Africa ReportBy Tom GardnerThe surprise resignation of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has got some people looking at Oromo leader Lemma Megersa as a potential successorUntil recently, few people outside of Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest and most populous region, had heard of Lemma Megersa. After the shock resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn as prime minister on 15 February, many are betting on Lemma as his successor. That would make him Ethiopia’s first Oromo national leader. Young, articulate and confident, Lemma burst onto the national political scene in 2017 by distancing himself from his coalition partners and adopting the rhetoric of street protesters from his home state. OPride, an influential Oromo website based in the US, argued at the end of 2017 that “Lemma is already looking like Ethiopia’s new leader.

Source: Ethiopian News February 18, 2018 01:32 UTC