He made his international debut at the World Cross Country Championships in Turin ’97, where he finished 7^th in the individual race and contributed to the victory of Ethiopia’s team. In 1998 in Marrakech, he was a member of the Ethiopian Junior winning team and 8^th in the individual race. That same year, he was only 16, he won the bronze medal over 10,000m at the World Junior Championships in Annecy. He had a difficult early season in 1999 but came back to the front scene even stronger when establishing personal bests in both 5000 (in Rieti) and 10,000 (in Prague).