Siye Abraha

Siye Abraha was born in the village of Addeha in Tembien, Tigray Region of Ethiopia .[1] He attended elementary school in Tigray Region and then the most prestigious General Winget high school in Addis Ababa. He joined Addis Ababa University as medical student where he was active in the student movement but left his university study after freshman year to join TPLF for armed struggle.

He received a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in 2012. In addition, Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Open University in 1995. He is married to a former TPLF rebel fighter and they have one daughter and two sons together.

Siye was arrested in July 2002, accused by the Federal Ethics and Anticorruption Commission of abuse of office by aiding his associates to unfairly obtain bank loans and buying state properties. He was afterwards charged with two specific acts: that he had pressured the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to provide loans to his brother, Mihretab Abraha; and that he helped Mihretab obtain a 19% discount for 15 trucks he purchased from AMCE, a truck-assembly plant in which the Ethiopian government owned a 30% stake.[5] In a hearing, the Federal judge, Birtukan Mideksa, set Siye free for lack of evidence, however he was subsequently arrested by the government the moment he left the building and imprisoned for six years.

On 11 June 2007, the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia dismissed the charge that he had pressured the bank to give his brother loans, while convicting him on the charge that he helped his brother Mihretab get discounts on seven of the 15 trucks. At the same session, Mihretab was sentenced to five years imprisonment and a 1,000 Birr fine, along with a number of their friends and relatives who heard their sentences at the same time. However, because most of them had been imprisoned they were released.

In July 2008, Siye became a founding member of the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD), a new coalition of opposition parties and activists.[6] Since then he, along with ex-President Negasso Gidada, another former member of the EPRDF, have announced that they have joined the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, a coalition of which the FDD is a member. However, in late 2010 Unity for Democracy and Justice Party was dissolved due to government pressure and imprisonment of top officials of the party.[7]

From 2011 to 2012, Siye Abraha was a fellow in the Mason Program at Harvard Kennedy School (USA). He graduated in mid 2012 and joined United Nations Development Programme.[8]

In 2013 Siye was appointed as Security sector Reform Advisor by UNDP. He has been working as Security Sector Reform Advisor in Liberia.[9]