The Ethiopian government has announced that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was dead at the age of 57. In a special announcement on ETV, the government declared that the Prime Minister’s death was untimely. Deputy Prime Minister Hailmariam Desaleg will take over as acting Prime Minister.

Meles Zenawi was rumored to be suffering from an acute but unspecified illness with various sources claiming that he was being hospitalized in a Belgian hospital or an American military base.