Kerry, Ethiopian Foreign Minister After Their Meeting
25 May 2013
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
May 25, 2013
2013/T07-11
REMARKS
Secretary of State John Kerry
And Ethiopian Foreign Minister Adhanom Tedros
After Their Meeting
May 25, 2013
African Union Headquarters
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody. It's my
privilege to be here at this special celebration of the 50th anniversary of
the African Union and its predecessor organization. And I'm very, very
pleased to have just met with Prime Minister Hailemariam, and I'm happy to
be here with the Foreign Minister Tedros who we have met previously and had
a chance to talk. And I think there are several key components of our
relationship that I want to highlight.
First of all, we are working very closely on economic development, economic
issues, bilateral trade issues. And the Prime Minister expressed his hope
appropriately that the United States will in fact become more engaged, that
the private sector of the United States will become more engaged in
Ethiopia. We talked about some of the ways that that could happen. The
Africa Growth Opportunity Act - the AGOA Act, as we know it - is one
important component, and there will be a conference we hope in August,
providing the dates remain firm, that will focus on this economic
development. We also support Ethiopia's accession to the WTO, and we are
going to work with Ethiopia in an effort to try to help that transition.
The second area is the area of peace and stability, in the region
particularly. Ethiopia has been a very strong partner, a very important
partner in efforts with respect to Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia. I worked
very closely with former Prime Minister Meles, who - I came here to Addis
Ababa, we worked on the issue of the comprehensive peace agreement and the
referendum and moving South Sudan to independence. And we worked on the
questions of Abyei and the two areas. We talked about that now and we both
agreed that the situation between South Sudan and Sudan remains tense. There
was work to be done, and we are going to continue to work in order to do -
to address those challenging issues of Abyei, Blue Nile, South Kordofan, and
the relationship between the North and the South.
I've mentioned previously, but I haven't necessarily said it to the press
here, I will be appointing a special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan shortly,
and we look forward to engaging with our friends here in Ethiopia on efforts
to try to bring greater stability to the region.
We are particularly grateful to Ethiopia for their initiative, a very
important initiative in respect to Somalia. It is fair to say that the
Ethiopian initiative, together with American help and support, has helped to
reduce the threat of ultraviolence, and it has helped significantly to be
able to produce a new opportunity for governance. And it is governance now
that is the greater challenge, rather than the al-Shabaab threat.
Finally, I just raised the question - the third pillar of concern and of
relationship is that of building democracy and of protecting human rights.
This is a critical component. As everybody knows, we believe very deeply
that where people can exercise their rights and where there is an ability to
have a strong democracy, the economy is stronger, the relationship with the
government is stronger, people do better, and it's an opportunity to be able
to grow faster, stronger, by rule of law. We want to continue to work with
our friends in Ethiopia as they work hard to try to improve any number of
initiatives with respect to those concerns.
So I'm delighted to be here. This is a very special moment. Ethiopia is not
only the host, but the Prime Minister wears the hat of president of union
and we're honored to be here with him sharing this very important moment.
And Mr. Foreign Minister, thank you. Appreciate it.
FOREIGN MINISTER TEDROS: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you so
much, talking about this very important day for Africa in general, and for
Ethiopia in particular. And I would like to also share with you that we have
had very useful discussions on the areas that the Secretary already had
mentioned - on the economic front as it had say, that should be the focus,
especially in our future relationships. And we're very grateful for the AGOA
summit that will be conducted in Ethiopia August 12-13. We hope that will
strengthen the trade and investment relationships between the U.S. and
Ethiopia.
And in addition to that, we have had, as many of you know, relationships on
social, political, defense, and security points. If we take, especially the
social one, Ethiopia is the beneficiary of their foreign (inaudible). And
that opportunity has been using Ethiopia in a unique way. Not only we have
used the three foreign (inaudible) opportunities to save lives, but we used
it to build our system also to better fight for the future. And I would like
to express how grateful we are for this very generous support from the
government and people of the United States. It's really made a difference in
Ethiopia.
And we had also we had (inaudible) very frank discussions on either issues,
and Secretary said democracy is our priority. We're committed to democracy,
but as a national democracy. We really need strong cooperation and working
together with the U.S. And we had, as we have said, discussed on regional
issues - regional peace and security, Sudan and South Sudan. And on Somalia,
I think he said it well, so I don't want to add on that. But I would like to
thank the Secretary for his decision to assign an envoy (inaudible) working
(inaudible).
So finally I would like again to thank to the historic and very strong
partnership we have with the U.S., and I hope it will grow even stronger in
the future and look forward to working with you very closely as it does so
much good.
SECRETARY KERRY: Likewise.
MS. PSAKI: The U.S. question will be from Scott of VOA.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, the Nigerian Government says its broken up some
Boko Haram groups in the North, yet there are concerns remaining about gross
human rights violations by Nigerian security forces. What's your message
about striking a balance there? And on Sudan and South Sudan, the oil is
flowing again, but there remain the other issues between Khartoum and Juba,
so how do you help resolve them?
And Mr. Minister, in light of the attacks in Niger, what is the African
Union doing along with the international community to try to come up with a
strategy to secure the broader Sahelian region against the spread of
terrorism? Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much. Well, Boko Haram is a terrorist
organization and they have killed wantonly and upset the normal governance
of Nigeria in fundamental ways that are unacceptable. And so we defend the
right completely of the Government of Nigeria to defend itself and to fight
back against terrorists.
