Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi dies at 57 after illness
Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi dies at 57 after illness
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Mwita Maranya
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- Jul 1, 2008
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Mungu atamlipa kadri ya matendo yake.
Pamoja na kuiletea maendeleo makubwa nchi ya Ethiopia lakini zimwi la ukiukwaji mkubwa wa haki za binadamu lilikuwa linaandamana nae kila mahala.
Pamoja na kuiletea maendeleo makubwa nchi ya Ethiopia lakini zimwi la ukiukwaji mkubwa wa haki za binadamu lilikuwa linaandamana nae kila mahala.
dickson longo
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- Aug 10, 2011
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Rest in peace Zenawi.
Mkuu KakaKiiza nao ni binadam na muda wao ukifika wataondoka
hakuna mwenye ticket ya moja kwa moja na Muumba kuwa atamaliza kipindi chake cha utawala
Kikifika ataondoka kama binadam wengine
Mwenyezi Mungu aipumzishe roho yake kwa amani
Kazi aliyoifanya imetimilika na kuondoka ataondoka
hakuna mwenye ticket ya moja kwa moja na Muumba kuwa atamaliza kipindi chake cha utawala
Kikifika ataondoka kama binadam wengine
Mwenyezi Mungu aipumzishe roho yake kwa amani
Kazi aliyoifanya imetimilika na kuondoka ataondoka
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Msolopagazi
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- Nov 26, 2010
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RIP Meles Zenawi
rmashauri
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- Jan 29, 2009
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Jirani zangu hapa toka Ethiopia na Eritirea wana furaha kupita maelezo kufuatia kifo cha huyu dikteta. Juzi juzi pia kiongozi mkuu wa dini ya Othodox huko Ethiopia alikufa napo ilikuwa sherehe kwa wa-Ethipoia.
Huyu jirani yangu wa Ethiopia ananiambia kuwa kwenye mkutano wa G-8 uliopita Meles Zenawi alikuwa amekaa karibu na rais wa Ghana aliyekufa hivi majuzi. Kwahiyo kuna tetesi kuwa huenda wamepuliziwa sumu. Sasa sijuwi kama ni kweli ni kwanini.
Huyu jirani yangu wa Ethiopia ananiambia kuwa kwenye mkutano wa G-8 uliopita Meles Zenawi alikuwa amekaa karibu na rais wa Ghana aliyekufa hivi majuzi. Kwahiyo kuna tetesi kuwa huenda wamepuliziwa sumu. Sasa sijuwi kama ni kweli ni kwanini.
Sangarara
JF-Expert Member
- Sep 29, 2011
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Infact hali ya lowasa inasikitisha sana, He is becoming the like of Mrema
Gobret
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- Jun 11, 2010
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Atakufa mara ngapi? Au tuseme kuwa, amekufa rasmi. Maana kifo cha kiongozi dikteta si rahisi kutangazwa hivi hivi mpaka uwe na uhakika kuwa amekufa.
Waethiopia wanahitaji kuwa na amani, sio ilimradi kiongozi.
Meles Zenawi
This article is about a person who has recently died. Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death and surrounding events, may change as more facts become known.
Meles Zenawi
Meles Zenawi at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012 Prime Minister of Ethiopia
23 August 1995 20 August 2012
Negasso Gidada
President
Girma Wolde-Giorgis Preceded
Tamirat Layne
by
Succeeded
Haile Mariam Desalegne (acting)
by
President of Ethiopia
28 May 1991 22 August 1995 Prime
Tesfaye Dinka
Minister
Tamirat Layne Preceded
Tesfaye Gebre Kidan (Acting)
by
Succeeded
Negasso Gidada
by
Personal details
Meles Zenawi Asres
Born
8 May 1955 Adwa, Ethiopia
20 August 2012 (aged 57)
Died
Brussels, Belgium [1]
Tigrayan People's Liberation Front
Political
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
party
Democratic Front Spouse(s) Azeb Mesfin Alma
Open University
mater
Erasmus University Rotterdam Religion Ethiopian Orthodoxy
This article contains Ethiopic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Ethiopic characters.
Meles Zenawi Asres (Ge'ez: መለስ ዜናዊ አስረስ Mäläs Zenawi Äsräs; 8 May 1955 20 August 2012) was the Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his death on 20 August 2012. [2] Since 1985, he was the chairman of the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF), and the head of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He was President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and became the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in 1995 following the general elections that year. While his government was credited with reforms such as those that lead a multi-party political system in Ethiopia, introduction of private press in Ethiopia and decreased child mortality rates, his government also accused of political repression and various human rights abuses. [3][4] Known as one of Africa's strongmen, he was a key ally of the United States in the war on terror.
Background
Zenawi was born in Adwa, Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian father from Adwa, Ethiopia, and a mother from Adi Quala, Eritrea. [5] He graduated from the General Wingate high school in Addis Ababa, then studied medicine at Addis Ababa University (at the time known as Haile Selassie University) for two years before interrupting his studies in 1975 to join the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF). [6] While a member of the TPLF, Zenawi founded the Marxist-Leninist League of Tigray. His first name at birth was "Legesse" (thus Legesse Zenawi, Ge'ez: ለገሰ ዜናዊ legesse zēnāwī😉. However, he eventually became better known by his nom de guerre Meles, which he later adopted in honor of a university student and a revolutionary radical who was executed by the previous government in 1975. [7]
The TPLF was one of many armed groups struggling against Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam. Zenawi was elected Leader of the Leadership Committee in 1979 and Leader of the Executive Committee in 1983. He has been the chairperson of both the TPLF and the EPRDF since the EPRDF assumed power at the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991. He was president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), during which Eritrea seceded from the country and the experiment of ethnic federalism started.
Education and personal life
Zenawi acquired an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the Open University of the United Kingdom in 1995 and an MSc. (Masters of Science) in Economics from the Erasmus University of the Netherlands in 2004. [8] In July 2002 Meles received an honorary doctoral degree in political science from the Hannam University in South Korea. [9]
Zenawi was married to Azeb Mesfin and was the father of three children. Azeb Mesfin is now the chair of the Social Affairs Standing Committee of Parliament, and in January 2007, she was given the "Legacy of a Dream" award for her leadership against HIV/AIDS during a ceremony held in memory of America's civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King. [10] In addition, Azeb Mesfin and various government agencies have addressed child mortality issues in Ethiopia. According to UNICEF, the child mortality rate in Ethiopia has declined by 40% since the current ruling party took office. [11]
Prime Minister of Ethiopia
At the 33rd G8 summit in Heiligendamm in 2007 (Zenawi at back fourth from left)
Zenawi said that EPRDF's victory is a triumph for the thousands of TPLF-fighters who were killed, for the millions of Ethiopians who were victims of the country's biggest famine during the Derg regime, when some estimates put up to 1.5 million deaths of Ethiopians from famine and the Red Terror. Accordingly, he maintained that the big support it received from peasants and rural areas helped EPRDF maintain peace and stability. Foreign support was diverse; the Arab League, as well as Western nations, supported the EPRDF rebels against the communist Moscow-supported government (although the TPLF was at the time Marxist) at the height of the Cold War.
"What the implications of this will be in terms of relations between Ethiopia and the European Union, we will have to wait and see but I don't think you will be surprised if Ethiopia were to insist that it should not be patronised. [12]
The United States helped the EPRDF rebels to get power in Ethiopia and many angry demonstrators in Addis Ababa protested against Herman Cohen, the U.S. State Department's chief of African affairs who attended a conference that demonstrators viewed as legitimizing the EPRDF. A New York Times editorial commented in 1991,
Demonstrators cursing the Americans ignore two realities. The cold war is over in Africa, and Ethiopia is no longer a focus of superpower rivalry. Otherwise it would have been unthinkable for four contending Marxist groups to turn to Washington for help. The other reality is that Mr. Cohen cannot undo at the conference table what has happened on the battlefield [13]
Even though EPRDF's success was welcomed as a relief from DERG strong anti-EPRDF sentiments were present in many areas and strongly visible in Addis Ababa. These were just the beginning of the opposition to Meles Zenawi's EPRDF party after it gained power and more strong opposition followed. Addis Ababa has since been the center of peaceful opposition to the EPRDF, while the eastern Somali Region has been the most active region for armed opposition.
Following the defeat and exile of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, the July Convention of Nationalities was held. It was the first Ethiopian multinational convention where delegates of various nations and organizations were given fair and equal representation and observed by various international organizations including the United Nations, Organization for African Unity, European Economic Community, and the United States and the United Kingdom.
Of the 24 groups, the ones with the largest delegations at the Convention were the EPRDF (32), the Oromo Liberation Front (12), Afar Liberation Front (3), the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromia (3), and the Western Somali Liberation Front (3). Near the end of the year, Meles Zenawi became the President of the TGE, and following the first elections in 1995 1995 Meles was elected as Prime Minister and Dr. Negasso Gidada as President. International Election Observers concluded that had opposition parties contested, they could have won seats.
