FOREIGN
RELATIONS
Ethiopia
was relatively isolated from major movements of world politics
until Italian invasions in 1895 and 1935. Since World War II,
it has played an active role in world and African affairs. Ethiopia
was a charter member of the United Nations and took part in UN
operations in Korea in 1951 and the Congo in 1960. Former Emperor
Haile Selassie was a founder of the Organization of African Unity
(OAU), now known as the African Union (AU). Addis Ababa also hosts
the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Ethiopia is also a member
of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a Horn of Africa
regional grouping.
Although
nominally a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, after the 1974
revolution, Ethiopia moved into a close relationship with the
Soviet Union and its allies and supported their international
policies and positions until the change of government in 1991.
Today, Ethiopia has very good relations with the United States
and the West, especially in responding to regional instability
and supporting war on terrorism and, increasingly, through economic
involvement.
Ethiopia's relations with Eritrea remained tense and unresolved. Following a brutal 1998-2000 border war in which tens of thousands died on both sides, the two countries signed a peace agreement in December 2000. A five-member independent international commission--the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC)--issued a decision in April 2002 delimiting the border. In November 2007 the EEBC issued a decision that the border was demarcated based on map coordinates (usual demarcation based on pillars on the ground had not yet occurred due to disagreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea) and disbanded. Ethiopia does not consider the border to be demarcated, though Eritrea does. In March 2008 the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) peacekeeping mission began withdrawing from Eritrea because Eritrea refused to allow UNMEE to secure fuel supplies for its operations. Both countries have stationed approximately 100,000 troops along the border, which has become more dangerous due to the pending departure of UNMEE. Both countries insist they will not instigate fighting, but both also remain prepared for any eventuality. Regarding its neighbor Somalia, the weakness of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and factional fighting in Somalia contributes to tensions along the boundaries of the two countries. Ethiopia has recently entered into a loose tripartite (nonmilitary) cooperation with Sudan and Yemen.
The irredentist claims of the extremist-controlled Council of Islamic Courts
(CIC) in Somalia in 2006 posed a legitimate security threat to Ethiopia and to
the TFG of Somalia. In December 2006, the TFG requested the assistance of the
Ethiopian military to respond to the CIC's aggression. Within a few weeks, the
joint Ethiopian-TFG forces routed the CIC from Somalia. Subsequently, Ethiopia
stationed troops in Somalia (largely around Mogadishu), awaiting full deployment
of the African Union's Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). However, the buildup of
AMISOM troop levels has been very slow; by December 2008 only 3,500 AMISOM
soldiers had arrived in Mogadishu, less than half the number of soldiers pledged
18 months earlier. Running out of patience with the slow pace of deployments, in
December the Ethiopian Government announced its army would withdraw from the
country in a matter of weeks. By the end of January 2009, all of its 3,000-4,000
troops had left the country.
U.S.-ETHIOPIA
RELATIONS
U.S.-Ethiopian relations were established in 1903 and were good
throughout the period prior to the Italian occupation in 1935.
After World War II, these ties strengthened on the basis of a
September 1951 treaty of amity and economic relations. In 1953,
two agreements were signed: a mutual defense assistance agreement,
under which the United States agreed to furnish military equipment
and training, and an accord regularizing the operations of a U.S.
communication facility at Asmara. Through fiscal year 1978, the
United States provided Ethiopia with $282 million in military
assistance and $366 million in economic assistance in agriculture,
education, public health, and transportation. A Peace Corps program
emphasized education, and U.S. Information Service educational
and cultural exchanges were numerous.
After
Ethiopia's revolution, the bilateral relationship began to cool
due to the Derg's linking with international communism and U.S.
revulsion at the Derg's human rights abuses. The United States
rebuffed Ethiopia's request for increased military assistance
to intensify its fight against the Eritrean secessionist movement
and to repel the Somali invasion. The International Security and
Development Act of 1985 prohibited all U.S. economic assistance
to Ethiopia with the exception of humanitarian disaster and emergency
relief. In July 1980, the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia was recalled
at the request of the Ethiopian Government, and the U.S. Embassy
in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Embassy in the United States were
headed by Charges d'Affaires.
With the downfall of the Mengistu regime, U.S.-Ethiopian relations improved dramatically. Legislative restrictions on assistance to Ethiopia other than humanitarian assistance were lifted. Diplomatic relations were upgraded to the ambassadorial level in 1992. Total U.S. Government assistance, including food aid, between 1991 and 2003 was $2.3 billion. The U.S. Government provided $455 million in assistance in FY 2008, $337 million of it for combating HIV/AIDS. In addition, the U.S. Government donated more than $550 million in food assistance in 2008 to help the government cope with a severe drought.
Today, Ethiopia is a strategic partner of the United States in the Global War on Terrorism. U.S. development assistance to Ethiopia is focused on reducing famine vulnerability, hunger, and poverty and emphasizes economic, governance, and social sector policy reforms. Some military training funds, including training in such issues as the laws of war and observance of human rights, also are provided.
DEFENSE
The Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) numbers about 200,000 personnel,
which makes it one of the largest militaries in Africa. During the 1998-2000
border war with Eritrea, the ENDF mobilized strength reached approximately
350,000. Since the end of the war, some 150,000 soldiers have been demobilized.
The ENDF continues a transition from its roots as a guerrilla army to an
all-volunteer professional military organization with the aid of the U.S. and
other countries. Training in peacekeeping operations, professional military
education, military training management, counter-terrorism operations, and
military medicine are among the major programs sponsored by the United States.
Ethiopia has one peacekeeping contingent in Liberia. In January 2009, Ethiopian
peacekeeping troops had begun deploying in Darfur. When at full strength, the
Ethiopian contingent there will consist of 2,500 troops and five attack
helicopters.
Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--Donald Y. Yamamoto
Deputy Chief of Mission--Deborah Malac
The address and telephone/fax numbers for the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia are P.O. Box 1014, Entoto Street, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (tel: 251/11/517-40-00; fax: 251/11/517-40-01). The U.S. Embassy's Washington address is: 2030 Addis Ababa Place, Washington, DC, 20521-2030. Embassy website: http://addisababa.usembassy.gov/.
