Meles Zenawi Dead: Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Dies At 57

Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s long-time ruler who held tight control over this East African country but was a major U.S counter-terrorism ally, died of an undisclosed illness after not being seen in public for weeks, Ethiopian authorities announced Tuesday. He was 57.

Meles died Monday just before midnight after contracting an infection, state TV said.

Hailemariam Desalegn, who was appointed deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in 2010, became acting prime minister and will be sworn in as prime minister after an emergency meeting of parliament, said Bereket Simon, the communications minister. Parliament is controlled by Meles’ ruling party and governing coalition, ensuring Hailemariam will be approved. No new elections will be scheduled, Bereket said.

Bereket did not say where Meles died, only that he was abroad for medical treatment. Officials had expected Meles to return to Ethiopia but a sudden complication reversed what had been a good recovery, he said.

A European Union spokesman said that Meles died in Brussels.

Meles hadn’t been seen in public for about two months. In mid-July, after Meles did not attend a meeting of heads of state of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, speculation increased that his health problems were serious. Ethiopian officials gave no details and said the prime minister was in “very good” health and would return to office soon, but international officials said quietly it was unlikely he would recover.

State TV on Tuesday showed pictures of Meles as classical music played in the background. Simon called the death shocking and devastating. The country’s council of ministers declared a national day of mourning.

Opponents of Meles accuse him of killing and jailing opposition members and of rigging elections. Ethiopia’s Somalia community in particular has suffered under Meles, who won his last election in 2010 with a reported 99 percent of the vote.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, offered his condolences to the Ethiopian people, praising Meles’ development work and calling him “a respected African leader.” But he also expressed concern about the state of democracy in the country.