By Jeffery Smith and Mohammed Ademo (for Foreign Policy), LATER this month, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to ever visit Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country, and a nation viewed by many as a bastion of stability in a region otherwise beset with civil strife. The trip — which will also […]
Continue Reading
By Washington Post (Editorial), “AFRICA DOESN’T need strongmen, it needs strong institutions.” Those were President Obama’s words when he addressed Ghana’s parliament in July 2009, during his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president. The historic speech, watched around the globe, was an optimistic clarion call to the leaders on the continent from the son […]
Continue Reading
By Awol Allo (for Al Jazeera), IT WAS only two months ago during the Israeli election that the White House was scrambling to convince the American public that the United States does not intervene in the electoral processes of other democracies. “This administration goes to great lengths to ensure that we don’t give even the […]
Continue Reading
By Prof. Alemayehu G Mariam, IN HER Letter to the Washington Post, U.S. Undersecretary Wendy R. Sherman chastised the editorial board for “mischaracterizing her remarks” in its May 1 editorial. At issue is what Ms. Sherman said and meant by her words during her press conference in Ethiopia on April 16. The editorial stated, “Wendy […]
Continue Reading
By Wendy Sherman, ETHIOPIA is a valuable partner in a critical region, from peacekeeping to fighting al-Shabab to pursuing peace in South Sudan. Ethiopia, among the world’s fastest-growing economies, has made significant progress toward its Millennium Development Goals. But stability, security and economic development are sustainable only with the development of democratic values. Ethiopia has […]
Continue Reading
By Mohamed Keita, PRESIDENT Obama’s decision to tap top White House aide Gayle Smith to take over the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has drawn plaudits, but also serious concerns from some long-time Africa watchers about the role of American assistance in abetting repression on the continent. The New York Times described Smith as […]
Continue Reading
By Washington Post (Editorial), ETHIOPIA’S election scheduled for May 24, are shaping up to be anything but democratic. A country that has often been held up as a poster child for development has been stifling civic freedoms and systematically cracking down on independent journalism for several years. It was consequently startling to hear the State […]
Continue Reading
By Marie Harf (Acting Spokesperson), U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesperson Washington, D.C. April 24, 2015 APRIL 25 marks one year since Ethiopia arrested six Zone 9 bloggers and three other journalists. These nine individuals—Befekadu Hailu, Zelalem Kibret, Atnaf Berhane, Natnael Feleke, Mahlet Fantahun, Abel Wabella, Asmamaw Hailegiorgis, Edom Kassaye, and Tesfalem Waldeyes—joined […]
Continue Reading