Jaffa Dawit

Jaffa Dawit is the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. He was elected in January of 2009. Before entering public life he was a general in the Ethiopian army.
== Biography ==
Born in 1962, Dawit’s father was from Aseb and his mother from Addis Abba. His Afar background has played a major role in his life despite the fact that he grew up following his mother’s traditions and is a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In 1975, one year after the Communist takeover of Ethiopia, Dawit’s father, a grocery store owner, was killed in front of his family for refusing to turn over his store to the state. This moment was likely one of the most influential in Dawit’s life as very soon after, at the age of 13, he joined the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (the EPRDF is now Ethiopia’s major political party) along with large group of his paternal Afar relatives. It was in his years as a rebel that his affinity to his Afar kinsmen developed. 
While fighting with the EPRDF he met and became close friends with Meles Zenawi. The two have been almost inseparable ever since and in 1991 when the EPRDF overthrew the Communist regime both men took on important governmental roles. Zenawi went on to serve as the Prime Minister and has done so until just recently and Dawit served as General of the Ethiopian Defence Forces. As General, Dawit has seen a lot of action. He led the infantry division which captured Barentu and broke the back of the Eritreans in ’98-’00 war. Though he was disappointed that the war was not continued so as to regain Eritrea’s Afar province, he accepted Zenawi’s judgement. He also has played a major role in leading the peacekeeping forces in Somalia was instrumental in defeating the Islamic Courts Union. 
Prime Minister will be his first civilian role in the Ethiopian government and only time will tell how he will do, but given his excellence as a General it is not irrational to have high hopes.