Posted on 09/15/2012 8:43:10 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
Ethiopia’s ruling party on Saturday named as its leader acting Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who took over after the death last month of longtime leader Meles Zenawi, an official said at the end of a congress of party bosses.
As chairman of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, or EPRDF, Hailemariam, 47, will almost certainly be confirmed as the country’s prime minister in an upcoming official ceremony. Bereket Simon, Ethiopia’s communications minister, said Hailemariam would be sworn in soon. It remains unclear exactly when, but Bereket said this might happen early next month.
“Since the party holds an overwhelming majority the party’s chair is automatically the country’s prime minister,” Bereket said. “So Hailemariam will be the country’s new prime minister.”
Hailemariam’s ascension to the ruling party’s top leadership signals that he is not just warming the seat for someone else and that influential party officials are keen to respect the wishes of Meles, who picked Hailemariam from obscurity and made him foreign minister and deputy prime minister.
Some analysts say that it was always clear that the ruling party would pick Hailemariam, who promises to continue the domestic and foreign policies favored by Meles.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front
How can you be revolutionary and democratic?
Sounds like a Hailemariam play.
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