# Fantahun Hailemichael

Fantahun Hailemichael Seife (Amharic: ፋንታሁን ሃይለሚካኢል ሰይፈ) is a former Ethiopian diplomat and a senior professional staff of the African Union, who served at different levels of diplomatic services for more than 30 years both at national and international levels. He served his country as an ambassador in North Korea (1991–1992) and Zimbabwe (1993–1995).

## Early life and education

Fantahun Hailemichael was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He joined the Harar Military Academy of Ethiopia studying academic and military science from 1973 to 1976, and later went through a training course in Road Construction and Project Management at the Ethiopian Road Authority in 1977. Graduated in 1983 with a BA degree in Political Science and International Relations from Addis Ababa University, and also obtained another BA degree in Political Science (Cand. Mag) from the University of Bergen, Norway in 1987. Continuing his post- graduate study at the same university, earned an MA degree (Cand. Polit) in Comparative Politics in 1989.
Fantahun has further studied major graduate courses for Master of Law (LLM) on International Law from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2000, and obtained a PhD degree in 2012 specializing in International Relations and Diplomacy from Atlantic International University (AIU), Hawaii, USA.

## Career

Fantahun Hailemichael has worked both at national and international services. He started his professional career joining the Ethiopian Road Authority as an Engineering Aide in road construction and project management from 1977 to 1983. He also served as Head of Public Relations and Information at the Children Amba (Village) of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, February 1984 to July 1984.
Fantahun has also worked as a Senior Expert in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Ethiopian Council of State, January 1990 to June 1991, and as Head of Press, Documentation and Public Relations at the Ethiopian Parliament, September 1991 to January 1992. He has thereafter served his country as an Ambassador to the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea, February 1992 to July 1993, and to the Republic of Zimbabwe, August 1993 to December 1995. While being based in Harare, Zimbabwe, he was concurrently accredited to Zambia, Angola, Malawi and Mozambique
While continuing working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Fantahun has as well served as a director in charge of Multilateral Organizations in Africa, and a Director General of Policy Planning and Training, January 1996 to September 2000.
He later joined the Organization of the African Unity/African Union, a Continental Organization, and has served as a senior professional staff in various positions, including as Head of Protocol Division; Senior Policy officer in charge of the relations between the African Union and the Sub-regional Economic Communities of Africa, and as coordinator of the Africa Union Partners Support Projects including the African Union Headquarters Building Complex; the African Union Peace and Security Complex and the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC) Headquarters Facility, from September 2000 to December 2022. Fantahun was further actively engaged in a large extent of key bilateral and multilateral diplomatic and other professional activities participating in conferences, meetings, dialogues, workshops within Africa and beyond.

## Published works

* “The Root Causes of Nationality Problems and the Challenges to Nation-Building in Ethiopia, ‘’, 1989 published by the Christian Michelson Institute of Research, Bergen, Norway, 1989
* “Africa-China Relations: Neo-Colonialism or Strategic Partnership?”, published by Scholars` Press, Germany, 2012.