In the 2000 general elections, Meles was relected Prime Minister, and his ruling EPRDF party shared parliament seats with the opposition party United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF). According to observers organized by Ethiopian Human Rights Council, local U.N. staff, diplomatic missions, political parties, and domestic non-governmental organizations, both the general and the regional elections that year were generally free and fair in most areas; however, serious election irregularities occurred in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR), particularly in the Hadiya Zone. [14]
Meles encountered his first real challenge in the 2005 elections. His party was declared winner and kept his prime minister seat for another term, although the major opposition groups (the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), UEDF, and the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement) gained a number of seats in the national parliament. More than 30 other political parties participated in the election. [15] These elections have been the most contested and the most controversial in Ethiopia's short democratic history, with some opposition parties arguing that the election was stolen by the ruling party. Allegations of fraud were especially strong in the rural areas, as the opposition parties won in most urban areas, whereas the EPRDF won mostly in rural districts.
The aftermath of the election led to riots and demonstrations against the results, particularly in the capital, which had to be stopped by peace officers. Some opposition parties blamed the government for the violence, even though they were tried and convicted in the court of the countries law. At the end of the demonstration, along with seven police officers 193 citizens were killed and 763 civilians wounded. [16][17] Tens of thousands of Ethiopians were also jailed. Many protesters and around 75 police officers were injured. [18] This led to many rounds of accusations between the government and the protesters where the Information Minister Berhan Hailu said the government was "sorry and sad", but blamed the violence on the CUD. [19] The opposition parties have continuously accused the government of a massacre. EU election observers concluded the election failed to meet international standards for free and fair elections while the Carter Center concluded the election was fair but with many irregularities and a lot of intimidation by both sides especially the government. [20][21] The Carter Center didn't publish its final report at the time. Meanwhile CUD opposition members continued to accuse the ruling party of fraud. However some accusations of fraud coming from opposition parties were very strange. For instance, a day before the final count of votes in Addis Ababa, the CUD opposition party accused the ruling party of fraud and decided not to accept the result in Addis Ababa. But it ended up that the CUD party was actually refusing its own victory, since the vote count showed that the CUD won 100% of the votes in Addis Ababa. [22]
According to critics, this strange event led to speculations that the main opposition party, CUD, had already planned not to accept the result no matter what, in order to paint a bad image of Meles's ruling party and the elections and gain the support of the international community following the predestined failure of the election. [23]
In an interview, the United States AID director repeated that the Carter Center understood that the ruling party (EPRDF) won the election and most of his peers confirmed that as well. The USAID director also criticized some EU observers, accusing them of bias and favoring the opposition. He said some European observers practiced outside of their jobs and went "overboard in encouraging the opposition and making them think that somehow they had won the election." [24] He concluded that the American government never believed the opposition won the election. [25]
An inquiry into the violence found the property damage caused by the rioters and protesters in Addis Ababa and other cities totaled to 4.45 million Ethiopian Birr, including 190 damaged buses and 44 cars as police officers tried to restrain the rioters. The SBS journalist, Olivia Rousset, indicated that the government used too much force to subdue the rioters. She also said that "stone-throwing rioters" tried to take the guns from the security forces. [26]
Some EU observers have also shown their discontent at the post-election violence, suggesting that the police response was disproportionate, and blamed the government. In a rare response, Meles Zenawi said that he was disappointed that "some people have misunderstood the nature of the problem and misinterpreted it." In its final report, the independent commission concluded that the aggressive steps taken by the police force were to "avoid large scale violence and to protect the constitution" and that the reason behind the riotings might have been the protestors' unfamiliarity with the "process of democratization" e.g., respecting election results. However, the commission also acknowledged that there were serious errors that needed to be addressed regarding the capabilities of the Ethiopian Security forces to control riots. [27]
However, three members of the Inquiry Commission have defected and given their testimonies to members of the U.S. Congress and the International Media. The former Supreme Court Judge of the Southern Ethiopian nations and nationalities, Judge Frehiwot Samuel, who was also Chairman of the Inquiry Commission, and his Deputy, Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha, have fled Ethiopia with a video and final report of the Commissions findings that shows the commission deciding, through an eight to two vote, that the government had used excessive force and that there were grave human rights violations. [28] Some leaders, including the UK's Tony Blair, condemned the violence but repeated that Meles's ruling party "won the election." [29] Other European organizations also praised the election saying it was a "free and fair multi-party election." [30] So far, most of the US representatives have not changed their outlook and the US government supports the Ethiopian government in both military and aid assistance. Other analysts also described progress in Ethiopia's first multi-party parliament in history. [31]
Meanwhile many international media outlets continued to display the post-election bloodshed, followed by criticism of Meles's ruling party. At the same time, some people implied that opposition members were planning to use violence or provoke it as a means to gain power. [32] In fact, various events were said to show that many opposition supporters, even in universities, try to provoke the police hoping that the security forces will overreact and create chaos. [33] About the violence U.S. state department reports said some opposition supporters were engaged in a peaceful movement to "create greater democratic space" but some opposition supporters were "demonstrating to overthrow the government" and were engaged in "violent protests." [34][35] Other reaction to the election issue was condemnation of the EU election observers. An Irish committee said "the situation in Ethiopia had not been helped by inaccurate leaks from the EU election monitoring body which led the opposition to wrongly believe they had been cheated of victory." [36]
In early 2004, Meles Zenawi received medical treatment in the UK for an unspecified condition. Flanked by numerous UK police officers and diplomatic protection officers he was observed at the Parkside Hospital in southwest London, a private hospital staffed by numerous specialist consultants.
Domestic policy
Foreign policies
Climate change
Criticism and scandals
Widespread repression in Oromia
According to Freedom House, under the government of Meles Zenawi discrimination against and repression of Oromo people has been widespread. [138] Human Rights Watch (HRW) notes that local government in the Oromia Region has "routinely commit[ted] various human rights violations against people they believe to be critical or unsupportive of the government." [139] After relations between the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the ruling government broke down in 1992, the government banned the OLF, and has since regularly accused political detainees of being OLF operatives. [139] HRW further notes that "according to former Ethiopian President Negasso Gidada, when he left office in 2001 roughly 25,000 people were in prison on OLF-related charges throughout Oromia and in Addis Ababa and no public moves have since been made to substantially reduce the number of detainees." [140] Oromia is the largest and most populous of Ethiopia's nine regional states, but remains so far under heavy repression. [141][not in citation given]
Ethio-Eritrea War
When Eritrea invaded Ethiopia in 1998, a costly war led to the death of tens of thousands of people on both sides. [142] By the end of the devastating war, the Ethiopian army had recovered the town of Badme and driven back Eritrean forces until they controlled around one-third of Eritrean territory, including the Barentu region.
However, Meles Zenawi signed a controversial UN peace treaty that was seen to favor Eritrea. This decision angered many Ethiopians and caused an internal division inside the Ethiopian ruling party. The faction critical of Meles, led by Defense Minister Siye Abraha, disagreed with those aligned with Meles over "key issues of ideology" and accused his supporters of corruption and Meles of failing to act quickly or decisively enough over the crisis with Eritrea. "Meles was certainly seen as a reluctant warrior," according to a source quoted by the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). [143] This led to a showdown at a meeting of the Politburo of the EPRDF, where Meles won a 1513 vote on his proposed statement that "the greatest threat that Ethiopia was facing was corruption and undemocratic tendencies." Meles said afterwards that the dissenting members had at that point insisted that the meeting be aborted and called for a general meeting of the TPLF, a move Meles described as "a violation of democratic principles and the statute of the front." A number of the dissenting members of the TPLF, including Siye, were quickly arrested and imprisoned. Siye was later released after 6 years in prison, and joined opposition parties. [144] This rift is thought to have led to the murder of Kinfe Gebremedhin, a former TPLF commander, Chief of Security and Immigration, and a right-hand man of Zenawi.
