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Debretsion Gebremichael
Debretsion Gebremichael (Tigrinya: ደብረጽዮን ገብረሚካኤል, pronunciation: [dɐbrɐtsʼjon gɐbrɐmikäe̯l]; born c. 1963) is an Ethiopian politician serving as the chairman of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). He was previously the president of the Tigray Region. 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, which was held in defiance of the federal government that had postponed the elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.
Debretsion was born and raised in the town of Axum in Tigray. He gave up his engineering studies at Addis Ababa University to join the TPLF in the 1970s and fight the Derg military junta. He was sent to Italy on a false passport and received training in communications technology and led the team that launched the Dimtsi Woyane ('Voice of the Revolution') radio station in 1980. Debretsion was also involved in disrupting the Derg's radio systems.
After the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's 1991 victory, he joined Addis Ababa University while working full-time as the second man to Kinfe Gebremedhin. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Addis Ababa University. He received a PhD in information technology from Capella University in 2011. His dissertation was on "Exploring the Perception of Users of Community ICT Centers on the Effectiveness of ICT on Poverty in Ethiopia".
Debretsion is an avid tennis player in his free time.
He married Askale Gebrekidan. He has two young children. They are US citizens.[citation needed]
In 2005, Debretsion was appointed director of the Ethiopian Information and Communication Development Agency (EICDA). As its director, Debretsion claimed to improve its public service by launching the Public Service Capacity Building Program (PSCAP). In 2007, Debretsion launched a $1.5 billion infrastructure project with ZTE which expanded the network capacity to 30 million (from 6.5 million in 2007 and 1.35 million in 2001) and constructed 10,000 km of fibre cable. By 2012 Ethiopia had constructed 16,000 km of fibre cables and had voice cellular coverage at 64% of the country. In 2012, Debretsion was appointed the federal Minister of Communications and Information Technology. In 2012, Debretsion announced that a $1.6 billion deal had been reached with Huawei, Ericsson and ZTE to significantly expand the capacity of Ethiopia's communication infrastructure. As of September 2016 project has been progressing on schedule. 4G cellular service is now available in Addis Ababa. The ultimate goal of the project is to increase cellular coverage to 100% and to increase capacity to 50 million. Before becoming Tigray's leader, he was sometimes considered as a "low-key technocrat" according to The New York Times.
Debretsion was appointed as deputy prime minister for finance and economic clusters in 2012. In 2015, Debretsion helped to launch a free trade zone with Sudan. In 2015, he inaugurated the construction of the ICT park in Bole Lemi Industrial Park in Addis Ababa. In 2017, he laid the cornerstone for the ICT park and stated that he wants to build more ICT parks in the regional states.
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Debretsion Gebremichael
Debretsion Gebremichael (Tigrinya: ደብረጽዮን ገብረሚካኤል, pronunciation: [dɐbrɐtsʼjon gɐbrɐmikäe̯l]; born c. 1963) is an Ethiopian politician serving as the chairman of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). He was previously the president of the Tigray Region. 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, which was held in defiance of the federal government that had postponed the elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.
Debretsion was born and raised in the town of Axum in Tigray. He gave up his engineering studies at Addis Ababa University to join the TPLF in the 1970s and fight the Derg military junta. He was sent to Italy on a false passport and received training in communications technology and led the team that launched the Dimtsi Woyane ('Voice of the Revolution') radio station in 1980. Debretsion was also involved in disrupting the Derg's radio systems.
After the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's 1991 victory, he joined Addis Ababa University while working full-time as the second man to Kinfe Gebremedhin. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Addis Ababa University. He received a PhD in information technology from Capella University in 2011. His dissertation was on "Exploring the Perception of Users of Community ICT Centers on the Effectiveness of ICT on Poverty in Ethiopia".
Debretsion is an avid tennis player in his free time.
He married Askale Gebrekidan. He has two young children. They are US citizens.[citation needed]
In 2005, Debretsion was appointed director of the Ethiopian Information and Communication Development Agency (EICDA). As its director, Debretsion claimed to improve its public service by launching the Public Service Capacity Building Program (PSCAP). In 2007, Debretsion launched a $1.5 billion infrastructure project with ZTE which expanded the network capacity to 30 million (from 6.5 million in 2007 and 1.35 million in 2001) and constructed 10,000 km of fibre cable. By 2012 Ethiopia had constructed 16,000 km of fibre cables and had voice cellular coverage at 64% of the country. In 2012, Debretsion was appointed the federal Minister of Communications and Information Technology. In 2012, Debretsion announced that a $1.6 billion deal had been reached with Huawei, Ericsson and ZTE to significantly expand the capacity of Ethiopia's communication infrastructure. As of September 2016 project has been progressing on schedule. 4G cellular service is now available in Addis Ababa. The ultimate goal of the project is to increase cellular coverage to 100% and to increase capacity to 50 million. Before becoming Tigray's leader, he was sometimes considered as a "low-key technocrat" according to The New York Times.
Debretsion was appointed as deputy prime minister for finance and economic clusters in 2012. In 2015, Debretsion helped to launch a free trade zone with Sudan. In 2015, he inaugurated the construction of the ICT park in Bole Lemi Industrial Park in Addis Ababa. In 2017, he laid the cornerstone for the ICT park and stated that he wants to build more ICT parks in the regional states.