ADDIS ABABA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government on Monday revealed preparations to honor the late former president Negasso Gidada, who passed away on Saturday while he was receiving medical treatments in Germany.
Gidada, who was Ethiopia's president from 1995 to 2001, died at the age of 76.
The East African country, which also lost its long-serving former president Girma Wolde-Giorgis in December last year, has revealed preparations to honor the former president's legacy.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his message of condolence on the death of the veteran Ethiopian politician with decades of service in higher government posts, revealed the Ethiopian government's plan to honor the late president.
Ahmed, who expressed his "deep regrets" on the passing of Gidada, noted that a national committee has been formed to organize the funeral proceedings of the former president, who was also a member of the Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives (HoPR), the Ethiopian parliament's lower house.
"A national committee to oversee the funeral arrangements is being established and will communicate the details accordingly," a statement from the Office of the Ethiopian Prime Minister quoted Ahmed as saying.
Gidada, who studied PhD in history in Germany and regarded as one of Ethiopia's veteran politicians, was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), which makes up one of the four coalitions parties of Ethiopia's ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Front (EPRDF).
The late president, who is a highly-regarded veteran politician in Ethiopia's modern political history, is mainly known for his contribution as chairman of the Ethiopian Constitutional Assembly, which adopted the current Ethiopian constitution back in 1995.
Gidada had also served as Ethiopia's Minister of Information during the country's Transitional Government in the 1990s.
Following his death, the HoPR and the House of Federation, the lower and higher houses of the Ethiopian parliament, as well as various Ethiopian government ministries and regional governments have been also expressing their condolences.
Gidada, who stepped down from the presidency, was succeeded by Girma Wolde-Giorgis, who died in December last year at the age of 94.
Wolde-Giorgis, who was the East African country's president for more than a decade, had served his country in various senior positions since the imperial period of Haile Selassie I, the last emperor of Ethiopia.
Wolde-Giorgis, after serving two consecutive terms as president of Ethiopia since 2001, stepped down in 2013 and was succeeded by former President Mulatu Teshome, who resigned in October 2018.
The east African nation on Oct. 25, 2018 had elected its first female President Sahle-Work Zewde following the resignation of Teshome.