In addition to accusations about his handling of the post-war events, Meles Zenawi was criticized for his pre-war decisions that ignored Eritrean incursions and delayed Ethiopian response to the invasion. Ethiopia did not mobilize its defense forces for a full-scale border war after Eritrea attacked the country until a week had passed. By June 1998, the Eritrean air force had attacked northern Ethiopia, including a massacre of dozens of school children and teachers in Ayder Elementary school of Mekele. The Ayder Memorial Library Project was established by Diaspora Ethiopians to remember the victims and facilitate the school. [145]
Meles Zenawi, whose mother is Eritrean, has been accused of being too soft on the Eritrean government by many Ethiopians, including members of his own TPLF party. [citation needed]
Some believe Meles wants Eritrean President Isaias to remain in power, despite their deep disagreements. [146] According to a BBC Monitoring report, Meles reportedly blocked four million dollars of support from being transferred from Yemen and Sudan to the Eritrean National Alliance opposition group which was trying to overthrow the Eritrean regime. [146]
Anuak conflict
On 13 December 2003 an ethnic conflict in the Gambela Region led to the death of 61 Anuaks in one day and hundreds more over the coming months. It is alleged that highlanders were being helped by the Ethiopian Defense forces. According to Amnesty International, federal soldiers participated in the killings and regional authorities did not take necessary preventative measures against the violence. [147]
The highlanders are mostly from the northern regions of Amhara and Tigray (but also Oromia). They populated the Gambela region after they were forced to move southwest from the north in the mid-1980s. When Mengistu Haile Mariam ruled in the 1980s, more than 1.5 million Ethiopians were forced to relocate, which led to more than 200,000 Ethiopian dead and many more sick in what is described as one of the worst humanitarian crises of that decade. Since then some northern highlanders have been living in Gambela, adding fuel to an already existing conflict between the Nuar and the Anuaks.
In December 2003, some of the highlanders who worked for the Ethiopian refugee agency were looking for new camps to shelter the thousands of Sudanese fleeing from their country's internal battles. Early that month, a group of armed Anuak killed many highlanders. [148] Anuak rebels had also killed eight people in an attack on a United Nations vehicle. [149] Ethiopian Defense Forces set up their headquarters at the refugee camp and took the bodies of the dead highlanders to Gambella town for burial, triggering an attack against Anuak civilians on 13 December 2003, which continued for several days. [148] The massacres were labeled a "genocide" by Genocide Watch, which has since charged that genocidal massacres have also been committed against ethnic Ogadenis, and other groups, and has called for investigation of the human rights record of the Meles regime in an open letter to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights. [150]
The Anuak people maintain they have been gradually displaced from their traditional lands. [151]
Despite 5,000 Ethiopian troops being deployed to keep peace in the area, tensions are still high. Anuak tribesmen interviewed by BBC correspondents said they appreciated the government's effort to keep peace against Anuak rebels, yet ordinary Anuaks still fear for their lives. [152] In October 2005, Anuak rebels attacked a Catholic church and a police station. [153]
The Ethiopian government, including Meles Zenawi, stated that both the Anuak insurgents and the highlander militias were responsible for the conflict and "without the intervention of the army, the killings would have continued indefinitely." Regional security forces made an effort to restrain the tension between the ethnic groups, which are historically enemies. After an independent investigation, four town soldiers were put in prison for favoring one ethnicity over another during the ethnic conflicts. Many regional government officials claim the number of dead was not 400, but that around 200 armed Anuaks and highlanders were killed after the ethnic violence. [154]
The government and other critical analysts often disregard pro-Anuak sources of information and testimonies, seeing them as biased against other local ethnicities. However some Anuak sources gave diverse accounts. For instance, Anuak refugees and witnesses who claimed they saw the conflict and massacre said that the bloodshed was started by anti-government civilians as well as anti-government soldiers and anti-government officials in order to create problems for the government. One witness said,
I think that among the mob and the soldiers there was a group of people who were against the government and wanted to use this opportunity to put the government in a problem. I think that there were anti-government and anti-Anywaa elements within the army who orchestrated this type of killing. [155]
Despite progress to curb the historical ethnic divisions and political tensions, there still remains a relatively tense political situation in the Gambella region. Recently [when?] the Gambella Peace Olympics, a sport festival promoting peace and development amongst the Gambella region's ethnic groups, including Anuaks and Nuars, was held in a bid to bring about constructive dialogue and long-term peace among the region's often feuding ethnic groups. [156]
Post-election violence
On 18 October 2006 an independent report said Ethiopian police massacred 193 protesters, mostly in the capital Addis Ababa, in the violence of June and November following the May 2005 elections. The information was leaked before the official independent report was handed to the parliament. The leak made by Ethiopian judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha found that the government had concealed the true extent of deaths at the hands of the police. [157]
This leak also brought more accusations that the opposition party which provoked the riots was trying to damage the reputation of the government by leaking the inquiry unlawfully. Gemechu Megerssa, a member of the independent Inquiry commission, which Mr. Meshesha once worked with, said Mr. Meshesha taking the report "out of context and presenting it to the public to sensationalise the situation for his political end is highly unethical." [158]
The judge in Europe described the deaths as a massacre and said the toll could well have been higher. The judge was filing for asylum and is currently living in Europe, bringing speculation that he was biased to begin with in support of the opposition party, but he claimed that he had to leave the country because he thought he would be "harassed" by the government. He speculated that Zenawi ordered troops to shoot at protesters. But according to the New York Times, Meles said "he did not authorize the police to use live bullets." [159]
The official report described by the parliament and the government gave exactly the same details as the leaked inquiry. It said that 193 people had been killed, including 40 teenagers. Six policemen were also killed and some 763 people injured. Police records showed 20,000 people were initially arrested during the anti-government protests. [157]
The government said various witnesses from the Kinijit (CUD) opposition party have testified that CUD leaders assured them of a demise of Zenawi's party and government in order to start an armed rebellion. The witnesses stated that CUD leaders encouraged them to start military training and planning to overthrow the government. [160] The commission members living in Addis Ababa criticised the government saying;
We are not saying the government was totally clean. The government has a lot to be accountable for. The mentality of the police needs to be changed, and then we will be able to minimize those kinds of casualties in the future. Building of [democratic] institutions is required, but that is going to take time. The government was not prepared to tackle violence like that which took place last year. They could have brought an alternative way of dispersing rioting crowds. [161][162]
The independent Inquiry commission members added Mr. Meshesha going to Europe and reporting information out of context was "dishonest" and ugly politics, as well as insensitive to the process of developing Ethiopia's young democracy. The commission said Ethiopians need to solve their problems themselves so that this kind of violence will not occur again, that respecting authority and each other and working together is important, and that changing the mentality of the police is what the "government has to think about seriously." [163]
Despite all these post-election issues and complications, in addition to the Carter Center and the US government British MPs continued to praise the democratic process in Ethiopia. After meeting with some opposition parties, British MPs stated that the Ethiopian government should always stand firmly against those who try to use "undemocratic and unconstitutional means" to change government. [164]
Presently, all except 20 of the elected opposition members have joined the Ethiopian parliament along with the EPRDF party members. Top opposition parties, UEDF and UEPD-Medhin, are peacefully working with the government for negotiations on the democratic process. [165] Many opposition parties are represented in the Ethiopia Parliament, where representatives from Oromia state hold the most seats and representatives from the Amhara State hold the second-most seats, in correlation with the population order of the corresponding states. [166] Various opposition parties including UEDF, UEPD-Medhin, Somali People's Democratic Party (SPDP), EDL, Gambella People's Democratic Movement (GPDM), All Ethiopian Unity Organization (AEUO), Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and Benishangul-Gumuz People's Democratic Unity Front (BGPDUF) hold seats in the parliament. [166]
Despite pressure to release the CUD leaders who were rounded up after the post election violence, an Ethiopian court convicted 38 of the top CUD leaders. [167] After various negotiations to solve the deadlock via a political agreement, the convicted CUD leaders signed a document, which many believe was coerced out of them, accepting their "mistakes" and an accountability ranging from partial to full responsibility for the post-election violence. [168][169]
Prisoners
Currently, all of the leaders of the main opposition party (CUD) are out of jail after an alleged attempt to initiate the post-election violence and overthrow the government. All of these charges are denied by the CUD leadership both in and outside Ethiopia, and the European Union continues to plea for the political prisoners to be released after a speedy trial. Some of these elected CUD officials endure very harsh conditions inside Ethiopia's poorly maintained prisons and they are at risk of various medical complications. As a result of the violence after the elections, many thousands were arrested and imprisoned. Even though most have been freed a few still remain in prison. Up to the end of 2005, around 8,000 Ethiopian rioters had been freed. [170]
After long and slow judicial proceedings an Ethiopian judge dropped the controversial charges of attempted genocide and treason against 111 people arrested after election protests. Twenty-five accused, mostly journalists and publishers, have also been acquitted of all charges. However several opposition leaders remain in custody, accused of trying to violently overthrow the government. [171]
After the original arrests the Prime Minister told the parliament that releasing "these hardliners" would embolden them to think "whatever their action, they will not be held accountable." Thus, he stated, "the government has made it abundantly clear that interfering with the judicial process for the release of hardliners is out of the question. The government has taken this unwavering position not because of stubbornness or for a lack of willingness to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation." [172] The ruling party has accused the group of trying to utilize street uprising techniques as a way to change regimes. Various supporters of the government and supporters of peaceful opposition parties who function in the parliament continue to accuse the imprisoned opposition group of "extremism" and accuse them of following the textbook directions given by Dr. Negede. An exiled and educated Ethiopian, Dr. Negede is known for the famous book he wrote on how to overthrow the government through street uprising. [173][174]
However Amnesty International and the supporters of the group in jail claim that the detainees are "prisoners of conscience" who are innocent and should be freed immediately and unconditionally. In June 2007, the Ethiopian court found the CUD opposition party's 38 senior figures guilty of the charges. [175] After CUD's top leaders signed a paper accepting responsibility for the violence, some sources claimed the leaders would be freed in a short time. [176] All of the leadership of the CUD party were released after the pardon board accepted their apology letter. According to VOA news, a CUD spokesman Hailu Araya said, "We signed it voluntarily. We apologized to the people, to the government. Yes, we did. Thats what the paper said, and thats what we signed." [177]
Somalia intervention
Following a declaration of jihad by al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in Mogadishu, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia invited Ethiopia to send troops into southern Somalia at the end of December 2006. With the help of Puntland and together with TFG forces, Ethiopian troops captured Mogadishu and installed the transitional government.
