg government.
The fallof the Derg was a military campaign that resulted in the defeat of the ruling Marxist–Leninist military junta, the Derg, by the rebel coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on 28 May 1991 in Addis Ababa, ending the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg took power after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty, an imperial dynasty of Ethiopia that began in 1270. The Derg suffered from insurgency with different factions, and separatist rebel groups since their early rule, beginning with the Ethiopian Civil War. The 1983–1985 famine, the Red Terror, and resettlement and villagization made the Derg unpopular with the majority of Ethiopians tending to support insurgent groups like the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).
On 12 September 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a Soviet-backed military junta that consequently ruled Ethiopia as the Derg until 28 May 1991.
The Ethiopian Revolution was a period of civil, police and military upheaval in Ethiopia to protest against the weakened Haile Selassie government. It is generally thought to have begun on 12 January 1974 when Ethiopian soldiers began a rebellion in Negele Borana, with the protests continuing into February 1974. People from different occupations, starting from junior army officers, students and teachers, and taxi drivers, joined a strike to demand human rights, social change, agrarian reforms, price controls, free schooling, and releasing political prisoners, and labor unions demanded a fixation of wages in accordance with price indexes, as well as pensions for workers, etc.
This is chronology of the Ethiopian Revolution that took place from 12 January to 12 September 1974 in the Ethiopian Empire.