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Ethiopia: Hailemariam Desalegn sworn in as Prime Minister
Newly sworn in Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. PHOTO/Khaled Elfiqi/EPA
Ethiopia’s parliament swore in a new prime minister on Friday.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn succeeds former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who died on August 20 after ruling Ethiopia for more than two decades.
No vote was held Friday. Instead the country’s ruling party, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front — which controls majority of the seats in parliament — announced its choice for prime minister. Hailemariam was unanimously voted in as chair of the party last weekend by the ruling party’s 180-member leadership.
Girma Seifu, an opposition member of parliament, said he sees a brighter future — in time — for Ethiopia with Hailemariam Desalegn in charge.
“I don’t expect swift changes by next Monday, if he has powers to do so. I would be happy but I don’t think that will happen,” Girma said.
Desalegn, Girma said in an interview with The Associated Press, should consolidate his power so he can run the country properly, then free those in the opposition who have been unjustly jailed.
Since Zenawi’s death, the country’s Justice Ministry has withdrawn two separate charges against two weekly newspapers.
“We are full of hope about the new leadership,” said Mohamed Keita of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He added that the group has guarded optimism until it sees what kinds of freedoms are allowed.
Speaking to parliament in the nationally broadcast ceremony, Desalegn said Ethiopia would remain “a stable and democratic nation” and would continue its security role in the region, including in Somalia and by aiding talks between Sudan and South Sudan.
Zenawi was credited with improving Ethiopia’s economy and was well liked in Washington for his cooperation on security matters. But critics denounced his country’s human rights record and the few opportunities allowed for opposition parties. With Desalegn’s ascension, civic groups and the opposition are holding out hope he will start to open the country’s politics.
Making changes before Ethiopia’s 2015 national elections could be difficult, though. Unlike Zenawi and his inner circle, Desalegn did not take part in the 17-year armed struggle that unseated brutal communist leader Mengistu Hailemariam, the struggle that saw Zenawi come to power in 1991. It’s not clear how much freedom Desalegn will have to make changes that the older leaders oppose.
Ethiopian and U.S. officials signaled that the countries’ cooperation would continue. Ethiopia borders Somalia and has sent troops there several times to battle al-Qaida-linked militants. The country allows the U.S. military to operate drone aircraft from its runways.
“I doubt that there will be any major changes in the U.S.-Ethiopia relationship, but there will inevitably be changes on the margins as time goes on,” said David Shinn, the U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia from 1996-1999.
In his speech to parliament, Desalegn vowed to sustain his predecessor’s polices including ambitious economic goals “to take the country among middle income economies in just a decade.” Zenawi was hailed for overseeing economic progress.
Despondency, Desalegn said, “has finally given way to hope; darkness to brightness. More importantly, we have proven that victory over poverty and backwardness is within reach after all.”
Hailemariam Desalegn entered the political scene in 2006 as an adviser to Zenawi. He was promoted in a surprise move to the party’s deputy chair after elections in May 2010.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press