Debretsion Gebremichael

Debretsion Gebremichael
Debretsion Gebremichael
ደብረጽዮን ገብረሚካኤል
	Debretsion in 2014
President of the Tigray Region
	In office; 9 January 2018 – 3 March 2023; Disputed with Mulu Nega; from 13 November 2020 to 6 May 2021; Disputed with Abraham Balay; from 6 May 2021
Vice President	Fetlework Gebregziabher
Preceded by	Abay Weldu
Succeeded by	Getachew Reda (Interim Regional Administration of Tigray)
Chairman of the Tigray People's; Liberation Front
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 29 November 2017
Deputy	Fetlework Gebregziabher
Preceded by	Abay Weldu
Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia
	In office; 29 November 2012 – 6 November 2016 Serving with Demeke Mekonnen; and Aster Mamo
Prime Minister	Hailemariam Desalegn
Preceded by	Hailemariam Desalegn
Minister of Communications and Information Technology
	In office; 10 October 2012 – 8 January 2018
Prime Minister	Hailemariam Desalegn
Preceded by	Position established; (Promoted to ministry status)
Director of Ethiopian Information and Communication Development Agency
	In office; 19 September 2005 – 10 October 2010
Prime Minister	Meles Zenawi
Preceded by	Ayenew Bitewelign
Succeeded by	Position abolished; (Promoted to ministry status)
Personal details
Born	early 1960s; Shire, Tigray Province, Ethiopian Empire
Political party	Tigray People's Liberation Front
Alma mater	Addis Ababa University; (BSc, MSc); Capella University (PhD)

Debretsion Gebremichael (Tigrinya: ደብረጽዮን ገብረሚካኤል, pronunciation: [dɐbrɐtsʼjon gɐbrɐmikäe̯l]) is an Ethiopian politician serving as the chairman of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). He was previously the president of the Tigray Region.^[1]^[2] His position as titular head of the Tigray Region was disputed by the federal government of Ethiopia who in November 2020 appointed Mulu Nega as the chief executive of the Transitional Government of Tigray, succeeded by Abraham Belay. From July 2021 to March 2023, Debretsion again led the Tigray Region, while Abraham Belay left the transitional government to become Ethiopia's minister of Defence.

His party nominally won all 152 contested seats and 98.2% of the votes of the 2020 Tigray regional election,^[3] which was held in defiance of the federal government that had postponed the elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.

^ "Debretsion clinches top TPLF position". The Reporter. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
^ Hairsine, Kate (27 November 2020). "Ethiopia: Who is Tigray's leader Debretsion Gebremichael?". DW. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 5 April 2021. "We will never back down for anyone who is intending to suppress our hard-won right to self-determination and self-rule," Debretsion Gebremichael said ahead of the elections. Going ahead with the regional elections ratcheted up the simmering tensions between the TPLF and Abiy's government — tensions that have now sparked into an all-out battle. Now, the engineer and former minister Debretsion finds himself leading a war. And his name is the first of 64 listed on an arrest warrant seeking TFPL officials on terrorism and treason charges.
^ Cite error: The named reference BBC_Tigray2020_election_results was invoked but never defined (see the help page).