Fikre became the first Prime Minister of the newly-formed Communist state that replaced the Derg in 1987. He made a trip to Cairo in November 1988 to seek improved relations with Egypt, and to express support for Egypt's offer to negotiate a settlement of the Eritrean conflict. In November 1989, President Mengistu Haile Mariam ordered him removed from his post, having criticized him three days prior in a meeting of the Politburo of the Workers Party of Ethiopia, stating "there is no one quite like Fikre Selassie, who sits idly and quietly. One time, he sat here reading a magazine... He is not antirevolutionary or a criminal, nor is he conspiratorial... But he is unstable and even rude... He is being expelled for disciplinary reasons also."