ADDIS ABABA: China's Vice-Premier Hi Liangyu announced that he would be attending the funeral of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on September 2 as the official representative from the East Asian giant. The Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei said in a statement that Hui “will go to Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa to attend the funeral of Prime Minister Meles on September 2 as the Representative of the Chinese government.” Zenawi was born on May 8, 1955 and came to power in the early 1990s as prime minister, holding this position until Tuesday. He ruled the country with an iron grip, and the past few months has shown his strength over the country was not one that all Ethiopians enjoyed. According to Opride.com, “the former rebel-leader dropped out of Addis Ababa University's Medical School, where he studied for two years, to join the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front in 1974. He has been the chairman of both the TPLF and the ruling coalition, Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front, since 1989." Meles died on August 20 just before midnight after contracting an infection, state TV announced. Hailemariam Desalegn, who was appointed deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in 2010, is now in charge of the Cabinet, state TV said. Already, there is a sense of uncertainty in the country over the death, and questions surrounding the future of Ethiopia continue. “I just don't know what to think right now," one Addis Ababa resident told Bikyamasr.com as citizen took to watching the television together in order to gain any new information on their leader's passing.
