Ethiopian Leader Meles Dies at 57
August
21st, 2012
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi has died at the age of 57 after months of speculation about his health.
State television announced his death
Tuesday, saying he died from a sudden infection late Monday while at a hospital
abroad.
Mr. Meles had been suffering from an
undisclosed illness and had not been seen in public for more than a month.
State media said Deputy Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will serve as acting prime minister.
Prime Minister Meles ruled his
country for more than 20 years, after the rebel alliance he led, the EPRDF
(Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front), seized power in 1991.
Mr. Meles earned praise abroad for
improvements in the economy, education and health care. But human rights groups
sharply criticized him for various abuses, including restrictions on
independent media.
Under Mr. Meles, Ethiopia fought a
border war with Eritrea and sent troops to Somalia to fight Islamist militants.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought from
1998 to 2000 in a conflict that killed more than 70,000 people. Tension between
the two countries remained high.
Mr. Meles was also known as an ally
to the United States against terrorism.
In 2006, Ethiopian troops entered
Somalia to fight Islamist militants allegedly armed and trained by the Eritrean
government. Ethiopian forces returned to Somalia last year in a multi-nation
offensive against militant group al-Shabab.
Mr. Meles' most serious political
challenge came in the 2005 elections, when opposition parties said the
government rigged to results to cheat them of victory. Nearly 200 people died
in post-election violence and protests.
In the most recent elections in
2010, the EPRDF and its allies took all but one seat in parliament, sparking
new accusations of fraud.
The criticism increased in recent
years as Ethiopian courts jailed journalists and political activists under an
anti-terrorism law that rights groups said was overly vague and broad.
Mr. Meles was born in the northern
Ethiopian town of Adwa in 1955. He attended Addis Ababa University for two
years before joining the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front, or TPLF, one of
several groups that was fighting the government of Mengistu Hailemariam. The
TPLF later became the core group within the EPRDF.
After taking power in 1991, Mr.
Meles served as president for four years before assuming the prime minister's
post in 1995.
---
Ethiopian PM Meles dies from infection: state
television
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has died from a sudden
infection while recovering from an undisclosed illness at a hospital abroad,
the African nation's state-run television said on Tuesday.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Speculation that
Meles, 57, was seriously ill grew after he failed to attend an African Union
summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa last month.
"Prime Minister
Zenawi suddenly passed away last night. Meles was recovering in a hospital
overseas for the past two months but died of a sudden infection at 11:40,"
state television said.
State media said
Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn would be the acting prime minister.
Ethiopia's government
said last month that Meles was taking a break to recover from an unspecified
condition. Diplomats in Addis Ababa had said Meles was being treated in
Brussels from an undisclosed illness, while others said he was in Germany.
Meles has been in
power since ousting Mengistu Haile Mariam's military junta in 1991. He served
as president from 1991 to 1995, when he became prime minister.
He won praise in the
West for helping spur economic growth and for his army's support against al Qaeda-linked
militants in neighboring Somalia.
But he also has been
accused of crushing dissent, using national security concerns as an excuse to
silence opposition figures and journalists. The government has dismissed those
accusations.
---
(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Paul Simao)
---
Ethiopian PM Meles
Zenawi dies after illness
Ethiopian Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi has died at the age of 57, state media say, after weeks
of illness.
August 21, 2012
A government
spokesman said Mr Meles had died in a hospital abroad - but did not say exactly
where or give details of his ailment.
Speculation about his
health mounted when he missed an African Union summit in Addis Ababa last
month.
Mr Meles took power
as the leader of rebels that ousted communist leader Mengistu Haile Mariam in
1991.
He had dominated
Ethiopian public life since the 1990s, as president and then prime minister.
He was austere and
hardworking, with a discipline forged from years spent in the guerrilla
movement - and almost never smiled, says Elizabeth Blunt, the BBC's former
correspondent in Addis Ababa.
'Sudden infection'
"Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi passed away yesterday [Monday] evening at around midnight,"
government spokesman Bereket Simon said, adding that he was "abroad"
when he died, according to AFP news agency.
"He had been
recuperating well, but suddenly something happened and he had to be rushed to
the ICU [intensive care unit] and they couldn't keep him alive."
State television said
he had died after contracting a "sudden" infection.
Deputy Prime Minister
Hailemariam Desalegn, who is also Ethiopia's foreign minister, will be acting
head of government, state television said.
"Even if
Ethiopia has been badly affected for missing its great leader, Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi initiated fundamental policies and strategies which will be
further strengthened," the TV said.
Mr Meles had not been
seen in public for some eight weeks prior to his death, and was reported to
have been admitted to hospital in July.
But three weeks ago,
the spokesman Mr Bereket told the BBC that he was in "a good condition and
recuperating", and dismissed reports he was critically ill.
At the time he
declined to give any details about Mr Meles' whereabouts or what he was
suffering from.
But reports suggested
Mr Meles was in hospital in Belgium, suffering from a stomach complaint.
---
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi dead at 57
August
21, 2012
Meles Zenawi,
Ethiopia's long-time ruler who held tight control over this East African
country but was a major U.S counter-terrorism ally, died of an undisclosed
illness after not being seen in public for weeks, Ethiopian state television
said Tuesday. He was 57.
Meles died
Monday just before midnight after contracting an infection, state TV announced
Tuesday. Hailemariam Desalegn, who was appointed deputy prime minister and
minister of foreign affairs in 2010, is now in charge of the Cabinet, state TV
said.
Meles hadn't been
seen in public for about two months. In mid-July, after Meles did not attend a
meeting of heads of state of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's
capital, speculation increased that his health problems were serious.
Ethiopian officials
gave no details and said the prime minister was in "very good" health
and would return to office soon, but international officials said quietly it
was unlikely he would recover.
State TV on Tuesday
showed pictures of Meles as classical music played in the background.
Born on May 8, 1955,
Meles became president in 1991 and prime minister in 1995, a position that is
both the head of the federal government and armed forces.
The U.S. has long
viewed Meles as a strong security partner and has given hundreds of millions of
dollars in aid over the years. U.S. military drones that patrol East Africa _
especially over Somalia _ are stationed in Ethiopia.
Though a U.S. ally,
Ethiopia has long been criticized by human rights groups for the government's
strict control. Dissent is met with a strict government response.
During Meles'
election win in 2005, when it appeared the opposition was likely to make gains,
Meles tightened security across the country, and on the night of the election
he declared a state of emergency, outlawing any public gathering as his ruling
party claimed a majority win. Opposition members accused Meles of rigging the
election, and demonstrations broke out. Security forces moved in, killing
hundreds of people and jailing thousands.
In 2010 Meles won
another five years in office while receiving a reported 99 percent of the vote.
Meles is the longtime chairman of the Tigray People's Liberation Front and has
always identified strongly with his party.
"I cannot
separate my achievements from what can be considered as the achievements of the
ruling party. Whatever achievement there might have been, it does not exist
independent of that party," Meles once said when asked what he thought
would be his legacy.
Meles grew up in the
northern town of Adwa, where his father had 13 siblings from multiple women. He
moved to the capital, Addis Ababa, on a scholarship after completing an
eight-year elementary education in just five.
State TV said funeral
arrangements would be announced soon.