Speech at a Reception hosted by Ambassador Aidan O’Hara
Radisson Blu Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 5th November 2014
A chairde na hÉireann agus na hAetóipe,
Dear Friends of Ireland and Ethiopia,
May I thank you, Ambassador O’Hara, Mrs. Clévy O’Hara, and all of you here this evening for the warm welcome you have accorded to me, to my wife Sabina, to Minister Seán Sherlock T.D., and to the entire Irish delegation.
It gives me great pleasure to be here today, as Ireland and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia celebrate 20 years of very harmonious diplomatic relations. While emphasising the importance of these past two decades, I wish to acknowledge, however, that the deep ties that exist between our two lands go back much further – through the relations woven by our missionaries, through political alliances, through Irish people’s identification with the experience of famine, and through those with an adventurous spirit.
In preparing for this visit, I came upon the work of two brothers, Arnaud and Antoine Thomson d’Abbadie. These two geographer brothers – who were born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a French Basque father – arrived in Massawa, now in Eritrea, in 1838. Over several years, the two brothers travelled throughout Abyssinia as far as the Kingdom of Kaffa. Their account of their time in this region, Twelve years in Upper Ethiopia[1], not only describes their geographical and anthropological discoveries but also how they became embroiled in political events of the day.
What impressed me in their work was their ability to liberate themselves from the prejudices regarding foreigners and foreign lands that had surrounded them as they grew up in Dublin, and the ease with which they immersed themselves in Abyssinian culture to deliver an impartial and unbiased picture of the people and traditions they encountered: a humanist approach which was then ahead of its time – but which today infuses the relationships between our two peoples.
The Irish engagement with Ethiopia, Ethiopian politics and Ethiopian people in the 20th century came to public attention memorably with Eamon De Valera’s support of Emperor Haile Sellasie at the League of Nations in 1936. Two days after Haile Sellassie’s tragically unsuccessful appeal against the Italian conquest of Ethiopia, De Valera expressed the sentiment of the Irish delegation with the following words:
“Perhaps as the representative of a small nation that has itself experience of aggression and dismemberment, the members of the Irish Delegation may be more sensitive than others to the plight of Ethiopia … But make no mistake, if on any pretext whatever we were to permit the sovereignty of even the weakest State amongst us to be unjustly taken away, the whole foundation of the League would crumble into dust”.[2]
No-one needs reminding of what followed. But these words are a powerful reminder that multilateralism is precious and needs nurturing. In their own time, Emperor Selassie and De Valera held strongly to the notion of ‘collective security’, and while both leaders passed away within a couple of days of each other in 1975, both our countries continue to steadily uphold this concept through our membership of multilateral institutions and support to multilateral action.
While older Irish generations were familiar with the figure of Emperor Haile Sellassie, and, through visits home from missionaries, may have known of life in Ethiopia, younger Irish generations became acutely aware of this region in the year 1984, thirty years ago this month, when television pictures brought the tragic famine in Ethiopia to the attention of worldwide audiences.
Following on from that broadcast, the Band Aid single and the ‘Live Aid’ worldwide television broadcast, co-ordinated by Bob Geldof with his urgent and somewhat colourful appeals for donations, alerted many young Irish people for the first time to the ravages of famine in Ethiopia and the complex series of factors behind such plight.
Today public discourse in Ethiopia is shifting away from war, disadvantage and hunger, to debates about industrialisation, trade, socio-economic rights and the nature of citizenship. Of course many challenges remain – among them the need to respond to the predicament of thousands of men, women and children who were forced to leave behind their homes, communities and means of survival to seek refuge here.
I am very much looking forward to visiting the Tigray region tomorrow and seeing how Irish Aid’s support of agricultural projects in the area, through the Tigray Agricultural Research Institute, has contributed to visibly transforming the landscape, turning it into crop-filled pastures when once it was barren, and enhancing the lives of farming families in the region.
Ethiopia has a history of receiving people displaced by cross-border movements, due to droughts, conflicts, political events and civil wars in its neighbouring countries, including Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. I want to pay tribute to the government of Ethiopia for maintaining an open-door-policy and having continuously allowed humanitarian access and protection to those seeking refuge on its territory. This country is currently home to a population of over 600,000 refugees, who are mainly accommodated in camps distributed across the Ethiopian territory, including in Dollo Ado, Shire, Gambella and Assosa.
As many of you are aware, Ethiopia is host to over 190,000 South Sudanese refugees,[3] and many of you here this evening will have worked in or visited the refugee camps in Gambella.
Yesterday, Sabina and I travelled West to Gambella, where we met some of these refugees. I was moved and angered by the tragedy of their desperate situation, who were let down after all the exuberance which we shared with them when South Sudan became independent just three years ago. I was also impressed by their dignity and courage, and I felt heartened to see the response of the United Nations agencies, the international NGOs and Irish NGOs including Goal and Concern.
The Irish NGO workers I met in Gambella are so clearly dedicated and focussed in their relief efforts. To me, they represent an ‘Irishness’ to which all of us should aspire, motivated by deep empathy put in action and strong ethical character.
I witnessed this same motivation and commitment on Monday, here in Addis Ababa, when I visited the women’s enterprise programme funded by Trócaire – and I know it is this same sense of our shared humanity and solidarity that motivates our missionary community here in Ethiopia.
On Monday I also met with President Mulatu Teshome and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. Each of them spoke warmly, and with sincerity, of the quality of our bilateral relationship. During our conversation, I emphasised how the people to people ties between our two countries go hand in hand with our warm diplomatic relations.
Ireland’s focus on rural livelihoods and poverty will of course remain for the foreseeable future, but Africa, and Ethiopia in particular, is fast evolving. I know that quite a number of you here this evening are hoping to bring goods and services into this society that will help boost the country’s economic and social transformation. I know that you can rely on the support of Ambassador O’Hara and his team at the Embassy and I hope that both the Double Taxation Agreement and the Bilateral Transport Agreement, signed by the Minister this week, will be useful instruments in fostering trade and exchanges between Ireland and Ethiopia.
As we embark on the next twenty years of our partnership we have to anticipate that both countries will be different to what they were as recently as 1994. This means being imaginative, building on the links we have already forged and opening our minds to new areas of mutual co-operation outside the current established framework.
To conclude, may I, once again, thank all of you for your contribution to the bonds of friendship and cooperation that exist between Ireland and Ethiopia. I know that each of you has your own story about why you are here, and what you have gained and learned from living here – and I hope to hear many of your stories tonight.
Of course, I could not conclude without using an Ethiopian proverb, which, like many an Irish proverb, pertains to the weather:
“I am pleased to come to the land of 13 months of sunshine and blessing.”
It is, indeed, a blessing to visit Addis Ababa and to witness at first hand the progress underway across the land.
Go raith míle maith agaibh – Amasegenallou.
[1] Douze ans de séjour dans La Haute Éthiopie.
[2] http://www.difp.ie/docs/1936/Failure-of-the-League-of-Nations/1716.htm
[3] http://data.unhcr.org/SouthSudan/regional.php