The Ethiopia - United States relationship dates from the dusk of the 19th century when the first official diplomatic contacts were established. In large measure, this friendship has reflected global events including in Ethiopia and in the U.S of the past century.
Ethiopia and the U.S.A, during the decades circa 1930 - 1973 forged a firm strategic alliance that included military cooperation (MAAG), and technical and development assistance, the latter facilitated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Following the 1974 change in Ethiopia's polical landscape, let alone USAID, all Ethio- U.S relations hit rock bottom as a staunchly Marxist Ethiopia, caught in the Cold War maelstrom, turned on "Yankee imperialists and their capitalist lackeys" - to use the lingo of the era.
17 years of military rule later, the Cold War frozen and a new order in Ethiopia, bilateral relations have blossomed since the early 1990s.
Glenn E. Anders, USAID Mission Director, was in Borena recently to hand over USAID funded livestock market centers where Capital's Addis Mulugeta met him to present this exclusive. Excerpts:

Legacy of friendship

“Although relations were frigid, we continued to help”

Capital: Describe the history of United States government and USAID assistance to Ethiopia?
Glenn E. Anders: It is a long one because United States assistance and USAID go back to the days of the Emperor when we had major loans; we also helped with the establishment of Ethiopian Airlines back in the late 1940's as well as support with developing universities such as Alamaya, (Haromaya) and Jimma and the Gonder Medical School. Therefore, I would say a lot of emphasis has been placed on the development of education. I am not familiar with all the history but I know that up to the Derg era, our bilateral relationship was very strong but even after 1974, assistance was provided during famines. For instance in 1984, there was a terrible famine in Ethiopia and USAID was quick to respond to the situation. Although relations were frigid, we continued to help provide food relief because, we feel that humanitarian assistance should not be about politics; you help people regardless of the government and the state of relations between countries. But then, I think we also even helped some of the liberation groups as well with food assistance through NGOs. Now, of course, with the new government since 1991 we have had a much more intense relationship in many sectors, like in agriculture, education and health. Of course, we continue with humanitarian assistance when it's needed as it is right now, because of the crisis in some parts of Ethiopia.

Capital: How does your -Ethiopia program rank in scope among other USAID focus countries?
Glenn: I think this year; it will be as large as Sudan, which is the largest USAID program in Africa. Of course, Sudan has the tragedy of Darfur and a lot of our investment in humanitarian assistance is going to Darfur, as well as to help develop southern Sudan. Certainly, now in Ethiopia we are at about the same size as the program in Sudan. We are working in just about every sector with the exception maybe of infrastructure and energy.

Capital: How would you rate the effectiveness of USAID-Ethiopia cooperation?
Glenn: I think it is very good as we have a very close relationship with the government. We cooperate closely with the deputy prime minister, the ministries of health, education, agriculture, and trade and industry, as well as activity on export promotion in relation to WTO accession. We are working with a number of regional governments, for instance,of Oromia, Amhara, Tigray and Somali . We have programs also that benefit the private sector in Ethiopia; including small businesses and export industries, as well as engaging with a number of local NGOs.

Capital: What have been challenges over the course of past and recent events in Ethiopia? What is in the pipeline?
Glenn: We don't have much in the pipeline except for a pipeline of funding for HIV/AIDS. The administration and congress have been very generous and it is a very large program, now valued at 300 to 350 million dollars. That is a huge amount of funding to move into the health system. Other areas perhaps have been a bit slower but still I think we are doing pretty well. Obviously, this is a very large and diverse country, with a large population, and it can be to hard keep up with population growth. You do something and you turn round 10 years later and there are so many more people. This means we have to be very careful to ensure that we tailor our approaches appropriately for a given region of the country.
Therefore, sometimes we encounter difficulties on projects because there is a lack of regional capacity, partly due to the brain drain out of Ethiopia. My own country is responsible for a lot of Ethiopian professionals going to the United States, which is good for the US, but not so good for Ethiopia. Of course, here in the South, rainfall is a bit erratic so that is an additional challenge to agriculture. And then, there is of course, a financial challenge too. I mean; the revenue base of the country is small so it doesn't have the amount of funds that it would like to have, limiting how much the government can invest.

Capital: Are USAID activities in Ethiopia distributed in geographically equitable manner?
Glenn: I am not sure it is equitable. For instance, the population of the Somali region is very small and yet we are trying to do a lot of work in the region because of the many problems there, such as low rainfall, harsh conditions and the regional government's lack of capacity. I think, among the other regions, (we are in all regions); our biggest programs are in Oromia, Amhara and Tigray. These are also the most populous regions. However, a lot of our programs go directly to the national government, so, in a way, they cover in effect, all the regions. For instance, we have helped the Ministry of Health to train 30,000 health extension workers, and the ministry is quite pleased with the result.

Capital: What initiated USAID to launch the Borena project? How has it been received by local communities?
Glenn: Three years ago, there was a pastoral crisis, when the rains failed. We are very concerned with the impacts in pastoralist areas. Particularly, the Borena who are the best pastoralists in the country. We then received extra funding from Washington and decided to try to use this to help in a number of ways; help the herders understand stocking, bring buyers into the areas to purchase excess livestock, and to create marketing centers. One of the reasons we are here is to open a marketing center in Dubluk, Oromia. Also I think there is a women's component as well as adults' and girls' alternative education and programs in water improvement. So in Borena we focused manly on livestock, trying to help them manage economic assets which of course are their herds and also, programs related to families and other aspects of pastoral life.
The local community has received the programs pretty well in every place. They seem to appreciate the program, certainly the marketing centers. On market days people are attracted to the central point where both buyers and sellers converge. It is actually better that way because it is a more open and freer market rather than one buyer going in to the bush to find one herder selling animals. Prices can be compared so that having a market center, the government can collect taxes; provide veterinary services and also some feed for the animals. Obviously, all these wealth and water resource projects are much appreciated in the area and my sense is, although I haven't visited all that many areas, the ones I have visited have expressed great satisfaction with the assistance provided.

Capital: Would you like to comment about the NGO regulation draft legislation?
Glenn: We are very concerned about the laws. We have told the government and our Ambassador has spoken directly with the Prime Minister. Also USAID Administrator Hennery IV has written to the P.M. There are several problems for us One is, we would like to be able to continue work in areas such as women's and disabled groups, help to strengthen the judiciary, and conflict mediation at local level. The latter program has been very effective. However, the proposed law precludes us from doing such work.
The law seems to be very draconian, containing harsh penalties as well. We understand the government is consulting among themselves and they seem to be responsive to solve our concerns and look into the matter. I know that there is obviously concern among Ethiopian civil society as well and I know that they have had a dialog with the government on this particular issue.