AU's newly elected chair, Desalegn
2013-01-28 12:43
Addis Ababa - Newly elected African Union chairman,
Ethiopian leader Hailemariam Desalegn, has risen within five months after the
death of his mentor Meles Zenawi from a relatively little known politician to
influential leader.
Hailemariam, 47, a former water engineer, has defied critics
who feared instability in Ethiopia following August death of Meles, taking over
the leadership in a rare peaceful handover of power for the Horn of Africa
nation.
A protege of Meles, Hailemairam has managed an apparently
smooth transition with little change in policy from Meles, who had ruled with
an iron fist since toppling dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.
On Sunday, he took over as African Union chairperson,
replacing Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi in the one-year post.
In a country long dominated by its major ethnic groups -
most recently the Tigray, the ethnic group to which Meles belonged -
Hailemariam notably comes from the minority Wolayta people in the Southern
Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region.
President of the region for five years, he was appointed to
be deputy prime minister and foreign minister in 2010 after the ruling
coalition party's fourth win, a landslide victory.
He became the chairman of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples'
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) shortly after Meles' death.
But he was also seen as an outsider by some, since some of
the party's most influential figures - members of Meles's ex-rebel group turned
political party, the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) - hail from the
northern Tigray region.
Lack of experience
Hailemariam - in Ethiopian tradition, known by his first
name, meaning "the power of Saint Mary" - is also a Protestant, the
first to lead Ethiopia, where the majority of Christians follow Orthodox
traditions.
Hailemariam has pledged to "continue Meles's legacy
without any changes".
At his appointment to Ethiopia's leadership, the
International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank suggested Hailemariam's appointment
may be "window dressing, designed to placate potential critics, while the
Tigrayan TPLF elite keep real power".
But they also suggest that Hailemariam's position outside
the Tigray power base could in fact prove a strength.
"His ethnicity is considered an advantage, because it
is a minority in a multi-ethnic region and, most importantly, not from the
numerically dominant Oromo or Amhara," the ICG added.
Critics also point to his relatively young age, lack of
experience and the fact he was not part of the rebel movement which toppled
Mengistu, unlike many in the ruling elite.
Instead, Hailemariam, who studied civil engineering in Addis
Ababa, was completing his master's degree at Finland's Tampere University when
Mengistu fell.
"He is a political novice, he has not been part of the
old guard, he has not been in the bushes fighting with the rebels when they
fought against Mengistu," exiled opposition leader and former mayor of
Addis Ababa Berhanu Nega said last year.
"He is a Medvedev for a group of Putins in the ruling
party with their own internal squabbles," he added, drawing parallels with
Russian political dynamics.
Hailemariam has spoken enthusiastically about ensuring
democracy and accountable rule for the country, and two Swedish journalists
jailed under Meles were released shortly after he took power.
- SAPA
