Meles re-elected TPLF chairman

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was re-elected chairman of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on Monday as the TPLF and the three other coalition partners of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front concluded congress meetings. Seyoum Mesfin, the long-serving foreign minister, was re-elected deputy chairman, the pro-government Walta Information Centre reported on Monday. The Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopia People's Democratic Front and the TPLF ended their congress meetings on Monday, while the Oromo People's Democratic Organisation wound up a day earlier.

The TPLF meeting in Mekele was the first such meeting since the TPLF was hit by internal divisions in March, when Meles narrowly survived a walkout from a dissident faction within the TPLF central committee. The German press agency, dpa, on Tuesday quoted Meles as telling congress delegates that he was confident the congress had achieved a "peaceful and democratic settlement of ideological differences in the Front".