That said, I have raised the issue of human rights with the government, with
the Foreign Minister. We have talked directly about the imperative of
Nigerian troops adhering to the highest standards and not themselves
engaging in atrocities or in human rights violations. That is critical. And
the balance comes by having strong leadership - leadership from the civilian
government, leadership that flows through the forces that are there. We've
talked about it directly.
To their credit, the government has acknowledged that there have been some
problems and they're not - they're working to try to control it. It's not
easy; very complicated, and wide open spaces, very ungoverned, very, very
difficult - very complex territory and terrain and very challenging
enterprise. But always, we all of us try to hold the highest standards of
behavior. One person's atrocity does not excuse another's. And revenge is
not the motive; it's good governance, it's ridding yourself of a terrorist
organization so that you can establish a standard of law that people can
respect. And that's what needs to happen in Nigeria.
With respect to --
QUESTION: Sudan and South Sudan.
SECRETARY KERRY: On the Sudan-South Sudan, you are absolutely correct. There
are very significant border challenges, but they're bigger than that. In
South Kordofan and Blue Nile, you have people who for a long time have felt
that they want their secular governance and their identity respected. And
they don't want independence. They are not trying to break away from Sudan.
Unfortunately, President Bashir is trying to press on them, through
authoritarian means and through violence, an adherence to a standard that
they simply don't want to accept, with respect to Islamism and a rigidity
with respect to their identity. So that's the fundamental (inaudible).
And what is critical here, in my judgment, is for President Bashir to
respect what the people in South Kordofan and Blue Nile are trying to
achieve. Now it's more complicated because you have the SPLM-North that has
received support from the South, and that makes the North feel like the
South is instigating some of what is taking place. So we need to resolve
those differences. And that's the work of an envoy and my work over the
course of these next months, working with our friends here. We've always
been very focused on and helpful in trying to reduce the violence.
Abyei presents a special challenge, obviously. And I think we agreed that it
was critical that Abyei be able to have a referendum with the appropriate
Miseria - that is the Miseria who actually live in Abyei and have residence
there year round, not the migrant Miseria - that they be able to vote
together with residents and then to decide the future.
I think North and South are in a very delicate place right now. It is
important to build on the peace process, the comprehensive peace agreement,
to build on the new independence of the young state, and to put the focus
and energy on the people and on developing the future, not on fighting the
issues of the past. That's our challenge, all of us, and we are certainly
going to continue to work at it.
FOREIGN MINISTER TEDROS: Thank you. On the terrorism issue, especially Niger
and the Sahel, as you know, we have now experienced terrorism. It is now
serious threat to Africa, and we had experience in this region and certainly
(inaudible). And what's happening in Niger is not isolated incidents. We
have to see it in relation to what has happened - what's happening in Mali
and the whole south of Niger. And when it's experienced in Africa on how to
tackle that, we support of course from governments like U.S. and we will
address it within that framework based upon the experience we have. But have
to consider it as a serious issue, and fight it aggressively.
MODERATOR: (Inaudible) now it is (inaudible) question to the Ethiopian side.
Let me invite (inaudible).
QUESTION: Thank you. From (inaudible). It is understood that Ethiopia
(inaudible) 12 years. How do you comment this? How can (inaudible) this
success you have got to (inaudible)? Another question: The peacekeeping
process is very difficult. What will be your assistance to this process?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me begin on the peacekeeping first. Yes, it is
expensive and we know that. And we are providing assistance and we will
continue to provide assistance. I think Ethiopia feels as if it needs more
assistance. We understand that. Let me express my gratitude on behalf of not
just the American people but everybody who benefits and cares about peace is
grateful to Ethiopia. Ethiopians have put themselves on the line in order to
fight against terrorism and to fight for peace. And I believe that we owe
Ethiopia support and assistance in order to help them do that.
With respect to the economic growth, we would love to have Ethiopia's
economic growth. Ethiopia's one of the ten fastest growing countries in the
world. It's up in the double digits in growth. It's really quite an
extraordinary story. And so I think the United States needs to - our private
sector businesses need to focus on Ethiopia and recognize the opportunities
that are here and hopefully we can encourage more companies to come here and
be engaged and help take part in this.
But I think the future's being defined by countries like Ethiopia, the
future of Africa, which we are celebrating in this 50th anniversary meeting
today. There's been an enormous transition in the last 50 years. There are
many more democracies and many more transitions to democracy, and many more
peaceful places than there are violent ones and dictators. It is changing,
and it is changing in a way that is strong so that lots of countries -
Russia, Brazil, China, Japan, others - are investing and moving to take
advantage of the economic possibilities of growth and development in Africa.
The United States has been behind on that, and we need to change that.
QUESTION: We have time for one last --
QUESTION: Excuse me.
FOREIGN MINISTER TEDROS: What time is the Secretary (inaudible) - for second
time there (inaudible) and we apologize for that because we have to run.
SECRETARY KERRY: We have to run. Seriously, the Foreign Minister only has
about 68 countries to deal with. (Laughter.) Thank you both.
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Received on Sun May 26 2013 - 11:23:47 EDT