Since the Ethiopian intervention, the fighting has led to the deaths of over 10,000 civilians in southern Somalia. Charges of war crimes were made and denied on both sides of the fighting.
Ogaden conflict
Main article: 20072008 Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden
Meles Zenawi's government has allegedly carried out brutal counter-insurgency techniques against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), particularly after the ONLF killed more than 70 Ethiopic and Ethiopian Oil facility workers in the region in April, 2007. Both sides accuse each other of human rights abuses. In June 2008, HRW criticized the lack of Western condemnation of Meles Zenawi's counter-insurgency policy and the military activities by Ethiopian Defence forces in reaction to ONLF's attacks.
Both fighting forces accuse each other of killing civilians and burning villages, with HRW claiming that accounts by refugees fleeing out of the country support ONLF's accusations. Both Ethiopia and its allies claim refugees fleeing out of Ethiopia, instead of taking shelter from the conflict inside Ethiopia, were supporters of the ONLF who cannot be used as an independent source of evidence.
Western governments continued to state that they will check into the various allegations from all sides.
Inflation and drought management
Ethiopia has seen a rise in the general level of prices since around 2004, which has worsened the drought problems caused by the lack of rain, as reported by UN humanitarian organizations. The inflation rate was reportedly in the low teens in 20052006, high teens during 2007 and in the 20s in 2008. This inflation crisis has deeply affected the urban population in Ethiopia.
According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, the inflation problem is occurring because more income for farmers is causing higher prices in shops. Ethiopian farmers are the driving force of the rural based economy where only 15% of the population is urban. The UN report says "as markets get less centralized, and farmers become more sophisticated and better informed traders are starting to complain about the market power of the farmers." The "farmers are now better off, and able to wait and spread their grain sales through the year, rather than having to rush everything to market immediately after harvest when prices are at their lowest." The UN report says that "grain prices in Ethiopia, however much they may have risen, however unaffordable they may be to the urban poor, are still below world prices and below prices in most neighboring countries." [178]
International accolades
Illness and death
In July 2012, questions arose concerning the Prime Minister's health when he did not attend African Union summit meetings in the Ethiopian capital. [209][210] Opposition groups claimed that Meles may have already died as of July 16 while undergoing treatment in Belgium. [210] Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn attributed Meles's absence to a minor illness. [210] A press conference, during which the government planned to clarify the Prime Minister's health status, was scheduled for July 18 but postponed until later in the week. [211]
While the government acknowledged that Meles had been hospitalized, they stated that his condition was not serious. However, diplomatic sources claimed that Meles was in critical condition in a Belgian hospital. [211]
On 20 August 2012, Meles Zenawi died just before midnight, after contracting an infection. [2][212]
Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will become the acting head of Ethiopia's
Source; Wikipedia.
This article is about a person who has recently died. Some information, such as that pertaining to the circumstances of the person's death and surrounding events, may change as more facts become known.
Meles Zenawi
Meles Zenawi at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012 Prime Minister of Ethiopia
23 August 1995 20 August 2012
Negasso Gidada
President
Girma Wolde-Giorgis Preceded
Tamirat Layne
by
Succeeded
Haile Mariam Desalegne (acting)
by
President of Ethiopia
28 May 1991 22 August 1995 Prime
Tesfaye Dinka
Minister
Tamirat Layne Preceded
Tesfaye Gebre Kidan (Acting)
by
Succeeded
Negasso Gidada
by
Personal details
Meles Zenawi Asres
Born
8 May 1955 Adwa, Ethiopia
20 August 2012 (aged 57)
Died
Brussels, Belgium [1]
Tigrayan People's Liberation Front
Political
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
party
Democratic Front Spouse(s) Azeb Mesfin Alma
Open University
mater
Erasmus University Rotterdam Religion Ethiopian Orthodoxy
This article contains Ethiopic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Ethiopic characters.
Meles Zenawi Asres (Ge'ez: መለስ ዜናዊ አስረስ Mäläs Zenawi Äsräs; 8 May 1955 20 August 2012) was the Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his death on 20 August 2012. [2] Since 1985, he was the chairman of the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF), and the head of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He was President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and became the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in 1995 following the general elections that year. While his government was credited with reforms such as those that lead a multi-party political system in Ethiopia, introduction of private press in Ethiopia and decreased child mortality rates, his government also accused of political repression and various human rights abuses. [3][4] Known as one of Africa's strongmen, he was a key ally of the United States in the war on terror.
Background
Zenawi was born in Adwa, Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian father from Adwa, Ethiopia, and a mother from Adi Quala, Eritrea. [5] He graduated from the General Wingate high school in Addis Ababa, then studied medicine at Addis Ababa University (at the time known as Haile Selassie University) for two years before interrupting his studies in 1975 to join the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF). [6] While a member of the TPLF, Zenawi founded the Marxist-Leninist League of Tigray. His first name at birth was "Legesse" (thus Legesse Zenawi, Ge'ez: ለገሰ ዜናዊ legesse zēnāwī😉. However, he eventually became better known by his nom de guerre Meles, which he later adopted in honor of a university student and a revolutionary radical who was executed by the previous government in 1975. [7]
The TPLF was one of many armed groups struggling against Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam. Zenawi was elected Leader of the Leadership Committee in 1979 and Leader of the Executive Committee in 1983. He has been the chairperson of both the TPLF and the EPRDF since the EPRDF assumed power at the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991. He was president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), during which Eritrea seceded from the country and the experiment of ethnic federalism started.
Education and personal life
Zenawi acquired an MBA (Master of Business Administration) from the Open University of the United Kingdom in 1995 and an MSc. (Masters of Science) in Economics from the Erasmus University of the Netherlands in 2004. [8] In July 2002 Meles received an honorary doctoral degree in political science from the Hannam University in South Korea. [9]
Zenawi was married to Azeb Mesfin and was the father of three children. Azeb Mesfin is now the chair of the Social Affairs Standing Committee of Parliament, and in January 2007, she was given the "Legacy of a Dream" award for her leadership against HIV/AIDS during a ceremony held in memory of America's civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King. [10] In addition, Azeb Mesfin and various government agencies have addressed child mortality issues in Ethiopia. According to UNICEF, the child mortality rate in Ethiopia has declined by 40% since the current ruling party took office. [11]
Prime Minister of Ethiopia
At the 33rd G8 summit in Heiligendamm in 2007 (Zenawi at back fourth from left)
Zenawi said that EPRDF's victory is a triumph for the thousands of TPLF-fighters who were killed, for the millions of Ethiopians who were victims of the country's biggest famine during the Derg regime, when some estimates put up to 1.5 million deaths of Ethiopians from famine and the Red Terror. Accordingly, he maintained that the big support it received from peasants and rural areas helped EPRDF maintain peace and stability. Foreign support was diverse; the Arab League, as well as Western nations, supported the EPRDF rebels against the communist Moscow-supported government (although the TPLF was at the time Marxist) at the height of the Cold War.
"What the implications of this will be in terms of relations between Ethiopia and the European Union, we will have to wait and see but I don't think you will be surprised if Ethiopia were to insist that it should not be patronised. [12]
The United States helped the EPRDF rebels to get power in Ethiopia and many angry demonstrators in Addis Ababa protested against Herman Cohen, the U.S. State Department's chief of African affairs who attended a conference that demonstrators viewed as legitimizing the EPRDF. A New York Times editorial commented in 1991,
Demonstrators cursing the Americans ignore two realities. The cold war is over in Africa, and Ethiopia is no longer a focus of superpower rivalry. Otherwise it would have been unthinkable for four contending Marxist groups to turn to Washington for help. The other reality is that Mr. Cohen cannot undo at the conference table what has happened on the battlefield [13]
Even though EPRDF's success was welcomed as a relief from DERG strong anti-EPRDF sentiments were present in many areas and strongly visible in Addis Ababa. These were just the beginning of the opposition to Meles Zenawi's EPRDF party after it gained power and more strong opposition followed. Addis Ababa has since been the center of peaceful opposition to the EPRDF, while the eastern Somali Region has been the most active region for armed opposition.
