Ethiopia–United States relations are bilateral relations between Ethiopia and the United States. Ethiopia is a strategic partner of the United States in the Global War on Terrorism. The United States is the largest donor to Ethiopia: in 2008 U.S. foreign aid to Ethiopia totaled US$969 million, in 2009 $916 million, with 2010 estimated at $513 million and $586 million requested for 2011."US AID to Ethiopia Fact sheet: FY 2008-11 USAID-State Foreign Assistance Appropriations" , US AID website (accessed 19 December 2010) U.S. development assistance to Ethiopia is focused on reducing poverty and supporting economic development 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.
Recently, the Ethiopian government has been criticized for severe human rights violations. According to Human Rights Watch, the aid given by the United States is being abused to erode democracy in Ethiopia."Ethiopia's elections: Forget about Democracy", The Economist, March 25, 2010. pp. 38-39 However, in September 2020, the United States suspended part of its economic assistance to Ethiopia due to the lack of sufficient progress in negotiations with Sudan and Egypt over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
The current ambassador of Ethiopia to the United States is Fitsum Arega; he is also accredited to Canada and Mexico. Principal U.S. officials include Ambassador Michael A. Raynor and Deputy Chief of Mission Troy Fitrell. The U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia is located in Addis Ababa.
According to the 2016 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 29% of Ethiopians approve of U.S. leadership, with 4% disapproving and 67% uncertain.
20th century U.S.-Ethiopian relations were established in 1903, after nine days of meetings in Ethiopia between Emperor Menelik II and Robert P. Skinner, an emissary of President Theodore Roosevelt. This first step was augmented with treaties of arbitration and conciliation signed at Addis Ababa 26 January 1929.Treaty of arbitration: 46 Stat. 2357, TS 799, 7 Bevans 662, 101 LNTS 517. Treaty of Conciliation: 46 Stat. 2368, TS 799, 7 Bevans 665, 101 LNTS 529 These formal relations included a grant of Most Favored Nation status, and were good up to the attempted Italian occupation in 1935.
Warqenah Eshate, while visiting the United States in 1927, visited Harlem, where he delivered Ras Tafari's greetings to the African-American community and Tafari's invitation to skilled African Americans to settle in Ethiopia. A number of African-Americans did travel to Ethiopia, such as John Robinson who became the commander of the Ethiopian Air force, where they played a number of roles in the modernization of the country before the Italian attempted conquest in 1935.Bahru Zewde, Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), pp. 39f
In his autobiography, Emperor Haile Selassie notes that the United States was one of only five countries which refused to recognize the Italian attempted conquest of his country.Haile Selassie I, My Life and Ethiopia's Progress, Haile Sellassie I, King of Kings of Ethiopia: Addis Abeba, 1966 E.C. translated by Ezekiel Gebissa, et alia, (Chicago: Frontline Books, 1999), vol. 2 p. 22
Following the return of Emperor Haile Selassie to Ethiopia, the United States certified Ethiopia for participation in Lend-Lease. This was followed on 16 May 1944 by the arrival of what was later called the Fellows Mission, led by James M. Landis.John Spencer, Ethiopia at Bay: A personal account of the Haile Selassie years (Algonac: Reference Publications, 1984), p. 144 Another significant event transpired in January 1944, when President Franklin Roosevelt met personally with Emperor Haile Selassie aboard the in the Great Bitter Lake of Egypt. Although no matters of substance were resolved, the meeting both strengthened the Emperor's already strong predilection towards the United States, as well as discomforted the British who had been at odds with the Ethiopian government over the disposition of Eritrea and the Ogaden.Spencer, Ethiopia at Bay, pp. 159f These ties were strengthened with the signing of the September 1951 treaty of amity and economic relations.Signed at Addis Ababa 7 September 1953, and entered into force 8 October 1953. 4 UST 2134, TIAS 2864, 206 UNTS 41. In 1953, a further 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, Kagnew Station. In 1957, then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon visited Ethiopia and called it "one of the United States' most stalwart and consistent allies".U.S. Requests for Ethiopian Bases Pushed Toledo Blade, March 13, 1957 In addition, during the 1960s the U.S. Army provided mapping for much of the country of Ethiopia in an operation known as the Ethiopia-United States Mapping Mission.
