Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia died on the night of August 20th from a sudden infection according to a statement released by the Council of Ministers. He was 57 years old.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had been undergoing treatment for a protracted illness abroad for some time and has not been seen in public in the last month.

Meles Zenawi was born in the Northern Ethiopian town of Adwa in 1955. He attended Addis Ababa University for two years before joining the student movement in the North of Ethiopia in the fight against the military junta under Mengistu Hailemariam.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi served as the head of the executive branch of the Ethiopian government for the past 21 years. He was an austere and hardworking leader according to Elizabeth Blunt, former correspondent for the BBC in Addis Ababa.

As prime minister, Meles was praised internationally for Ethiopia’s growing economy in the past few years and improvements in the education and health care sectors.
Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn will be serving as acting Prime Minister according to the statement from the Council of Ministers.

Source: ENA/Voice of America/BBC