Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the current President of Somalia, Union for Peace and Development Party leader, and member of the Abgaal Hawiye clan, was born on November 29, 1955, in the town of Jalalaqsi, in the south-central Hiran province of Somalia. Mohamud attended primary and secondary … Read MoreHassan Sheikh Mohamud (1955- )
Isais Afwerki, a former freedom fighter, has been President of Eritrea since its independence in 1993. Afwerki was born in the Abu Shi’aul district of Asmara, Eritrea on February 2, 1946. At that time Eritrea was ruled by Great Britain. Afwerki attended primary schools in … Read MoreIsaias Afwerki
(1946- )
The Horn of Africa (HoA) is the African continent’s easternmost peninsula. The English name for the region derives from the horn-shaped land formation of the easternmost point of the African continent. The peninsula stretches hundreds of kilometers into the Gulf of Aden, Somali Sea, and … Read MoreThe Horn of Africa
Ibrahim Omer is an Eritrean-born New Zealander politician. He is best known for becoming the first African and second former refugee to become a member of the National Parliament of New Zealand. Omer was born and raised in Eritrea where he spent much of his … Read MoreIbrahim Omer (1978- )
Clarence Holbert is best known as the chief designer of Eritrea’s currency and the second African American engraver to work at the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Born in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, Holbert was raised in Washington D.C.’s Northeast neighborhood of Ivy City. Though … Read MoreClarence Holbert (1944-2018)
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the current Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the first non-physician to hold the position. Ghebreyesus was born in 1965 in Asmara, Eritrea, East Africa, to Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Melashu Weldegabir. He attended the University of Asmara … Read MoreTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (1965- )
Ermias Joseph “Nipsey Hussle” Asghedom was a Grammy-nominated rapper and songwriter. Nipsey Hussle was born on August 15, 1985 in Los Angeles, California, to Dawit Asghedom, an Eritrean immigrant, and Angelique Smith an African American from Los Angeles. He also had an older brother, Samiel … Read MoreNipsey Hussle (1985-2019)
Emperor Menelik II was one of Ethiopia’s greatest leaders, ruling as King and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913. He was born Sahle Miriam on August 17, 1884, in Ankober, Shewa, Ethiopia. His mother, Woizero Ejigayehu Lemma Adyamo, was a palace servant, and his … Read MoreEmperor Menelik II (Sahle Miriam) (1844-1913)
Haben Girma, both blind and deaf, is a disability rights advocate and attorney who became the first deaf and blind graduate of Harvard Law School in Massachusetts when she graduated with a Juris Doctor degree (JD) in 2013. Girma was born on July 29, 1988, … Read MoreHaben Girma (1988- )
