The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

In a piece for PBS NewsHour, Ray Suarez writes about Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s recent death at age 57 and the pivotal role he played in the country’s development. Suarez noted that “the next few weeks of assessments and obituaries will determine how the past few years will be leveraged against the preceding 30.”

In the article, Meles was described by former U.S. Agency for International Development director and senior diplomat Andrew Natsios as “one of the ablest leaders in Africa.” However, Chris Fomunyoh, NDI’s regional director for Central and West Africa noted in an interview for the piece that though Meles was “effective at curbing extremism in the Horn,” he also had a “mixed record” in the area of human rights, and was shrinking the political space with each year he extended his power.

Fomunyoh said that under Meles, “Ethiopia became an anchor in the Horn of Africa,” and that “next Ethiopian leader should try to build on positive achievements of Meles, and at the same time be more forward-leaning, more open in terms of political engagement.”