Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s desire to secure nomination as Africa’s spokesperson on climate change was primarily as a means to earn legitimacy among western powers and to 'ensure their tacit assent' as he prepares 'to violently thwart' the aspirations of the Ethiopian people for democracy in the May 2010 elections, writes Selam Beyane in this week’s Pambazuka News. It was thus ‘a foregone conclusion’, argues Beyane, that ‘Zenawi would forgo any viable long-term international accord for a short-term gain.’