Siraj Fegessa

Siraj Fegessa (born 1971) is an Ethiopian politician who served as Minister of Defense from 2008 to 2018 and Minister of Transportation from April to October 2018. He is a Muslim, a member of the Silte people, as well as a member of the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front, which is part of the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front. From 2006 until his appointment as Defense Minister on 30 October 2008, Siraj was Minister of Federal Affairs.

He has graduated with his first degree in Forestry at Haramaya University in 1995 and has two master's degrees; an MA from Azusa Pacific University in Leadership in the United States and MSC degree in Security Sector Management from Cornfield university in London (UK)'. He is the first Silte minister to be appointed in Ethiopia as well as the first to be from his party as a Defense Minister.

He joined EPRDF in his twenties as a Woreda administrator in early 1990s. He served as a chief administrator of Siltie zone and played a crucial role in promoting development and mobilizing the Siltie community to fight against poverty. He became minister of Federal Affairs after EPRDF won the 2005 national election because...