Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s longtime prime minister, who oversaw substantial economic growth and turned his country into a staunch counterterrorism ally of the United States but whose harsh treatment of dissidents and journalists drew sharp criticism, died on Monday, state news media reported. He was 57.
[h=6]Alexander Joe/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images[/h]Meles Zenawi in a file photo taken June 1, 1991, upon his arrival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[h=6]Christian Hartmann/Reuters[/h]Mr. Zenawi attended the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
Mr. Meles, who had led the East African nation since 1991, died of an infection in an overseas hospital late on Monday night, according to state television, which did not say where the hospital was or what Mr. Meles had been treated for. Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will be sworn in as Mr. Meles’s successor after an emergency meeting of Parliament, said a government spokesman, Bereket Simon.
Mr. Bereket said on Tuesday that “everything is stable and everything will continue as charted by the prime minister,” according to Reuters.
Mr. Meles had not been seen in public in several weeks, and his health had become a subject of considerable speculation, especially after he failed to attend an African Union summit meeting last month in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Mr. Bereket said Tuesday that Mr. Meles had been ill for a year.
A former guerrilla leader, Mr. Meles became Ethiopia’s president in 1991 after helping to oust the Communist military dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. Mr. Meles became prime minister in 1995. Under his rule, Ethiopia became a valued regional ally of the United States, notably against Islamist militants in neighboring Somalia. Health and living standards rose, and the country made gains in education and women’s rights.
But he dealt harshly with dissent. In 2005, hundreds were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations after an election that Mr. Meles was accused of rigging. More recently, a number of journalists have been jailed under an antiterrorism law, including Eskinder Nega, a journalist and blogger who was sentenced to 18 years in prison last month.
Human Rights Watch has said that Mr. Meles’s government “has severely restricted the rights to freedom of expression and association” and that a “draconian civil society law severely hampers independent human rights work.”
[h=6]Alexander Joe/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images[/h]Meles Zenawi in a file photo taken June 1, 1991, upon his arrival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
[h=6]Christian Hartmann/Reuters[/h]Mr. Zenawi attended the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
Mr. Meles, who had led the East African nation since 1991, died of an infection in an overseas hospital late on Monday night, according to state television, which did not say where the hospital was or what Mr. Meles had been treated for. Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will be sworn in as Mr. Meles’s successor after an emergency meeting of Parliament, said a government spokesman, Bereket Simon.
Mr. Bereket said on Tuesday that “everything is stable and everything will continue as charted by the prime minister,” according to Reuters.
Mr. Meles had not been seen in public in several weeks, and his health had become a subject of considerable speculation, especially after he failed to attend an African Union summit meeting last month in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Mr. Bereket said Tuesday that Mr. Meles had been ill for a year.
A former guerrilla leader, Mr. Meles became Ethiopia’s president in 1991 after helping to oust the Communist military dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. Mr. Meles became prime minister in 1995. Under his rule, Ethiopia became a valued regional ally of the United States, notably against Islamist militants in neighboring Somalia. Health and living standards rose, and the country made gains in education and women’s rights.
But he dealt harshly with dissent. In 2005, hundreds were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations after an election that Mr. Meles was accused of rigging. More recently, a number of journalists have been jailed under an antiterrorism law, including Eskinder Nega, a journalist and blogger who was sentenced to 18 years in prison last month.
Human Rights Watch has said that Mr. Meles’s government “has severely restricted the rights to freedom of expression and association” and that a “draconian civil society law severely hampers independent human rights work.”