Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has died aged 57 in a hospital “abroad”, the government says.
It did not give details but an EU spokesman later told journalists he had died in Brussels, Belgium.
Meles had not been seen in public for weeks and speculation about his health mounted when he missed a summit in Addis Ababa last month.
Meles took power as the leader of rebels that ousted communist leader Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.
He is credited with spearheading economic development in Ethiopia – but, critics charge, at the price of respect for human rights.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Meles was an “intellectual leader for the continent”, and the UK Prime Minister David Cameron called him “an inspirational spokesman for Africa” who had lifted millions out of poverty. (BBC)
