Negasso Gidada

Negasso Gidada Solon (Ge'ez: ነጋሶ ጊዳዳ; 8 September 1943 – 27 April 2019) was an Ethiopian politician who was the president of Ethiopia from 1995 until 2001.

== Biography ==

Negasso was the son of Gidada Solon, one of the first local ministers of a Protestant church in the Dembidolo area in western Ethiopia.

Negasso held a doctorate in social history from the Goethe University Frankfurt and was a part-time lecturer of history at Addis Ababa University. The title of his doctoral thesis was "History of the Sayyoo Oromo of Southwestern Wallaga, Ethiopia, from about 1730 to 1886". He was married to Regina Abelt, a German nurse and midwife. Being the First Lady of Ethiopia while holding the German Citizenship earned Abelt considerable, yet unwanted, attention by the German and European tabloid press. In marked contrast, Regina Abelt was virtually invisible in Ethiopia and never enjoyed the official title of First Lady which was instead used by the wife of the Prime Minister.

Negasso died in Germany on 27 April 2019, after battling health issues.

== Political career ==

In Europe, he was an active member of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Negasso had been Minister of Information in the Transitional...