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| Meles Zenawi |
By AFP
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi, a regional strongman in power for over two decades, has died in
hospital abroad, the government said Tuesday.
"Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
passed away yesterday evening at around midnight," Bereket Simon said,
adding that the 57-year-old "was abroad" when he died, without giving
further details.
Meles had not been seen in
public for two months, and had been reported to have been sick in a
hospital in Brussels, although Bereket gave no details of the illness.
"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."
According to Ethiopia's constitution,
Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is to "act on behalf of the
Prime Minister in his absence".
Diplomats and analysts in Addis
Ababa say it has not been clear how the government has been run since
Meles was reported to have fallen sick in June.
The position of president is
largely honorific and Meles, a former rebel fighter who came to power in
1991 after toppling the bloody dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam,
held the real political power.
On paper Meles' government has
fostered a policy of ethnic federalism, devolving significant powers to
regional, ethnically-based authorities but central control remains
firmly in the hands of the ruling party.
Source http://www.nation.co.ke/
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