Following the defeat and exile of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, the July Convention of Nationalities was held. It was the first Ethiopian multinational convention where delegates of various nations and organizations were given fair and equal representation and observed by various international organizations including the United Nations, Organization for African Unity, European Economic Community, and the United States and the United Kingdom.
Of the 24 groups, the ones with the largest delegations at the Convention were the EPRDF (32), the Oromo Liberation Front (12), Afar Liberation Front (3), the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromia (3), and the Western Somali Liberation Front (3). Near the end of the year, Meles Zenawi became the President of the TGE, and following the first elections in 1995 1995 Meles was elected as Prime Minister and Dr. Negasso Gidada as President. International Election Observers concluded that had opposition parties contested, they could have won seats.
In the 2000 general elections, Meles was relected Prime Minister, and his ruling EPRDF party shared parliament seats with the opposition party United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF). According to observers organized by Ethiopian Human Rights Council, local U.N. staff, diplomatic missions, political parties, and domestic non-governmental organizations, both the general and the regional elections that year were generally free and fair in most areas; however, serious election irregularities occurred in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR), particularly in the Hadiya Zone. [14]
Meles encountered his first real challenge in the 2005 elections. His party was declared winner and kept his prime minister seat for another term, although the major opposition groups (the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), UEDF, and the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement) gained a number of seats in the national parliament. More than 30 other political parties participated in the election. [15] These elections have been the most contested and the most controversial in Ethiopia's short democratic history, with some opposition parties arguing that the election was stolen by the ruling party. Allegations of fraud were especially strong in the rural areas, as the opposition parties won in most urban areas, whereas the EPRDF won mostly in rural districts.
The aftermath of the election led to riots and demonstrations against the results, particularly in the capital, which had to be stopped by peace officers. Some opposition parties blamed the government for the violence, even though they were tried and convicted in the court of the countries law. At the end of the demonstration, along with seven police officers 193 citizens were killed and 763 civilians wounded. [16][17] Tens of thousands of Ethiopians were also jailed. Many protesters and around 75 police officers were injured. [18] This led to many rounds of accusations between the government and the protesters where the Information Minister Berhan Hailu said the government was "sorry and sad", but blamed the violence on the CUD. [19] The opposition parties have continuously accused the government of a massacre. EU election observers concluded the election failed to meet international standards for free and fair elections while the Carter Center concluded the election was fair but with many irregularities and a lot of intimidation by both sides especially the government. [20][21] The Carter Center didn't publish its final report at the time. Meanwhile CUD opposition members continued to accuse the ruling party of fraud. However some accusations of fraud coming from opposition parties were very strange. For instance, a day before the final count of votes in Addis Ababa, the CUD opposition party accused the ruling party of fraud and decided not to accept the result in Addis Ababa. But it ended up that the CUD party was actually refusing its own victory, since the vote count showed that the CUD won 100% of the votes in Addis Ababa. [22]
According to critics, this strange event led to speculations that the main opposition party, CUD, had already planned not to accept the result no matter what, in order to paint a bad image of Meles's ruling party and the elections and gain the support of the international community following the predestined failure of the election. [23]
In an interview, the United States AID director repeated that the Carter Center understood that the ruling party (EPRDF) won the election and most of his peers confirmed that as well. The USAID director also criticized some EU observers, accusing them of bias and favoring the opposition. He said some European observers practiced outside of their jobs and went "overboard in encouraging the opposition and making them think that somehow they had won the election." [24] He concluded that the American government never believed the opposition won the election. [25]
An inquiry into the violence found the property damage caused by the rioters and protesters in Addis Ababa and other cities totaled to 4.45 million Ethiopian Birr, including 190 damaged buses and 44 cars as police officers tried to restrain the rioters. The SBS journalist, Olivia Rousset, indicated that the government used too much force to subdue the rioters. She also said that "stone-throwing rioters" tried to take the guns from the security forces. [26]
Some EU observers have also shown their discontent at the post-election violence, suggesting that the police response was disproportionate, and blamed the government. In a rare response, Meles Zenawi said that he was disappointed that "some people have misunderstood the nature of the problem and misinterpreted it." In its final report, the independent commission concluded that the aggressive steps taken by the police force were to "avoid large scale violence and to protect the constitution" and that the reason behind the riotings might have been the protestors' unfamiliarity with the "process of democratization" e.g., respecting election results. However, the commission also acknowledged that there were serious errors that needed to be addressed regarding the capabilities of the Ethiopian Security forces to control riots. [27]
However, three members of the Inquiry Commission have defected and given their testimonies to members of the U.S. Congress and the International Media. The former Supreme Court Judge of the Southern Ethiopian nations and nationalities, Judge Frehiwot Samuel, who was also Chairman of the Inquiry Commission, and his Deputy, Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha, have fled Ethiopia with a video and final report of the Commissions findings that shows the commission deciding, through an eight to two vote, that the government had used excessive force and that there were grave human rights violations. [28] Some leaders, including the UK's Tony Blair, condemned the violence but repeated that Meles's ruling party "won the election." [29] Other European organizations also praised the election saying it was a "free and fair multi-party election." [30] So far, most of the US representatives have not changed their outlook and the US government supports the Ethiopian government in both military and aid assistance. Other analysts also described progress in Ethiopia's first multi-party parliament in history. [31]
Meanwhile many international media outlets continued to display the post-election bloodshed, followed by criticism of Meles's ruling party. At the same time, some people implied that opposition members were planning to use violence or provoke it as a means to gain power. [32] In fact, various events were said to show that many opposition supporters, even in universities, try to provoke the police hoping that the security forces will overreact and create chaos. [33] About the violence U.S. state department reports said some opposition supporters were engaged in a peaceful movement to "create greater democratic space" but some opposition supporters were "demonstrating to overthrow the government" and were engaged in "violent protests." [34][35] Other reaction to the election issue was condemnation of the EU election observers. An Irish committee said "the situation in Ethiopia had not been helped by inaccurate leaks from the EU election monitoring body which led the opposition to wrongly believe they had been cheated of victory." [36]
In early 2004, Meles Zenawi received medical treatment in the UK for an unspecified condition. Flanked by numerous UK police officers and diplomatic protection officers he was observed at the Parkside Hospital in southwest London, a private hospital staffed by numerous specialist consultants.
Domestic policy
Foreign policies
Climate change
Criticism and scandals
Widespread repression in Oromia
According to Freedom House, under the government of Meles Zenawi discrimination against and repression of Oromo people has been widespread. [138] Human Rights Watch (HRW) notes that local government in the Oromia Region has "routinely commit[ted] various human rights violations against people they believe to be critical or unsupportive of the government." [139] After relations between the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the ruling government broke down in 1992, the government banned the OLF, and has since regularly accused political detainees of being OLF operatives. [139] HRW further notes that "according to former Ethiopian President Negasso Gidada, when he left office in 2001 roughly 25,000 people were in prison on OLF-related charges throughout Oromia and in Addis Ababa and no public moves have since been made to substantially reduce the number of detainees." [140] Oromia is the largest and most populous of Ethiopia's nine regional states, but remains so far under heavy repression. [141][not in citation given]
Ethio-Eritrea War
When Eritrea invaded Ethiopia in 1998, a costly war led to the death of tens of thousands of people on both sides. [142] By the end of the devastating war, the Ethiopian army had recovered the town of Badme and driven back Eritrean forces until they controlled around one-third of Eritrean territory, including the Barentu region.
However, Meles Zenawi signed a controversial UN peace treaty that was seen to favor Eritrea. This decision angered many Ethiopians and caused an internal division inside the Ethiopian ruling party. The faction critical of Meles, led by Defense Minister Siye Abraha, disagreed with those aligned with Meles over "key issues of ideology" and accused his supporters of corruption and Meles of failing to act quickly or decisively enough over the crisis with Eritrea. "Meles was certainly seen as a reluctant warrior," according to a source quoted by the UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). [143] This led to a showdown at a meeting of the Politburo of the EPRDF, where Meles won a 1513 vote on his proposed statement that "the greatest threat that Ethiopia was facing was corruption and undemocratic tendencies." Meles said afterwards that the dissenting members had at that point insisted that the meeting be aborted and called for a general meeting of the TPLF, a move Meles described as "a violation of democratic principles and the statute of the front." A number of the dissenting members of the TPLF, including Siye, were quickly arrested and imprisoned. Siye was later released after 6 years in prison, and joined opposition parties. [144] This rift is thought to have led to the murder of Kinfe Gebremedhin, a former TPLF commander, Chief of Security and Immigration, and a right-hand man of Zenawi.
