Shimelis Abdisa was born near
Ambo,
West Shewa Zone,
Oromia Region,
Ethiopia. Before appointed as President of Oromia Region, he has served in various roles including chief of staff of Prime Minister
Abiy Ahmed. For instance, he served as Head of the
Office of the Prime Minister replacing
Fitsum Arega in November 2018, who had served as Ambassador of Ethiopia to US. On 18 April 2019, the Oromia Regional State Council appointed Shimelis as the president of the Oromia Region, preceded by
Lemma Megersa. The
Oromia Broadcasting Network called the election to replace Lemma Megersa.
Abiy Ahmed and
Defense Minister Lemma Megersa in February 2019 Since Shimelis took office, the Irrechaa celebrations, returned to Addis Ababa for the first time in 150 years on 4 October 2019. During emergency meeting by Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church on 5 September 2019, Shimelis vowed to protect the Church. The
Ireecha was held on 4 October 2019 through towns in Oromia Region as well as
Addis Ababa. Shimelis made controversial speech which recalled the oppression of Oromo people by neftegna system during
Ethiopian Empire rule. Many people in social media criticized Shemelis speech whereas the
Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice stated that the
Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) used the festival for politically motivated agenda. In 2022, the head of
Amhara Association of America call Shemelis to resign from office as a result of growing
persecution of
Amhara people in
Wollega. == See also ==