Meles Zenawi

Meles Zenawi Asres (Tigringa and Amharic: መለስ ዜናዊ ኣስረስ; pronounced [mɛllɛs zenawi asrɛs] listen^ⓘ), born Legesse Zenawi Asres (8 May 1955 – 20 August 2012) was an Ethiopian politician and former rebel militant commander who served as president of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and as prime minister from 1995 until his death in 2012.

Born in Adwa to an Ethiopian father and an Eritrean mother, Meles became actively involved in politics after changing his original first name from Legesse to Meles, adopted following the execution of fellow university student Meles Takele by the Derg government in 1975. In that year, he left Haile Selassie I University to join the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and fight against the Derg (the Mengistu Haile Mariam-led military dictatorship in Ethiopia). In 1989, he became the chairman of the TPLF, and the head of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) after its formation in 1988.

After leading the EPRDF to victory in the Ethiopian Civil War, he served as president of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995, then as the 2nd prime minister of Ethiopia from 1995 to his death in 2012. Meles Zenawi's administration brought Ethiopia to ethnic federalism; he expressed his populist view that ethnic groups should share their own languages, culture and lands. An Eritrean referendum was held during his four-year presidency, which resulted in Eritrean secession from Ethiopia in 1993, but the two countries entered into a war owing to the territorial dispute from 1998 to 2000, during which 98,217 people were killed. In the 2005 general election, Meles's party EPRDF won and he remained as prime minister, while opposition parties strongly complained that the election was "stolen" and unfair. Shortly during and after the election, disastrous riots and protests sparked across Addis Ababa, in which 193 people were killed by police brutality.

During his tenure, Ethiopia became one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. Meles undertook major reforms to the country, including land reforms attempt to reduce serious droughts, school expansions, and agricultural interests. Meanwhile, his government described by many human rights groups and analysis as authoritarian, marked by perpetual personality cult, suppressing civil liberties by initiating government crackdowns, arresting political opponents and fueling ethnic clashes. "Zenawism" refers to his principles and policies of ethnic federalism, especially those the TPLF advocated, and is the subject of academic study. He died in Brussels, Belgium, on 20 August 2012 from an undisclosed illness.