In addition to accusations about his handling of the post-war events, Meles Zenawi was criticized for his pre-war decisions that ignored Eritrean incursions and delayed Ethiopian response to the invasion. Ethiopia did not mobilize its defense forces for a full-scale border war after Eritrea attacked the country until a week had passed. By June 1998, the Eritrean air force had attacked northern Ethiopia, including a massacre of dozens of school children and teachers in Ayder Elementary school of Mekele. The Ayder Memorial Library Project was established by Diaspora Ethiopians to remember the victims and facilitate the school. [145]
Meles Zenawi, whose mother is Eritrean, has been accused of being too soft on the Eritrean government by many Ethiopians, including members of his own TPLF party. [citation needed]
Some believe Meles wants Eritrean President Isaias to remain in power, despite their deep disagreements. [146] According to a BBC Monitoring report, Meles reportedly blocked four million dollars of support from being transferred from Yemen and Sudan to the Eritrean National Alliance opposition group which was trying to overthrow the Eritrean regime. [146]
Anuak conflict
On 13 December 2003 an ethnic conflict in the Gambela Region led to the death of 61 Anuaks in one day and hundreds more over the coming months. It is alleged that highlanders were being helped by the Ethiopian Defense forces. According to Amnesty International, federal soldiers participated in the killings and regional authorities did not take necessary preventative measures against the violence. [147]
The highlanders are mostly from the northern regions of Amhara and Tigray (but also Oromia). They populated the Gambela region after they were forced to move southwest from the north in the mid-1980s. When Mengistu Haile Mariam ruled in the 1980s, more than 1.5 million Ethiopians were forced to relocate, which led to more than 200,000 Ethiopian dead and many more sick in what is described as one of the worst humanitarian crises of that decade. Since then some northern highlanders have been living in Gambela, adding fuel to an already existing conflict between the Nuar and the Anuaks.
In December 2003, some of the highlanders who worked for the Ethiopian refugee agency were looking for new camps to shelter the thousands of Sudanese fleeing from their country's internal battles. Early that month, a group of armed Anuak killed many highlanders. [148] Anuak rebels had also killed eight people in an attack on a United Nations vehicle. [149] Ethiopian Defense Forces set up their headquarters at the refugee camp and took the bodies of the dead highlanders to Gambella town for burial, triggering an attack against Anuak civilians on 13 December 2003, which continued for several days. [148] The massacres were labeled a "genocide" by Genocide Watch, which has since charged that genocidal massacres have also been committed against ethnic Ogadenis, and other groups, and has called for investigation of the human rights record of the Meles regime in an open letter to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights. [150]
The Anuak people maintain they have been gradually displaced from their traditional lands. [151]
Despite 5,000 Ethiopian troops being deployed to keep peace in the area, tensions are still high. Anuak tribesmen interviewed by BBC correspondents said they appreciated the government's effort to keep peace against Anuak rebels, yet ordinary Anuaks still fear for their lives. [152] In October 2005, Anuak rebels attacked a Catholic church and a police station. [153]
The Ethiopian government, including Meles Zenawi, stated that both the Anuak insurgents and the highlander militias were responsible for the conflict and "without the intervention of the army, the killings would have continued indefinitely." Regional security forces made an effort to restrain the tension between the ethnic groups, which are historically enemies. After an independent investigation, four town soldiers were put in prison for favoring one ethnicity over another during the ethnic conflicts. Many regional government officials claim the number of dead was not 400, but that around 200 armed Anuaks and highlanders were killed after the ethnic violence. [154]
The government and other critical analysts often disregard pro-Anuak sources of information and testimonies, seeing them as biased against other local ethnicities. However some Anuak sources gave diverse accounts. For instance, Anuak refugees and witnesses who claimed they saw the conflict and massacre said that the bloodshed was started by anti-government civilians as well as anti-government soldiers and anti-government officials in order to create problems for the government. One witness said,
I think that among the mob and the soldiers there was a group of people who were against the government and wanted to use this opportunity to put the government in a problem. I think that there were anti-government and anti-Anywaa elements within the army who orchestrated this type of killing. [155]
Despite progress to curb the historical ethnic divisions and political tensions, there still remains a relatively tense political situation in the Gambella region. Recently [when?] the Gambella Peace Olympics, a sport festival promoting peace and development amongst the Gambella region's ethnic groups, including Anuaks and Nuars, was held in a bid to bring about constructive dialogue and long-term peace among the region's often feuding ethnic groups. [156]
Post-election violence
On 18 October 2006 an independent report said Ethiopian police massacred 193 protesters, mostly in the capital Addis Ababa, in the violence of June and November following the May 2005 elections. The information was leaked before the official independent report was handed to the parliament. The leak made by Ethiopian judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha found that the government had concealed the true extent of deaths at the hands of the police. [157]
This leak also brought more accusations that the opposition party which provoked the riots was trying to damage the reputation of the government by leaking the inquiry unlawfully. Gemechu Megerssa, a member of the independent Inquiry commission, which Mr. Meshesha once worked with, said Mr. Meshesha taking the report "out of context and presenting it to the public to sensationalise the situation for his political end is highly unethical." [158]
The judge in Europe described the deaths as a massacre and said the toll could well have been higher. The judge was filing for asylum and is currently living in Europe, bringing speculation that he was biased to begin with in support of the opposition party, but he claimed that he had to leave the country because he thought he would be "harassed" by the government. He speculated that Zenawi ordered troops to shoot at protesters. But according to the New York Times, Meles said "he did not authorize the police to use live bullets." [159]
The official report described by the parliament and the government gave exactly the same details as the leaked inquiry. It said that 193 people had been killed, including 40 teenagers. Six policemen were also killed and some 763 people injured. Police records showed 20,000 people were initially arrested during the anti-government protests. [157]
The government said various witnesses from the Kinijit (CUD) opposition party have testified that CUD leaders assured them of a demise of Zenawi's party and government in order to start an armed rebellion. The witnesses stated that CUD leaders encouraged them to start military training and planning to overthrow the government. [160] The commission members living in Addis Ababa criticised the government saying;
We are not saying the government was totally clean. The government has a lot to be accountable for. The mentality of the police needs to be changed, and then we will be able to minimize those kinds of casualties in the future. Building of [democratic] institutions is required, but that is going to take time. The government was not prepared to tackle violence like that which took place last year. They could have brought an alternative way of dispersing rioting crowds. [161][162]
The independent Inquiry commission members added Mr. Meshesha going to Europe and reporting information out of context was "dishonest" and ugly politics, as well as insensitive to the process of developing Ethiopia's young democracy. The commission said Ethiopians need to solve their problems themselves so that this kind of violence will not occur again, that respecting authority and each other and working together is important, and that changing the mentality of the police is what the "government has to think about seriously." [163]
Despite all these post-election issues and complications, in addition to the Carter Center and the US government British MPs continued to praise the democratic process in Ethiopia. After meeting with some opposition parties, British MPs stated that the Ethiopian government should always stand firmly against those who try to use "undemocratic and unconstitutional means" to change government. [164]
Presently, all except 20 of the elected opposition members have joined the Ethiopian parliament along with the EPRDF party members. Top opposition parties, UEDF and UEPD-Medhin, are peacefully working with the government for negotiations on the democratic process. [165] Many opposition parties are represented in the Ethiopia Parliament, where representatives from Oromia state hold the most seats and representatives from the Amhara State hold the second-most seats, in correlation with the population order of the corresponding states. [166] Various opposition parties including UEDF, UEPD-Medhin, Somali People's Democratic Party (SPDP), EDL, Gambella People's Democratic Movement (GPDM), All Ethiopian Unity Organization (AEUO), Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and Benishangul-Gumuz People's Democratic Unity Front (BGPDUF) hold seats in the parliament. [166]
Despite pressure to release the CUD leaders who were rounded up after the post election violence, an Ethiopian court convicted 38 of the top CUD leaders. [167] After various negotiations to solve the deadlock via a political agreement, the convicted CUD leaders signed a document, which many believe was coerced out of them, accepting their "mistakes" and an accountability ranging from partial to full responsibility for the post-election violence. [168][169]
Prisoners
Currently, all of the leaders of the main opposition party (CUD) are out of jail after an alleged attempt to initiate the post-election violence and overthrow the government. All of these charges are denied by the CUD leadership both in and outside Ethiopia, and the European Union continues to plea for the political prisoners to be released after a speedy trial. Some of these elected CUD officials endure very harsh conditions inside Ethiopia's poorly maintained prisons and they are at risk of various medical complications. As a result of the violence after the elections, many thousands were arrested and imprisoned. Even though most have been freed a few still remain in prison. Up to the end of 2005, around 8,000 Ethiopian rioters had been freed. [170]
After long and slow judicial proceedings an Ethiopian judge dropped the controversial charges of attempted genocide and treason against 111 people arrested after election protests. Twenty-five accused, mostly journalists and publishers, have also been acquitted of all charges. However several opposition leaders remain in custody, accused of trying to violently overthrow the government. [171]
After the original arrests the Prime Minister told the parliament that releasing "these hardliners" would embolden them to think "whatever their action, they will not be held accountable." Thus, he stated, "the government has made it abundantly clear that interfering with the judicial process for the release of hardliners is out of the question. The government has taken this unwavering position not because of stubbornness or for a lack of willingness to resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation." [172] The ruling party has accused the group of trying to utilize street uprising techniques as a way to change regimes. Various supporters of the government and supporters of peaceful opposition parties who function in the parliament continue to accuse the imprisoned opposition group of "extremism" and accuse them of following the textbook directions given by Dr. Negede. An exiled and educated Ethiopian, Dr. Negede is known for the famous book he wrote on how to overthrow the government through street uprising. [173][174]
However Amnesty International and the supporters of the group in jail claim that the detainees are "prisoners of conscience" who are innocent and should be freed immediately and unconditionally. In June 2007, the Ethiopian court found the CUD opposition party's 38 senior figures guilty of the charges. [175] After CUD's top leaders signed a paper accepting responsibility for the violence, some sources claimed the leaders would be freed in a short time. [176] All of the leadership of the CUD party were released after the pardon board accepted their apology letter. According to VOA news, a CUD spokesman Hailu Araya said, "We signed it voluntarily. We apologized to the people, to the government. Yes, we did. Thats what the paper said, and thats what we signed." [177]
Somalia intervention
Following a declaration of jihad by al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in Mogadishu, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia invited Ethiopia to send troops into southern Somalia at the end of December 2006. With the help of Puntland and together with TFG forces, Ethiopian troops captured Mogadishu and installed the transitional government.
