Beyene Petros, an opposition politician and academic, has died at the age of 74. Born in 1950 in Hadiya Zone, Beyene earned his BSc from Haile Selassie I University in 1973. He pursued further studies in the U.S., obtaining an MSc from the University of Wisconsin in 1977 and a PhD in Tropical Diseases and Public Health from Tulane University in 1986.
In Ethiopia, Beyene served as a long-time professor and researcher at Addis Ababa University (AAU). He held several key positions, including Chairman of the Department of Biology from 1986 to 1990 and founding President of the Biological Society of Ethiopia (1989-1991). He later became Vice Minister of Education in the Transitional Government (1991-1993) and represented the Hadiya community at the national conference that formed the government.
A leading opposition figure, Beyene founded the Southern Ethiopia Peoples Democratic Coalition (SEPDC) in 1992 and played a major role in peaceful political movements, notably in the 2005 elections. Since 2022, he served as Director-General of the Policy Studies Institute (PSI), appointed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
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