During the 1964 Ethiopian–Somali War over the Ogaden, the Americans tacitly side with Haile Sellasie, with US Air Force delivered military assistance the Ethiopian army, including the deployment of US army combat training teams and the construction of an air base close to the border. The scale of support to Ethiopia was significant enough that the embassy in Mogadishu sent a cable cautioning Washington that if the full extent of American involvement in the conflict was discovered, there would be a serious political fallout with neighboring Somalia.
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.
Ethiopia was one of the first countries to take part in the American Peace Corps program, which emphasized agriculture, basic education, tourism, health, economic development and teaching English as a foreign language. The Peace Corps reports that since 1962, when its first volunteers arrived in Ethiopia, a total of 2,934 volunteers have served in that country.Ethiopia , Peace Corps website (accessed 6 July 2010) U.S. Information Service educational and cultural exchanges were also an important part of their relations.
Mengistu Regime
After the Ethiopian Revolution, the bilateral relationship began to cool due to the Derg's linking with international communism and U.S. revulsion at the junta'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 (who was then Frederic L. Chapin), and the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Embassy in the United States were headed subsequently by Chargé d'affaires.Ethiopia: US-Ethiopia relations, United States State Department website (accessed 19 December 2010)
Post-Mengistu regime
With the downfall of Mengistu Haile Mariam (who had taken control of the Derg), U.S.-Ethiopian relations improved as legislative restrictions on non-humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia 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. During the severe drought year of 2003, the U.S. provided a record $553.1 million in assistance, of which $471.7 million was food aid.
21st century
U.S. Congress legislation The U.S. Congress, however, attempted to set conditions, over the objections of the George W. Bush administration. In October, 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007, banning military aid other than for counterterrorism and peacekeeping unless Ethiopia improved its human rights record. H.R. 2003 was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs but was not voted on. The bill sought to restrict U.S. military aid for any purpose other than counter-terrorism and peacekeeping purposes. If the president certified that all political prisoners had been released and an independent media could function without excessive interference, full, normal military aid could resume. The Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act would have restricted security assistance and imposed travel restrictions on Ethiopian officials accused of human rights violations unless Ethiopia met the conditions – although the legislation would have given the president a waiver to prevent such measures from taking force.
The Act also exempted counter-terrorism, peacekeeping operations, and international military training from any funding restrictions, a reflection of Ethiopia's military capabilities and its perceived role as a source of stability in the volatile Horn of Africa.
In 2006, the Ethiopian government hired law firm DLA Piper to lobby against the passage of the H.R. 2003. The Ethiopian government was specifically concerned about the sanctions that would be enacted if the bill passed. DLA Piper, on behalf of the Ethiopian government, released statements emphasizing the counterterrorism role that the country played in the region, and that the United States relied on. Additionally, Ethiopian diaspora groups, in opposition to the Ethiopian government, hired Bracewell and Giuliani to lobby for the passage of H.R. 2003.
When asked about H.R. 2003, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that "The administration does not support this particular house resolution." The Bush administration believed that human rights violations in Ethiopia needed to be addressed, but it claimed that H.R. 2003 was not the best method to do so. Instead, Secretary Rice announced that the administration was working with NGOs to improve the humanitarian situation in Ethiopia and that a good relationship with the Ethiopian government was essential for the efficacy of those programs.
In 2021, the Ethiopian government hired former Representative Joe Garcia to lobby on its behalf.
Global war on terror
As part of the war on terror, Ethiopia emerged as an 'anchor state' for American policy and Western interests in the Horn of Africa in the early 2000's. Modelled after the National Security Agency, the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA) was created with support from the United States government, particularly in the context of the 2006 invasion of Somalia aimed at toppling an Islamic government (the Islamic Courts Union). The original purpose of the agency was to intercept and analyze intelligence primarily from Somalia.
During the full-scale Ethiopian invasion in December 2006, US Special Forces and CIA paramilitary units supported by American AC-130s and helicopter gunships, directly intervened in support of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF). The Bush administration doubted Ethiopia's ability to effectively use the new equipment it had provided for the invasion. As a result, it decided to involve US Special Forces and CIA agents in the campaign. According to top officials in the Ethiopian backed Somali transitional government who had helped plan the invasion, "The Ethiopians were not able to come in without the support of the US Government...American air forces were supporting us." In 2010, US ambassador to Ethiopia Donald Yamamoto stated that the Ethiopian invasion had been a mistake and "not a really good idea".