Since the Ethiopian intervention, the fighting has led to the deaths of over 10,000 civilians in southern Somalia. Charges of war crimes were made and denied on both sides of the fighting.
Ogaden conflict
Main article: 20072008 Ethiopian crackdown in Ogaden
Meles Zenawi's government has allegedly carried out brutal counter-insurgency techniques against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), particularly after the ONLF killed more than 70 Ethiopic and Ethiopian Oil facility workers in the region in April, 2007. Both sides accuse each other of human rights abuses. In June 2008, HRW criticized the lack of Western condemnation of Meles Zenawi's counter-insurgency policy and the military activities by Ethiopian Defence forces in reaction to ONLF's attacks.
Both fighting forces accuse each other of killing civilians and burning villages, with HRW claiming that accounts by refugees fleeing out of the country support ONLF's accusations. Both Ethiopia and its allies claim refugees fleeing out of Ethiopia, instead of taking shelter from the conflict inside Ethiopia, were supporters of the ONLF who cannot be used as an independent source of evidence.
Western governments continued to state that they will check into the various allegations from all sides.
Inflation and drought management
Ethiopia has seen a rise in the general level of prices since around 2004, which has worsened the drought problems caused by the lack of rain, as reported by UN humanitarian organizations. The inflation rate was reportedly in the low teens in 20052006, high teens during 2007 and in the 20s in 2008. This inflation crisis has deeply affected the urban population in Ethiopia.
According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, the inflation problem is occurring because more income for farmers is causing higher prices in shops. Ethiopian farmers are the driving force of the rural based economy where only 15% of the population is urban. The UN report says "as markets get less centralized, and farmers become more sophisticated and better informed traders are starting to complain about the market power of the farmers." The "farmers are now better off, and able to wait and spread their grain sales through the year, rather than having to rush everything to market immediately after harvest when prices are at their lowest." The UN report says that "grain prices in Ethiopia, however much they may have risen, however unaffordable they may be to the urban poor, are still below world prices and below prices in most neighboring countries." [178]
International accolades
Illness and death
In July 2012, questions arose concerning the Prime Minister's health when he did not attend African Union summit meetings in the Ethiopian capital. [209][210] Opposition groups claimed that Meles may have already died as of July 16 while undergoing treatment in Belgium. [210] Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn attributed Meles's absence to a minor illness. [210] A press conference, during which the government planned to clarify the Prime Minister's health status, was scheduled for July 18 but postponed until later in the week. [211]
While the government acknowledged that Meles had been hospitalized, they stated that his condition was not serious. However, diplomatic sources claimed that Meles was in critical condition in a Belgian hospital. [211]
On 20 August 2012, Meles Zenawi died just before midnight, after contracting an infection. [2][212]
Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will become the acting head of Ethiopia's
Source; Wikipedia.
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NAIROBI, Kenya - Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's technocratic but repressive prime minister, who lifted his country from the ruins of civil war and transformed it into one of Africa's fastest-growing economies and one of the United States government's closest African allies, died on Monday, state television reported. He was 57. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/world/africa/meles-zenawi-ethiopian-leader-dies-at-57.html
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Sophist
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Meles, Ethiopian Leader Behind Economic Growth, Dies at 57
Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister praised for overseeing one of Africas fastest-growing economies and criticized by human rights advocates, has died from an infection after being sick for weeks. He was 57.
Meles had been recuperating at a hospital overseas from an undisclosed ailment when he died late yesterday, government spokesman Bereket Simon said in a phone interview today from the capital, Addis Ababa. Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is now serving as acting prime minister, Bereket said.
He was recovering from an illness and then suddenly got an infection while abroad, Bereket said without giving further details.
Meles, was head of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, or EPRDF, and led Africas second-most populous country for more than two decades after building a coalition of rebel groups to overthrow Mengistu Haile Mariams Marxist military junta in 1991.
His economic policies, which mixed a large state role with private investment, helped the country achieve economic growth rates of as much as 12.6 percent. The economy expanded an average of 11 percent annually from 2004 through 2011, according to International Monetary Fund data.
Right Policies
Meles showed that, with the right policies in place, even a poor African country could experience sustained economic growth, Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, wrote in Globalization and Its Discontents, his 2002 book. No one doubted his honesty and there were few accusations of corruption within his government.
Infrastructure was one of the biggest beneficiaries of increased government spending, foreign investment and remittances sent home by Ethiopians living abroad, including the flagship 80 billion-birr ($4.5 billion), 6,000-megawatt hydropower dam intended to help the country boost electricity exports to countries in the region including Kenya and Sudan.
Meles took a leave of absence from his official duties to recover from an unspecified illness after he failed to attend the African Union summit last month, the government said.
Ethiopia ranked 174th out of 187 countries in the United Nations Development Programs 2011 Human Development Index, which measures life expectancy, education and living standards. Four of every 10 people lived on a $1.25 a day or less as of 2011, World Bank data show. In 2011, the country was Africas biggest recipient of foreign aid, totaling $3.53 billion, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
U.S. Ally
Under Meles, Ethiopias government was a U.S. ally in the fight against insurgencies in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia, where the military helped remove an Islamist group from power in 2006. The U.S. government provided $6.23 billion in assistance, including food aid and military training funds between 2000 and 2011, according to the U.S. State Department.
The UN and advocacy groups including Human Rights Watch, based in New York, have criticized Meless government for cracking down on civil liberties and introducing anti-terrorism laws in 2009 that have been used to jail opposition politicians, reporters and aid workers.
On July 13, 2012, an Ethiopian court jailed writer Eskinder Nega for 18 years and sentenced opposition activist Andualem Arage to life in prison for plotting against the government. In 2011, two Swedish journalists were sentenced to 11 years each by an Ethiopian court for supporting terrorism after being captured with a banned rebel group.
Election Violence
Elections in Ethiopia have been marred by violence and reports of intimidation of opposition supporters, according to the U.S. State Department. In 2005, Ethiopian security forces shot dead almost 200 people protesting the results of a disputed parliamentary vote. In 2010, Meless ruling party and its allies won all but two of the 547 seats in parliament in a vote that the European Union said was heavily balanced in favor of EPRDF.
While Meles championed deeper African cooperation, hosting the African Union headquarters in Ethiopias capital, Addis Ababa, and raising the continents profile on the world stage in different forums including through his appointment to Commission on Africa by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, he also faced foreign policy challenges from neighboring countries.
The country fought a war with Eritrea over a disputed border region between 1998 and 2000 that killed 70,000 people and the issue unresolved.
Eritrean Mother
Meles was born as Legesse Zenawi on May 8, 1955, in Adwa in northern Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian father and Eritrean mother. Adwa was the site of a major Ethiopian victory against invading Italian forces in 1896. He quit medical school at age 19 to take up arms with the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front against Mengistu in 1975. He changed his name to Meles in honor of a revolutionary executed by the government that year.
