(Oct 18, 2012, CsMonitor)--Fears that unrest would follow the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in August may prove unfounded in Ethiopia, a Western ally in the troubled Horn of Africa. When Ethiopia's leader of 21 years Meles Zenawi died in August, citizens were on edge with memories of violent transfers of power.
"A lot of people expected conflict after his death was announced," says a top young civil servant about Prime Minister Meles's secrecy-shrouded death. His mother asked him to remain at home to stay safe as "the head of government had died, and this was Africa – and particularly Ethiopia, which has no history of peaceful transitions."
Yet the appointment of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn by parliament last month was conducted without arms, marking a democratic milestone and relative stability for a key partner of the West in the volatile Horn of Africa. "[T]he country only has history of about 20 years of democracy," says a senior ruling party and government official, privately. And for the past month, "at this critical time without the highest government post, everything was peaceful."
The peaceful transition contrasts sharply with the country's recent past. In 1991, military dictator Mengistu Hailemariam fled to Zimbabwe as rebels led by Meles's Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) advanced on the capital, Addis Ababa, after a 17-year insurgency.
Mr. Mengistu himself rose to power after a coup against the feudal regime of Haile Selassie in 1974. A year later, the emperor was killed, and soon murderous purges and military offensives engulfed the country.
The country still has its tensions, however. Mr. Hailemariam, the new prime minister, leads a historically weak, multi-ethnic southern bloc in the ruling Ethiopian People's Democratic Revolutionary Front (ERPDF), which is made up of three other ethnic groupings: the Tigray, Amhara, and Oromo, who are the most populous. Meles's TPLF has dominated the ERPDF since he rose to power in 1991. Read more from Christian Science Monitor »
"A lot of people expected conflict after his death was announced," says a top young civil servant about Prime Minister Meles's secrecy-shrouded death. His mother asked him to remain at home to stay safe as "the head of government had died, and this was Africa – and particularly Ethiopia, which has no history of peaceful transitions."
Yet the appointment of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn by parliament last month was conducted without arms, marking a democratic milestone and relative stability for a key partner of the West in the volatile Horn of Africa. "[T]he country only has history of about 20 years of democracy," says a senior ruling party and government official, privately. And for the past month, "at this critical time without the highest government post, everything was peaceful."
The peaceful transition contrasts sharply with the country's recent past. In 1991, military dictator Mengistu Hailemariam fled to Zimbabwe as rebels led by Meles's Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) advanced on the capital, Addis Ababa, after a 17-year insurgency.
Mr. Mengistu himself rose to power after a coup against the feudal regime of Haile Selassie in 1974. A year later, the emperor was killed, and soon murderous purges and military offensives engulfed the country.
The country still has its tensions, however. Mr. Hailemariam, the new prime minister, leads a historically weak, multi-ethnic southern bloc in the ruling Ethiopian People's Democratic Revolutionary Front (ERPDF), which is made up of three other ethnic groupings: the Tigray, Amhara, and Oromo, who are the most populous. Meles's TPLF has dominated the ERPDF since he rose to power in 1991. Read more from Christian Science Monitor »
1 comment:
You talk what you want to hear,but we need justice we fight for Justice becasue we are christian but you trade in name of Christian-so you call it peace transition.You westner do anything to keep your interest including interfering in othercountry affair( Pakastaian -Afagastian-somali-Ethiopa-every where) now it is the time that all victims to corridate themselves and fight this idiot.
Post a Comment