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By William Davison
meles zenawi after humilated and the day of  humilated
“He is in good health,†Bereket told reporters today inAddis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, adding that further details aren’t being announced for privacy reasons. Meles is expected to return to work “in the near future,†he said.
The 57-year-old leader failed to attend the two-day African Union heads-of-state summit that began in Addis Ababa on July 15. Meles had planned to go the meeting, Bereket said. Anti-government groups including the U.S.-based Ethiopian National Transitional Council said on July 15 Meles may have died after receiving treatment in a Belgian hospital, while the Middle East News Agency reported a day later that the prime minister had surgery in Germany, without citing anyone.
Meles is head of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front and has held power in Ethiopiafor more than two decades, after helping lead allied rebel groups to overthrow Mengistu Haile Mariam’s Marxist military junta in 1991.
Under Meles, Ethiopia’s government has been a U.S. ally in the fight against insurgencies in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia, where the military helped remove an Islamist group from power in 2006. The U.S. government provided $6.23 billion in assistance, including food aid and military training funds between 2000 and 2011, according to the State Department.
Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who is also the country’s foreign minister, led the Ethiopian delegation at the African Union summit earlier this week.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at wdavison3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net
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