Hailu Yimenu (

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

: ሃይሉ ይመኑ; died May 26, 1991) was an Ethiopian politician who was the acting prime minister of the

People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia The People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE; ) was a socialist state that existed in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea from 1987 to 1991. The PDRE was established in February 1987 as a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist one-party state upo ...

from 8 November 1989 until 26 April 1991.

Later life

In May 1991, after hearing of

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam (, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party o ...

's fall from power, he fled to the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

embassy in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

, along with Lieutenant General Tesfaye Gebre Kidan,

Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Berhanu Bayeh, and Chief of General Staff Addis Tedla. He was succeeded by Tesfaye Dinka. While the other three remained at the embassy for years, Hailu killed himself shortly after fleeing to the embassy in 1991. Following the death of General Tesfaye thirteen years later on 2 June 2004, rumors began to circulate caused by the embassy's lack of detail on the death of both General Tesfaye and Hailu's earlier suicide. The Ethiopian government demanded Italian records on the incidents during that month.

References

1993 deaths Politicians who died by suicide Prime ministers of Ethiopia Suicides in Ethiopia Workers' Party of Ethiopia politicians Year of birth missing {{Ethiopia-politician-stub