For all its efforts to control news about the health of former Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi, the government could not control the public's hunger for information; the official secrecy merely fueled rampant public speculation and fears about the country's future.
(CPJ/IFEX) – 21 August 2012 – Ethiopians awakened this morning to state media reports that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, 57, the country’s leader for 21 years, had died late Monday in an overseas hospital of an undisclosed disease. Within seconds, Ethiopians spread the news on social media; within minutes, international news media were issuing bulletins. Finally, after weeks of government silence and obfuscation over Meles’ health, there was clarity for Ethiopians anxious for word about their leader. Still, it was left to unnamed sources to fill in even the basic details. Meles died in a Brussels hospital of liver cancer, these sources told international news organizations, and he had been ill for many months.
