1. Best Person of the Year: The Ethiopian people. (for the amazing decency and civility during Meles Zenawi’s illness and after his passing on Aug. 20 at 11:20pm local time)

2. Conspiracy Theory of the Year: “Meles Zenawi was poisoned at the Food Security Summit in Washington D.C.” (As much as I don’t trust the American plutocrats, I don’t believe they do that on their soil)

3. Joke of the Year: The disclaimer by the opposition TV, ESAT, in early August, saying that “we didn’t confirm if Meles is dead, our previous news was based on hearsay. Please don’t quote us on this matter ”.

4. Scandal of the Year in the International media: “Skype is banned in Ethiopia”. (No apologies yet, except for Reporters Sans Frontiers). (Click here for a full coverage)

5. Noteworthy Analyst of the Year: Abiye Teklemariam. (Probably the first to urge the opposition camp to stop day dreaming about a revolution by PM Hailemariam Desalegne)

6. Irony of the Year: Both the ruling party and the Orthodox Church lost their leaders; the political succession proved to be faster and smoother than the religious one.

7. Best Speaker of the year. Mrs. Susan Rice, US Ambassador to the UN. (read her speech here – link)

8. Hypocrisy of the Year: Westerner’s continue to accuse Iranian Pres. Ahmedinejadin for Holocaust denial, yet continue flirting with Ethiopian Holocaust glorifier Eskinder Nega in spite of evidences revealed by this blog. (Click here)

9. Coarse Statement of the Year: Tamrat Negera’s (Addis Neger) claim on Facebook that His Holiness Abune Paulos Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church died due to Viagra. (The statement earned him a flood of stern rebukes – see here (link))

10. Dumbest Man of the Year: Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who said, during Meles Zenawi’s illness, “[we are] very concerned about Ethiopia, knowing how fragile the politics are there”. (But the world is worried much more about a probable carnage in March 2013 in Kenya!)

11. Disappointment of the year: South Sudan tried to solve problems with Sudan by military force. Another Eritrea in the making?

12. Promising News of the Year: Somalia‘s election. Hold your breath, this could be the end of an era.

13. Wearisome News of the Year: Kenya’s long, very long battle to reach Al-Shabaab controlled Kismyou port, just 120 Km away from her border. They finally succeeded with international help.

14. Inspiration of the Year: The Walyas, who electrified the still-mourning nation, in October, by qualifying for the African Football Cup after 31 years.

15. Best Artist Work of the Year: Tagel Seifu’s Poem – sarcastically titled "Tekeflon Aneban" (roughly trans. as "yes, we were paid to mourn Meles Zenawi’s passing)

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Bonus: Noteworthy posts on this Blog in 2012:

* On Meles Zenawi’s health | Is the Premier back in town? (the most read article and also cited by International Crisis Group’s report alongside other posts in this blog)

* Skype me? Indeed | Text of Ethiopia’s draft Telecom Law (cited by Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s weekly journal’s review of the Skype saga).

* Others, include: Rare Photos of Meles Zenawi’s grave, and Ethiopia’s transition: What lies beneath the haste and pause, and On Eskinder Nega | Setting the record straight, and Ethiopia: Gay-bashing, to what end?.

[A version of this list was first posted on my Facebook Timeline.]

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Please check the archives for more on the issues raised above.

* This article is published as part of the “Post-Meles 2012″ Special Edition of this blog.

Daniel Berhane

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