Following the Somalia invasion on Ethiopia in 1977 he was called for national service and participated in designing an aircraft for the Ethiopian air force.
Until his return to Ethiopia to join politics He was general manager of Shawl Consultancy which conducted construction work in cooperation with international institutions such as UN, and African Development Bank.
[2] Hailu Shawul joined politics by succeeding Professor Asrat Woldeyes as the head of the All-Amhara People's Organization (AAPO).
Following the dispute and alleged voting irregularities Observers from the European Union assessed that closing and counting processes negatively in almost half of urban polling stations, counting was slow, a remarkably high number of ballots were ruled invalid, and there was a lack of transparency in the results.
[5] The situation deteriorated further as the negotiation between EPRDF and CUD fall apart and finally on late October 2005, protest erupted across the country against the ruling party.
[6] While in imprisoned, in December 2005, Hailu Shawul with other CUD prisoners went on a hunger strike, which has aggravated his diabetes and threatens his vision.
As a result of the hunger strike, Hailu Shawul has lost much of his sight,[7] and gained access to medical care only after being visited by foreign diplomats.