Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe (; born 19 July 1965) is an Ethiopian politician who served as prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. He also previously served as deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi from 2010 to 2012. After Meles' death in August 2012, Hailemariam succeeded him as prime minister, initially in an acting capacity. He was then elected as the chair of the EPRDF, the ruling party, on 15 September 2012. Hailemariam also served as the chairperson of the African Union from 2013 to 2014. He submitted his resignation as prime minister and chair of the EPRDF on 15 February 2018 in response to the fallout from mass protests and unrest in 2016. His resignation was accepted on 11 March 2018, but he stayed in office as head of the caretaker government until 2 April 2018. Hailemariam is the first ruler in modern Ethiopian history to step down; previous leaders have died in office or been overthrown. He said he wanted to clear the way for reforms. Background Early life Hailemariam was born in 1965 in the Boloso Sore District Hombba of the Wolayita Zone in southern Ethiopia. Hailemariam is from Wolayta ethnic group of Ethiopia, the first largest in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR). His family belongs to the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia, a Oneness Pentecostal denomination that is not part of the mainstream Ethiopian Protestant Christianity (Pentay), which believes in Trinitarianism. Married to Roman Tesfaye, he is well known to be both a religious and family man. Education In 1988, Hailemariam received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Addis Ababa University. He subsequently worked as a graduate assistant in the Arba Minch Water Technology Institute (now Arba Minch University). After two years of working in this capacity, he won a scholarship to Tampere University of Technology in Finland, where he earned a master's degree in sanitation engineering. Upon his return to Ethiopia, he served in different academic and administrative capacities, including the dean of the Water Technology Institute, for 13 years. In between, he also earned an MA in Organizational Leadership at Azusa Pacific University, California, US. Political career Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he became seriously involved in politics as a member of the EPRDF (Ethiopia's ruling party) and became the deputy president of the SNNPR. He replaced