Beyene Petros (; 11 March 1950 – 17 September 2024) was an Ethiopian politician and educator who was the Professor of Biology at

Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa University (; AAU) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, and one is located in Bishoftu, about away. ...

and a former member of the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

House of Peoples' Representatives The House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Located in the capital Addis Ababa, the House has 547 members. All are elected in theory for five-year term in single-seat constituencies. ...

, representing an electoral district in Badawacho of Hadiya Zone. He was the chairman of one of the largest opposition political parties in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Forum Medrek.

Political career

Petros joined politics in 1991 when the ruling EPRDF took power. He was then appointed deputy minister of Education but later resigned from government. He has been a major opposition political figure since 1995. Petros was first elected to the parliament as member for Shone constituency in the May 2000 elections. In the 2003 parliament, he served as chairman for the combined Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia, the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition, and the Hadiya National Democratic Organization. When parties joined to form the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) in 2004, Prof. Beyene became the chairman of the UEDF. He was serving as chairman for Ethiopian Federal Democratic Forum ( Medrek). On 3 August 2018, Petros was promoted to the new Government Privatisation Advisory Council to advise Prime Minister

Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali (; ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He rose through the ranks of government via the Information Networ ...

concerning his new economic reforms.

Personal life and death

Beyene Petros was born on 11 March 1950, in Hadiya,

. He attended elementary and high school at local schools in southern Ethiopia. He received his BSc from

, MS from

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

and Ph.D. from

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

all in Biology. Petros joined the staff of Addis Ababa University in 1979 when he became a Lecturer. Later he became a Professor of Biology in 2009. Petros was married and had four children; two girls (Mishisalla BEYENE of WFP) and two boys. He died on 17 September 2024, at the age of 74.Champion of peaceful opposition, Prof. Beyene Petros passes on
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References

External links

*, essay by Beyene Petros (''Addis Fortune'' website)
"ETHIOPIA: Interview with opposition MP Beyene Petros"
IRIN interview from 2002 1950 births 2024 deaths Academic staff of Addis Ababa University Members of the House of Peoples' Representatives Ethiopian biologists United Ethiopian Democratic Forces politicians Medrek politicians {{Ethiopia-scientist-stub