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Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, country’s longtime ruler, dies at age 57

Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s long-time ruler who held tight control over this East African country but was a major U.S counter-terrorism ally, died of an undisclosed illness after not being seen in public for weeks.

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June 10, 1991 

Then-interim leader of Ethiopia and chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Meles Zenawi, gives his first press conference in Addis Ababa, 14 days after his troops took over the capital. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, 57, a regional strongman in power for more than two decades, died in a hospital abroad, the government said on Aug. 21, 2012.

Alexander Joe / AFP/Getty Images

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