100 Years of U.S. - Ethiopia Relations: 1903-2003
by Awetu Simesso & Liben Eabisa

2003 marks the hundredth year since the commencement of official diplomatic relations between the governments of the United States of America and Ethiopia. The forging of these relations was all the more historic in that viewing Africa as within the European sphere of influence, the US had virtually no relations with the continent at the time, and would not until well after World War II. With the exception of Liberia, founded in 1847 by freed American slaves, and white-ruled South Africa, no other black African country was on the U.S. diplomatic radar at the time. In this sense, then, Ethiopia really was the first black African country that the United States ever befriended.

For a century now following the signing of a commercial treaty between President Theodore Roosevelt and Emperor Menelik II on December 27th, 1903, close relations between the two countries have endured nearly uninterrupted. During the long reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia, the country accounted for about half of all the military and development assistance lent by the United States to Black Africa and often hosted the largest detachment of Peace Corps volunteers on the continent. Even during the seventeen-year reign of the now-deposed Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ethiopia was the beneficiary of the largest disbursement of food aid extended by the U.S. to Africa. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the United States brokered Ethiopia's transition to the post-Cold War world order and has remained its closest and most influential western ally since.

While the geo-strategic significance of the Horn of Africa has always constituted an important consideration in the launching and maintenance of these relations, some of the country's unique attributes, like its primeval Judaeo-Christian and Moslem roots and nearly all-encompassing socio-cultural heritages have also endeared the country to Americans inducing strong people to people bonds that go well beyond formal state to state relations. Today, Ethiopians in the U.S. make up one of the largest groups of African immigrants. ]

Equally important and of particular historical note are the past and continuing bonds between Ethiopia and the African American Community. Relations between the African-American diaspora and Ethiopia predate 1903. The nation's triumph over Italian colonial aspirants at the battle of Adwa in the nineteenth century inspired black nationalist leaders and advocates of freedom throughout the continent and the new world. While some founding pan-Africanists and pioneering black scholars raised slogans like "back to Ethiopia", and the only independent black country in the western hemisphere at the time, Haiti, established contact with the Empire early on, at every challenging turn during the nation's troubled entry and ongoing transition to modernity in the 20th. and 21st centuries, African Americans have stood by them, whether it be to fight fascism or to combat famine and AIDS.

Conference at Stanford University

A two-day conference at Stanford University to commemorate this historical event will be held on Saturday, December 6th and Sunday, December 7th, 2003. The conference, which is free and open to the public, is primarily designed as a review and rerecording of the remarkable historical ties between the two countries and a dialogue to pin point areas where continuing cooperation can yield beneficial results. It will include presentations by former Ambassadors/Diplomats from both countries and various panel discussions by several scholars from across the country. Envisioned also as a celebratory gathering, it is hoped that the program will attract and feature notable Ethiopian artists in the Bay Area.

To learn more about the conference, please visit www.us-ethio-relations.com.

Awetu Simesso and Liben Eabisa are members of the Coordinating Committee for the Centennial of U.S.-Ethiopia Relations Conference.