He received a masters of business administration from the Open University in Milton Keynes, U.K., in 1995 and a masters in economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 2004.
He and his wife, Azeb Mesfin, had three children
--Bloomberg
Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister praised for overseeing one of Africas fastest-growing economies and criticized by human rights advocates, has died from an infection after being sick for weeks. He was 57.
Meles had been recuperating at a hospital overseas from an undisclosed ailment when he died late yesterday, government spokesman Bereket Simon said in a phone interview today from the capital, Addis Ababa. Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is now serving as acting prime minister, Bereket said.
He was recovering from an illness and then suddenly got an infection while abroad, Bereket said without giving further details.
Meles, was head of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, or EPRDF, and led Africas second-most populous country for more than two decades after building a coalition of rebel groups to overthrow Mengistu Haile Mariams Marxist military junta in 1991.
His economic policies, which mixed a large state role with private investment, helped the country achieve economic growth rates of as much as 12.6 percent. The economy expanded an average of 11 percent annually from 2004 through 2011, according to International Monetary Fund data.
Right Policies
Meles showed that, with the right policies in place, even a poor African country could experience sustained economic growth, Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, wrote in Globalization and Its Discontents, his 2002 book. No one doubted his honesty and there were few accusations of corruption within his government.
Infrastructure was one of the biggest beneficiaries of increased government spending, foreign investment and remittances sent home by Ethiopians living abroad, including the flagship 80 billion-birr ($4.5 billion), 6,000-megawatt hydropower dam intended to help the country boost electricity exports to countries in the region including Kenya and Sudan.
Meles took a leave of absence from his official duties to recover from an unspecified illness after he failed to attend the African Union summit last month, the government said.
Ethiopia ranked 174th out of 187 countries in the United Nations Development Programs 2011 Human Development Index, which measures life expectancy, education and living standards. Four of every 10 people lived on a $1.25 a day or less as of 2011, World Bank data show. In 2011, the country was Africas biggest recipient of foreign aid, totaling $3.53 billion, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
U.S. Ally
Under Meles, Ethiopias government was a U.S. ally in the fight against insurgencies in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia, where the military helped remove an Islamist group from power in 2006. The U.S. government provided $6.23 billion in assistance, including food aid and military training funds between 2000 and 2011, according to the U.S. State Department.
The UN and advocacy groups including Human Rights Watch, based in New York, have criticized Meless government for cracking down on civil liberties and introducing anti-terrorism laws in 2009 that have been used to jail opposition politicians, reporters and aid workers.
On July 13, 2012, an Ethiopian court jailed writer Eskinder Nega for 18 years and sentenced opposition activist Andualem Arage to life in prison for plotting against the government. In 2011, two Swedish journalists were sentenced to 11 years each by an Ethiopian court for supporting terrorism after being captured with a banned rebel group.
Election Violence
Elections in Ethiopia have been marred by violence and reports of intimidation of opposition supporters, according to the U.S. State Department. In 2005, Ethiopian security forces shot dead almost 200 people protesting the results of a disputed parliamentary vote. In 2010, Meless ruling party and its allies won all but two of the 547 seats in parliament in a vote that the European Union said was heavily balanced in favor of EPRDF.
While Meles championed deeper African cooperation, hosting the African Union headquarters in Ethiopias capital, Addis Ababa, and raising the continents profile on the world stage in different forums including through his appointment to Commission on Africa by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, he also faced foreign policy challenges from neighboring countries.
The country fought a war with Eritrea over a disputed border region between 1998 and 2000 that killed 70,000 people and the issue unresolved.
Eritrean Mother
Meles was born as Legesse Zenawi on May 8, 1955, in Adwa in northern Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian father and Eritrean mother. Adwa was the site of a major Ethiopian victory against invading Italian forces in 1896. He quit medical school at age 19 to take up arms with the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front against Mengistu in 1975. He changed his name to Meles in honor of a revolutionary executed by the government that year.
He received a masters of business administration from the Open University in Milton Keynes, U.K., in 1995 and a masters in economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 2004.
He and his wife, Azeb Mesfin, had three children
--Bloomberg
Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, Mheshimiwa Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete asubuhi ya leo, Jumanne, Agosti 21, 2012, amepokea kwa mshtuko mkubwa, masikitiko na huzuni nyingi taarifa za kifo cha Waziri Mkuu wa Ethiopia, Mheshimiwa Meles Zenawi, kilichotokea jana usiku nje ya nchi ambako alikuwa anatibiwa.
Kufuatia taarifa hizo, Mheshimiwa Rais Kikwete, kwa niaba ya wananchi wa Tanzania, Serikali yake na kwa niaba yake mwenyewe amemtumia salamu za rambirambi Rais wa Ethiopia, Mheshimiwa Girma Wolde-Giorgis.
Katika rambirambi zake kwa Mheshimiwa Wolde-Georgis, Rais Kikwete amesema: Tanzania imepokea kwa mshtuko mkubwa, masikitiko na huzuni nyingi taarifa za kifo cha Mheshimiwa Meles Zenawi kilichotokea jana usiku.
Amesema Rais Kikwete: Kwa niaba ya wananchi wa Tanzania, Serikali yangu na mimi mwenyewe, natuma salamu zangu za dhati za rambirambi kwako, kwa wananchi wa Ethiopia na kupitia kwako kwa Mheshimiwa Azeb Mesfin, mjane wa marehemu na familia nzima ya Mheshimiwa Meles Zenawi. Tupo nanyi katika msiba huu mkubwa.
Kwa hakika, Ethiopia imempoteza kiongozi hodari, mwana mapinduzi na mpenda maendeleo. Kwa hakika, Afrika imempoteza kiongozi wa kutumainiwa na msemaji hodari sana wa Bara letu. Daima tutamkumbuka Waziri Mkuu Zenawi kwa msimamo wake thabiti wa kutetea maslahi ya Afrika na ustawi wa watu wake. Mimi na Tanzania tumempoteza rafiki wa kweli amesema Rais Kikwete na kusisitiza, hakika tutaukosa mchango wake uliojaa busara, hoja zake za kusisimua na zenye mantiki sana.
Rais Kikwete amemaliza kwa kuwaeleza wananchi wa Ethiopia: Tunaungana nanyi katika wakati huu mgumu wa majonzi na tunamwomba Mwenyeji Mungu awape nguvu, moyo, subira na baraka zake ili muweze kuvuka kipindi hiki. Aidha, tunaungana nanyi na familia ya Marehemu Zenawi kumwomba Mola ampe mapumziko mema Marehemu Meles Zenawi.
Waziri Mkuu Zenawi ambaye ameaga dunia akiwa na umri wa miaka 57 amekuwa Waziri Mkuu wa Ethiopia tokea 1995 na kabla ya hapo alikuwa Rais wa nchi hiyo kati ya 1991 na 1995.
Imetolewa na:
Kurugenzi ya Mawasiliano ya Rais,
Ikulu.
Dar es Salaam.
21 Agosti, 2012
source: IKULU BLOG | Kurugenzi ya Mawasiliano ya Rais
Gama
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 9, 2010
- 13,264
- 4,747
Your comment / contribution looks like was reserved to empty your rage on the occassion, kama unauhakika Lowasa ana kiharusi tutangazie, tutangazie pia maognjwa ya viongozi wengine wa kambi nyingine ndani ya chama chenu. Angalizo؛‎ hakuna anayeishi daima kama jiwe, nasubiri umalizie kututangazia na ugonjwa wako wa akiri ulianza lini.
Duduwasha
JF-Expert Member
- Nov 3, 2010
- 5,703
- 3,664
Hivi mtu anakufa mara ngapi? kama nilisikia kitambo kavuta au haikuwa Rasmi!!! maana Baba wa Taifa pia nilisikia before kabla ya kutangazwa Rasmi na Msemaji wa Familia yake Ben10 Mkapa
R.I.P Mtoto wa Mkulima wa Ethiopia... Mwenyezi Mungu aiweke Roho yake pahali panapostahili.... Kila mtu atabeba mzigo wake Mwenyewe
Mutu wa Damu yangu huyu Nimekuwa nikitizama Ethiopia TV hadi jana tu vipindi vilikuwa ni vya Muziki muziki tu na traditional songs zaidi raha tupu kumbe baadae ni msiba...
R.I.P Mtoto wa Mkulima wa Ethiopia... Mwenyezi Mungu aiweke Roho yake pahali panapostahili.... Kila mtu atabeba mzigo wake Mwenyewe
Mutu wa Damu yangu huyu Nimekuwa nikitizama Ethiopia TV hadi jana tu vipindi vilikuwa ni vya Muziki muziki tu na traditional songs zaidi raha tupu kumbe baadae ni msiba...
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