In the middle is Tekeda Alemu (PhD), a committed technocrat who recently retired after serving the foreign office during the successive regimes; to the left is Fesseha Desta (Col.), a founding member of the Dergue; Hassan Moalin from the ONLF; and, Abebe Teklehaimanot (Maj. Gen.), a.k.a Jabie, former TPLF fighter. To the far left is Hallelujah Lulie, an acting director of the Institute for Strategic Affairs, the organizer of the seminar.
A rare and one of a kind moment took place at the Sheraton Addis, where individuals with diverse and contested backgrounds gathered today, November 28, 2019. They claimed the front row at a seminar organized to revisit the legacy of Walelegn Mekonnen, one of the student movement leaders who authored a political essay that arguably defined the course of history in Ethiopia whereby Emperor Hailesellasie was deposed. His grandson, Be'edemariam Mekonnen (Prince) was seated between Lencho Letta, the founder of the OLF, and Gebru Tarekegn, a professor emeritus and former activist of the underground movement, the EPRP. In the middle is Tekeda Alemu (PhD), a committed technocrat who recently retired after serving the foreign office during the successive regimes; to the left is Fesseha Desta (Col.), a founding member of the Dergue; Hassan Moalin from the ONLF; and, Abebe Teklehaimanot (Maj. Gen.), aka Jabie, a former TPLF fighter. To the far left is Hallelujah Lulie, an acting director of the Institute for Strategic Affairs, the organizer of the seminar.