Meles Zenawi
Meles Zenawi
Meles Zenawi Asres; 9 May 1955 – 20 August 2012, born Legesse Zenawi Asres) was the Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his death in 2012. From 1989, he was the chairman of the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front, and the head of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Frontsince its formation in 1991. Before becoming a prime minister in 1995, he had served the president of the transitional government of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995...
NationalityEthiopian
ProfessionWorld Leader
Date of Birth8 May 1955
CityAdwa, Ethiopia
CountryEthiopia
While all democratic systems are works in progress, ours started rather late and therefore has a longer distance to cover. But democratic transformation for us is not mimicking some facets of Western governance. The focus has been on building institutions of democratic governance.
It is illegal to be a member of an organization that is challenging the constitution by armed force.
I would love to be the African leader that steps down, that overthrows this idea of a Big Man ruler. I don't want to stay in office forever.
In the urban areas, we have focused on infrastructure roads, telecommunications, power.
Of course everybody's thinking evolves over time. Only dead people cease learning, and I am not certified dead yet. So I am still learning.
The rule of law is the basis for any democracy. And without the rule of law in democracy, you have chaos.
We have built tens of thousands of schools, clinics and rural roads.
When you have an emergency, there is the urge to do whatever it takes to see people get assistance.
Famine has wreaked havoc in Ethiopia for so long , it would be stupid not to be sensitive to the risk of such things occurring. But there has not been a famine on our watch - emergencies, but no famines.
We regret the death but it was not a normal demonstration,
We shall negotiate while fighting. We shall fight while negotiating, ... Whichever road leads to peace quickly will be the road we follow.
We shall negotiate while we fight and we shall fight while we negotiate,
What we have detained is people who have tried to overthrow the duly constituted government, and that in my view is treason under the laws of the country,
We have no intention of playing fast and loose with this document, with the OAU process, ... We only hope that this time around the other side really means what it says.