A journalist by training, Jawar Mohammed, 33, is a figure of the Oromo ethnic group, the majority in Ethiopia and historically oppressed. He lived in the United States from 2003 to 2018 and graduated from Stanford and Columbia Universities. In 2014, he created the opposition media Oromia Media Network (OMN), from his studio in Minneapolis. Its chain is banned in Ethiopia
In 2015, he initiated and organized from the United States, the movement of the Qeeroo, these young Oromo men in the front line of demonstrations against the Ethiopian power. The latter, violently repressed, lead in February 2018 to the resignation of Prime Minister Haile Mariam Dessalegn.
The following month, Oromo representative Abiy Ahmed succeeded him, a first in Ethiopian history. The new Prime Minister, supported by Jawar Mohammed, raises many hopes and allows the return of opponents in exile. After several years of exile in the United States, Jawar Mohammed decides to return to Ethiopia in August 2018. He is welcomed as a hero by his followers. Since then, he has presented himself as the main opponent of the current Prime Minister and does not exclude the idea of standing before him for the 2020 elections.