Information AboutMeles Zenawi |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MELES ZENAWI | |
| 1955 births | |
| ethiopian people | |
| alumni of the open university | |
| living people | |
| current national leaders | |
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Legesse ("Meles") Zenawi (born May 8 , 1955 ) is Prime Minister of Ethiopia . A native of Adowa in Tigray province, he was appointed to the office of Prime Minister on August 22 , 1995 , after his governing party swept parliamentary elections that were Boycott ed by the opposition. He had previously been transitional president of Ethiopia, from May 28 , 1991 until August 22 1995 . Meles Zenawi is married to Azeb Mesfin , who is now a member of parliament and chair of its powerful Social Affairs Committee. She also controls Mega Enterprises, a multi-million dollar conglomerate that came into being shortly after Meles Zenawi assumed power from the fallen Derg regime in 1991. Meles Zenawi came to power after being one of the triumvirate {Link without Title} - Seeye Abraha , its military leader, Tamrat Layne and himself - who had led the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in a 17-year War against the government of Mengistu Haile Mariam that ended in May, 1991 with an EPRDF victory. The three of them had led the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which was the core party that formed the EPRDF. Like the Derg, which had been actively supported by Moscow, the TPLF was Marxist , its core being the Marxist-Leninist League Of Tigray which advocated emulating Marxist Albania , but it was not Soviet-backed. However, following its victorious march into Addis Ababa , the EPRDF moved to adopt Social Democracy , with pro- Western economic policies, under the pragmatic leadership of Meles Zenawi. Meles installed a political system in Ethiopia based on ethnic federalism, replacing the centralised rule that began to take form under Emperor Tewodros II in 1855, and was continued under his successors. However, the basing of his government on ethnic lines has been deemed by many to be divisive and a deterrent to Democracy . Meles has introduced a Constitution that grants the right of any ethnic group to secede from the country. This is stipulated in Article 39 of the constitution. This has been a constant source of argument between two schools of thought in Ethiopian politics. Meles claims Article 39 to be the cornerstone of peace and democracy, labeling those who challenge this idea as extremists, anti-democratic and anti-peace elements. He claims this article to be the only way to keep the peace in this war-ravaged and poverty-stricken country. His opponents maintain that it is a Soviet-style Marxist novelty that endangers the unity of the ancient but ethnically diverse Ethiopian state. They point to instances of ethnocentric favoritism in appoinments to high positions in federal and local government, in business practices, and in the way development funds are spent in favor of the Prime Minister's native Tigray at the expense of the rest of Ethiopia. Meles has been accused of Nepotism and Corruption , with opponents pointing at rather significant fortunes having been accumulated by his relatives and particularly his increasingly powerful wife. Another source of contention about his politics is his land tenure system. The constitution he has implemented prevents anyone from owning land. The government owns all land and may grant its use through long term leasing. The reasoning his party gives is that poor farmers will sell their lands during hardship and will be left with no land. Again many Economist s reject his ideas and claim one of the sources of Poverty is this land tenure system. Meles Zenawi has also resisted returning property nationalized by the Derg regime in 1974. Real estate, service and manufacturing businesses, and many other personal possessions seized by the communists remain in government hands, and the government refuses to return them to their original owners. The Prime Minister's supporters are said to be adamant that they will not re-invigorate the old pre-Mengistu upper and middle classes, as they identify them as "feudal" Monarchist opponents of the current regime. On July 7 , 2005 , the board of the Yara International awarded the first African Green Revolution Yara Prize to Meles Zenawi for his contribution to improved Food Security and human Nutrition in ways that also protect the environment. Yara is a Norwegian Fertilizer producer (formerly a branch of Norsk Hydro ), and Meles's government is one of their larger clients. This award has caused some embarrassment within the Norwegian government, to the extent that the Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik refused to participate in the award ceremony. On that occasion, Kjetil Tronvoll , of the Norwegian Centre For Human Rights , stated that "There are between 10,000 and 30,000 political prisoners in the country This one is one of the worst in the class [in human rights in Africa ." He also pointed out an estimate of 4,000 political opponents arrested after the last Election , inadequate legal system, and Torture in Prison s . Amnesty International , in their 2005 report, claim that in Ethiopia there have been "Widespread arbitrary detentions, Torture and excessive use of force by Police and soldiers" . Political opponents further claim that Meles is an Autocrat who supports ethnic policies. His supporters, however, generally appraise him highly for bringing a "relatively transparent" government. They maintain that he deserves much of the credit for changing the oppressive governmental institutions of the formerly Communist country, and for introducing multi-party Democracy . People close to the prime minister say that he is one of the most well-read Intellectual s of Africa, and among the most forward-looking leaders Ethiopia has ever had. But in a country of such diversity, it is very difficult for any leader to be accepted by all in equal degrees. Because the prime minister was the leader of a liberation front that militarily defeated the former Kremlin -supported government of Mengistu , it is to be expected that those belonging to, or benefitting from the defeated government, might carry a grudge against the prime minister. The run-up to the elections of May 2005 were a period of "relative transparency", and even the Prime Minister's opponents began to give him credit for opening up the government press to dissenting voices . The opposition was permitted to campaign more than before, and was able to better make it's views known to the people. Representatives of the opposition and the government publicly and peacefully debated their views. While international observers generally applauded the conduct of the elections themselves, the aftermath was not what many had hoped for. Although it was apparent that the two major opposition coalitions had swept to victory in most urban areas outside of Tigray region, and had gained significant seats in rural areas as well, the government quickly declared victory, imposed a ban on all public demonstrations for 30 days, and suspended the announcemnt of results. The opposition then charged that the government went about systematically altering results in rural areas where no international monitors could observe them and began a widespread intimidation campaign against polititians of the two leading opposition coalitions. A call for peaceful Protest and the attempt at a general Strike in protest to these measures resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests between June and November of 2005 . In November, 2005 following the widespread civil unrest throughout Ethiopia, the government of Meles Zenawi arrested the leaders of the political opposition, Newspaper editors, Labor Union leaders and thousands of students and other protesters. The leaders were charged with " Treason and Genocide ". EDUCATION
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