Ethiopia gives Meles Zenawi state funeral

Thousands of mourners gathered near a public square in Ethiopia's capital on Sunday to pay their final respects to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who was praised for lifting many out of poverty but vilified by some for restricting freedoms.                 

Meles, who ruled for 21 years, died Aug. 20 of an undisclosed illness in a Belgian hospital. He was 57. During his rule Ethiopia was a strong U.S. ally on counter-terrorism issues, particularly in Somalia, and some saw him as Africa's intellectual leader in efforts to fight poverty.                      
                           
The U.S. delegation was led by Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., who described Meles as "unpretentious and direct."                                          

Born on May 8, 1955, Meles became president in 1991 after helping to oust a Communist military junta that had been responsible for hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian deaths.     

Meles became prime minister in 1995, a position that is both the head of the federal government and armed forces. The U.S. saw Meles as a strong security partner and gave hundreds of millions of dollars in aid over the years. U.S. military drones that patrol East Africa  especially over Somalia  are stationed in Ethiopia. In the mid-2000s, the country saw strong economic growth, which won Meles international praise. The International Monetary Fund in 2008 said Ethiopia's economy had grown faster than any non-oil exporting country in sub-Saharan Africa.                     

But Ethiopia under Meles was criticized by human rights groups for the government's strict control, especially of independent political groups and the press.

AP