Background: rivers are an important source for drinking, irrigation, recreation and otherrndomestic purposes. However, if it is polluted, it can act as the storehouse of harmfulrninfectious agents that possess multiple drug resistant genes, which is a growing publicrnhealth concern.rnObjective: To determine gram negative bacterial profile and antimicrobial susceptibilityrnpattern from selected sewage polluted urban rivers of Addis Ababa.rnMethods: A cross sectional prospective study was conducted from February â€“ April 2017.rnWater samples were collected from the rivers that pass through ten sub cities of Addis Ababa.rnTurbid samples were tenfold diluted (1:10) with sterile physiological saline. Samples wererninoculated on blood and MacConkey agar. Presumptively isolated organisms were identifiedrnby BioMerieux VITEK 2 COMPACT machine. Antimicrobialsusceptibility patternwasrnalsoperformedfor 19 antibiotics by the machine with minimum inhibitory concentrationrntechnique. Epidata 3.1 was used as data entry and SPSS 20 was used for data analysis.rnResults:From a total of 94 river water samples, 150 gram negative bacterial isolates werernrecovered to the species level and 30 isolates were not identified by the machine. Thernisolation rate was 98% (92 samples were positive for one or more than one bacterial isolates).rnThe predominant species were A. hydrophylia/cavae 26 (17%) followed by E.coli 23(15%),rnK.pneumonia 18(12%), Rautella species 18(12%), K. oxytoca 17 (11%).The least identifiedrnspecies was E.gergovia and C.braki1(1%). A. Hydrophila/Cavae showed high level ofrnresistance to cefazolin 10 (38%), cefoxitin 9 (35%) and trimethoprim sulphomethoxazole 10rn(38%). E.coli. showed also high level of resistance to many of tested antibiotics likernampicillin 21 (91.3%), and 16(70%) resistance to Cefalotin, Cefuroxime, Ceftriaxone andrnCefepime. Both K.Pneumoniae and K.oxytoca showed high resistance to ampicillin 16(94%)rnand 17(95%) respectively. Among identified bacterial species, most of them showedrnmultidrug resistant pattern. Providential retigerri showed 100% MDR Followed byrnP.Alkalificiens (90%), E.coli (78%), Morganella species (75%), and C.frundi (60%).rnConclusion and Recommendation:rnA.hydrophila/cavae and E.Coliwere the mostrnpredominant bacterial isolates. Most of identified bacterial species were highly resistant tornampicillin and amoxicillin/clavulnic acid. Drug resistance and MDR were very high in thisrnstudy.rnKey words: Gram negative bacteria, Multidrug Resistance, Antimicrobial susceptibilityrnpattern, River, Addis Ababa