Zimpapers Logo

Al Jazeera reports that Ethiopian sate television announced on Tuesday that the 57-year-old prime minister died from a sudden infection while recovering from the illness at a hospital abroad.

“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 Hailemariam Desalegn, deputy prime minister, would be the acting prime minister.

Al Jazeera’s Peter Greste, reporting from Johannesburg, have said:”His death did not come as a surprise because Zenawi missed a couple of important public events, the rumors about his public health started to arise in the African union summit where he failed to appear.

“The question now is where does this leave the country?, there is already rumors of power struggle in his absence, there is no clear succession plan in Addis Ababa, it is not certain who will replace Meles, I certainly can not think of any political figure in Ethiopia at the moment that has Meles charisma, political savvy or his control over the country.”

Zenawi had been in power since overthrowing Mengistu Haile Mariam’s military junta in 1991.

He served as president from 1991 to 1995, when he became prime minister.

He was credited with Ethiopia’s economic boom in the past decade, with economic growth shooting from 3.8 per cent in the 1990s to 10 per cent in 2010. – Al Jazeera