Isaias Afewerki

Isaias Afewerki

Isaias Afwerki (Tigrinya: ኢሳይያስ ኣፈወርቅ) (born February 2, 1946 in Asmara, Eritrea) is the first President of Eritrea, a position he has held since 1993. He led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in May 1991, thus ending the 30-year-old armed liberation struggle that the Eritrean people refer to as "Gedli". Two years later, he became President following an independence referendum. He is the head of the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice.

Isaias was born in the capital of Eritrea, Asmara, to a father from the village of Tselot, located in Hamasien District of Eritrea.

The EPLF was one of many armed groups struggling against the Ethiopian regime of Mengistu Hailemariam. Afewerki was elected Leader of the EPLF in 1975. He has been the chairperson of both the EPLF and the PFDJ since the PFDJ assumed power at the end of the Eritrean War for Independence and the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991. He has been President of Eritrea ever since the country seceded from Ethiopia in 1991 and then elected by the National Assembly after achieving de jure independence in 1993.