Thousands of wailing Ethiopians turned out Wednesday to greet the body of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as an official national mourning period began after his death in a Brussels hospital.

A military band played as the coffin, draped in the national flag, was taken from an Ethiopian Airlines flight in the early hours of the morning, a ceremony also attended by political, military and religious leaders as well as diplomats.

Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, 47, who has also been foreign minister since 2010, will take over interim power, officials said. He wept as the body was carried into the hearse.

Meles died overnight Monday to Tuesday following a long illness. The 57-year-old had not been seen in public since the G20 summit in Mexico in June.

Newspaper headlines were solemn, with the Amharic-language daily Addis Zemen announcing “Ethiopia has lost its great leader.”

Meles, a regional strongman in the volatile Horn of Africa, was a former rebel who ruled with an iron fist for more than two decades.

He came to power in 1991 after toppling Mengistu Haile Mariam, set Ethiopia on a path of rapid growth and played a key role in mediating regional conflicts, but also drew criticism for cracking down on opponents and curtailing human rights.

US President Barack Obama led tributes to Meles, who he said deserved "recognition for his lifelong contribution to Ethiopia's development", while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed Meles's "exceptional leadership".

Meles was a key Western ally in a region home to Al-Qaeda-linked groups.

Meles -- who also had strong trade links with China -- was credited with Ethiopia's economic boom in the past decade, with growth shooting from 3.8 percent in the 1990s to 10 percent in 2010.

His death also leaves a major power gap in the region, with Ethiopia playing a key role in the fortunes of many of its neighbors.

Meles's death could also potentially see changes in the relationship with arch-foe Eritrea, which split from Ethiopia in 1993 before the two spiralled into a bitter 1998-2000 border war in which tens of thousands died.

Meles also played a key role in brokering peace efforts between newly independent South Sudan and its former civil war foe Sudan.