Tesfaye Dinka

Tesfaye worked in the 1990s for the World Bank and other agencies. He lived for years in the U.S. and was a Senior Advisor to the Global Coalition for Africa, an organization dedicated to the economic development of Africa. Tesfaye died on 6 December 2016 in Fairfax, Virginia, aged 77, and was survived by his wife, four children and four grandchildren.

In the last days of Mengistu's rule, he was appointed Prime Minister. He led the government delegation to the abortive London peace conference of 27 May 1991, which was intended to broker an end to the Ethiopian Civil War. Other attendees included Isaias Afwerki who led the EPLF, Meles Zenawi the leader of the TPLF, and Lencho Letta the deputy secretary general of the Oromo Liberation Front. US Assistant Secretary of State Herman J. Cohen served as mediator. Ostensibly, the conference was supposed to explore ways to set up a transitional government in Ethiopia, but it was overtaken by events before its formal start. The talks had yet to get under way when Cohen received a message claiming that Lieutenant General Tesfaye Gebre Kidan, acting President of Ethiopia, had lost control of the government's remaining armed units and Addis Ababa was threatened with a complete breakdown of law and order. To prevent uncontrolled destruction and looting, Cohen recommended that EPRDF forces immediately move into Addis Ababa and establish control. Although Tesfaye Dinka strenuously objected, he spoke from a position of weakness and could not prevail. He and the government delegation publicly stated that they will boycott the meeting, and thus the London conference continued the next day without the participation of the government delegation.

Tesfaye Dinka Yadessa (3 November 1939 – 6 December 2016) was an Ethiopian politician who was Minister of Finance (1983–1986), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989–1991), and Prime Minister (26 April–6 June 1991) of Ethiopia. He was the head of the delegation of the Ethiopian Government during the London Conference of 1991 which aimed to end the Ethiopian Civil War.

Born in 1939, in Ambo, Tesfaye was of Oromo descent. He did his elementary education in Ambo, and then attended the General Wingate Secondary School in Addis Ababa. He did his BA from the American University of Beirut, and an MBA and MSc in Industrial Engineering from Syracuse University.