12 Facts About Tesfaye Dinka

Tesfaye Dinka Yadessa was an Ethiopian politician who was Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Prime Minister of Ethiopia.

Tesfaye Dinka was the head of the delegation of the Ethiopian Government during the London Conference of 1991 which aimed to end the Ethiopian Civil War.

Tesfaye Dinka did his elementary education in Ambo, and then attended the General Wingate Secondary School in Addis Ababa.

Tesfaye Dinka did his BA from the American University of Beirut, and an MBA and MSc in Industrial Engineering from Syracuse University.

Tesfaye Dinka was a leading member of the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam and alternate member of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia.

Tesfaye Dinka was the member of Mengistu's civilian high-level officials with no blood on his hand.

Tesfaye Dinka 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.

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 and the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

Tesfaye Dinka 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.

Tesfaye Dinka worked in the 1990s for the World Bank and other agencies.

Tesfaye Dinka lived for years in the US and was a senior advisor to the Global Coalition for Africa, an organization dedicated to the economic development of Africa.

Tesfaye Dinka died on 6 December 2016 in Fairfax, Virginia, aged 77, and was survived by his wife, four children and four grandchildren.