Temesgen Tiruneh (

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 ...

: ተመስገን ጥሩነህ) is an Ethiopian politician who is serving as the current Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 8 February 2024. He previously served as the director general of

National Intelligence and Security Service The National Intelligence and Security Service (Amharic: የብሔራዊ መረጃና ደህንነት አገልግሎት, NISS) is an intelligence agency of the Government of Ethiopia, Ethiopian federal government tasked to defend, protect and ad ...

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 ...

since 2020. On 8 November 2020, Temesgen Tiruneh was appointed to the position of director general of NISS by 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 ...

, in the midst of the Tigray War. He was the former president of Amhara state. He was replaced from his former position of Amhara regional state president by Agegnehu Teshager.

Early life and education

Temesegen Tiruneh was born in the small town of Bichena, Gojjam Province,

. He attended primary and secondary school at Belay Zeleke school. He then joined the

Ethiopian National Defense Force The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) () is the combined military force of Ethiopia. ENDF is consisted of 10 command forces which is controlled by the Chief of General Staff. Commanders of the Military Supreme Commander – Taye At ...

where he took primary military intelligence training. He later joined the Microlink Information Technology College where he graduated with a BA in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

. He later attended

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along wi ...

and graduated with MA in

Transformational leadership Transformational leadership is a leadership style in which a leader's behaviors influence their followers, inspiring them to perform beyond their perceived capabilities. This style of leadership encourages individuals to achieve unexpected or rem ...

Political career

President of Amhara Region

On 27 July 2019, Temesgen has been named as the head of

Amhara Region The Amhara Region (), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people, Amhara, Awi people, Awi, Xamir people, Xamir, Argobba people, Argobba, a ...

amidst the crisis following the June 22 coup attempt. He has worked as a security advisor of the

Information Network Security Agency The Information Network Security Administration or INSA () is the national signals intelligence and cybersecurity agency of Ethiopia, founded when the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was the ruling party of Ethiopia. His ...

(INSA) from 20 April 2018.

Director of the National Intelligence and Security Service

Temesgen as the director of the leading intelligence agency has said many statements of security treat. He publicly said that "The

TPLF The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ), also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization ...

Junta dreamt of disrupting the central government by mobilizing its lapdogs it dubbed “Federalist Forces”, but, things have gone the other way around as all Ethiopians stand in unison against it.” Temesgen also made another statement vowing to destroy the TPLF from the face of the earth. He also said that the NISS was teaming up with the Federal Police and the National Defense force to defeat the terrorist TPLF. Temesgen said in a statement “This divisive rhetoric is TPLF’s destructive tool that it has been implementing since its very inception." He also said the TPLF are not here to destroy the Amhara people but the whole nation as a whole.

Deputy Prime Minister

On 8 February 2024, the

House of People's 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. T ...

(HoPR) appointed Temesgen as a deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, replacing

Demeke Mekonnen Demeke Mekonnen Hassen (; born 27 September 1963) is an Ethiopian politician who was Prime Minister of Ethiopia#Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2024, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ethiopia), Mini ...

who announced his intention for resignation on 26 January.

References

Ethiopian government officials Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Ethiopian politicians Politicians of the Tigray war {{Ethiopia-politician-stub