Ethiopia–United States relations

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.[14]

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.[14]

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.[15] 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.[16]

In 2006, the Ethiopian government hired law firm DLA Piper to lobby against the passage of the H.R. 2003.[17][18] The Ethiopian government was specifically concerned about the sanctions that would be enacted if the bill passed.[18] 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.[18] Additionally, Ethiopian diaspora groups, in opposition to the Ethiopian government, hired Bracewell and Giuliani to lobby for the passage of H.R. 2003.[18]

When asked about H.R. 2003, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that "The administration does not support this particular house resolution."[19] 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.[20] 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.[20]

In 2021, the Ethiopian government hired former Representative Joe Garcia to lobby on its behalf.[21]

Ethiopia is an important country to the United States in the Global War on Terrorism. The Pentagon needs Ethiopia and its intelligence service to counter the influence of Al-Qaeda fighters in the neighboring Somalia.[2]

The CIA allegedly used Ethiopia as a base for black sites to secretly interrogate undeclared prisoners in the Global War on Terrorism.[22]

Human rights groups have accused the United States of giving Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi "a free rein" to abuse his own people. In April 2010, Human Rights Watch published a report which accused Zenawi's ruling party Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front of having "total control of local and district administrators to monitor and intimidate individuals at the household level." The report author Ben Rawlence also said that "Meles is using aid to build a one-party state" and accused foreign governments of having colluded in eroding civil liberties and democracy by letting their aid be manipulated by Zenawi. The Ethiopian government has denounced the report as "outrageous".[2]

Human rights violations in Ethiopia have created a strain in the two countries relations. Jendayi Frazer, head of U.S. African policy as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs at the Bureau of African Affairs, spoke of "unprecedented" agreements between the Ethiopian opposition and government, which she said were "a monumental advancement in the political environment". Examples she gave included reform of the National Election Board of Ethiopia and a new code of conduct for the press. But she added that the U.S. had raised "strong concerns" about human rights violations. In April 2010, Ethiopia attempted to jam broadcasts of the Voice of America, the U.S. state-run broadcaster. Prime Minister Zenawi accused Voice of America of broadcasting ethnic hatred and compared the broadcaster to the hate speech from Radio Mille Collines, which had helped provoke genocide in Rwanda. The Economist pointed out that the U.S. response to these accusations had been rather muted, probably due to the importance of the U.S.-Ethiopia alliance.[2]

During the outbreak of the 2016 Ethiopian protests the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa released a statement in which it said the U.S. government was “deeply concerned with the extensive violence.”[23]

In 2022 America announced that it would be issuing sanctions against Ethiopian national whom it accused of having a role in the Tigray Conflict.[24] However, in September 2022, Senator Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the Biden administration for hesitating to impose sanctions on the government of Ethiopia, where many atrocities and war crimes were committed in the civil war between the government and the rebels.[25]

In February 2021, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned ethnic cleansing in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia and called for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and other fighters.[26][27] In March 2023, Blinken met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa to normalize relations between the United States and Ethiopia that were strained by the Tigray War between the Ethiopian government and Tigray rebels.[28]

On 30 June 2023, The United States has lifted aid restrictions on Ethiopia. According to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, the restrictions were lifted due to progress on human rights, particularly after the cessation-of-hostilities agreement. While violence continues in the Tigray region, the focus of assistance is on supporting peace, demining efforts, and accountability.[29]

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and President Obama at the White House in 2014

Barack Obama was the first sitting United States president to speak in front of the African Union in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, on 29 July 2015. With his speech, he encouraged the world to increase economic ties via investments and trade with the continent, and lauded the progresses made in education, infrastructure and the economy. But he also criticized the lack of democracy and leaders who refuse to step off, discrimination against minorities (LGBT people, religious groups and ethnicities) and corruption. He suggested an intensified democratization and free trade, to significantly increase living quality for Africans.[30][31]

In December 2022, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed attended the United States–Africa Leaders Summit 2022 in Washington, D.C., and met with US President Joe Biden.[32]