{"id":281482,"date":"2019-07-13T02:56:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T06:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXJlcG9ydGVyZXRoaW9waWEuY29tL2FydGljbGUvcHJlc2lkZW50LXNhaGxld29yay1wbS1hYml5LXNoYXJlLXBhbGFjZS1jb21wb3VuZNIBAA?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T17:57:16","slug":"ethiopias-president-and-prime-minister-will-share-a-compound-as-abiy-ahmed-opens-the-palac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/281482","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia\u2019s president and prime minister will share a compound as Abiy Ahmed opens the palaces to visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told parliament that Ethiopia\u2019s president and prime minister will share one compound while the Menelik Palace and the National Palace are restored and opened to visitors, The Reporter reported.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n

The Jubilee Palace in Addis Ababa, 1965 (photographer unknown, Wikimedia Commons, public domain) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n

Abiy Ahmed made the announcement on the final day of the parliamentary year, on Monday, 8 July 2019, as he set out projects for Addis Ababa and the country in the new Ethiopian fiscal year 2012. Maintenance and new construction were under way to turn both palaces into leading tourist sites, he said.<\/p>\n

The Menelik Palace, long known as the Gebi, was the seat of Ethiopia\u2019s emperors and today holds the prime minister\u2019s offices and residence. Its grounds contain residences, halls, chapels and historic churches, including Ta\u2019eka Negest Ba\u2019eta Le Mariam.<\/p>\n

The National Palace, where President Sahle-Work Zewde lives, was to be opened to the public in part. It was built in 1955 for Emperor Haile Selassie\u2019s Silver Jubilee and was first called the Jubilee Palace. It was expanded in 1966 and 1967, and it was there that the Derg deposed the emperor in September 1974. The Derg renamed it the National Palace, and after the fall of the Derg it became the official residence of the president of the Federal Democratic Republic.<\/p>\n

Abiy Ahmed told MPs the palaces held untapped value. \u201cHaile-Selassie I was a collector of various brands of luxury cars. We have these cars until today including Cadillac vehicles. We should unlock them and keep them accessible to the public,\u201d he said, arguing that such assets could create jobs.<\/p>\n

He did not mention the new presidential residence recently built, at a cost of more than 170 million birr, inside the Prince Mekonnen compound near Sidist Kilo. The Palace Administration did not answer repeated calls and emails from The Reporter about the building\u2019s future. The residence was reportedly designed by Ultimate Consultants and built by Zamra Construction.<\/p>\n

Abiy Ahmed also said the country\u2019s largest public library and a park would open during the year in front of the parliament building, on land stretching to the fence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that had largely been earmarked for a second phase of the Sheraton Addis. \u201cThe construction of the library, Adwa Park and other projects has already been launched at a cost of 10 billion birr in Addis Ababa,\u201d he told legislators. The city administration has repossessed large plots from other investors who failed to develop them as intended.<\/p>\n

In May, Abiy Ahmed hosted a fundraising dinner priced at $173,000 a seat to pay for river and park works in the capital, the BBC reported at the time.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong> The Reporter<\/a>, Mereja (May 2019)<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told parliament that Ethiopia\u2019s president and prime minister will share one compound while the Menelik Palace and the National Palace are restored and opened to visitors, The Reporter reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/jubilee-palace-addis-ababa-1965.png?fit=827%2C543&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1be2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281482"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837634,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281482\/revisions\/837634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}