The Diplomacy of Human Empowerment
Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
Proudly Representing Maryland's 7th District

The Centennial Commemoration of
Ethiopian-US Diplomatic Relations

Howard University African Studies Department
Howard University Ralph J Bunche International Affairs Center
The Armour J. Blackburn Center
Washington, D.C.

WELCOME

Good morning, everyone. I am very pleased to be here with you today as we mark the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and the United States.

I want to thank everyone who has worked so long and hard to make this conference a meaningful contribution to our long-standing relationship with the people of Ethiopia.

President [H. Patrick] Swygert, Dr. [Robert J.] Cummings, Ambassador [Horace G.] Dawson: I especially want to thank each of you for all that you are doing to educate our next generation of world leaders.

I am honored that you invited me back to Howard to join you today. And I am certain that my House colleagues, Chair Mike Honda of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and our own CBC Vice-Chair, Sheila Jackson Lee, would agree.

I am also pleased that Councilman Jim Graham will be offering his perspective later in this morning's program. Jim is a tireless advocate for human rights and opportunity – both in his past work at the Whitman Walker Clinic and now as a representative of the people of Washington, D.C.

I. THE CBC'S INTERNATIONAL LEGACY

Ladies and gentlemen - allow me to begin by thanking you for taking time from your very busy lives to participate in this conference. You are very important people – a theme to which I will return in a few minutes. Allow me to begin, however, with some more general observations about the importance of this conference.

As has been mentioned, I Chair the Congressional Black Caucus, 39 women and men in the United States Congress who, collectively, represent more than 26 million Americans.

A number of my colleagues in the CBC have developed great expertise in many of the policy aspects of our relationship with Ethiopia, Congressmen Donald Payne and Gregory Meeks, and Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee and Barbara Lee, to name just a few our acknowledged experts on Africa.

I am very proud of the leadership role that the CBC has played in advancing what I will refer to today as "the Diplomacy of Human Empowerment."

I take great satisfaction in our efforts to end apartheid in South Africa, to pass AGOA ( the African Growth and Opportunity Act), and, especially, our role in developing what has come to be called the Global Trust Fund for Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.

This Diplomacy of Human Empowerment is critical to America's security and our world leadership. I say this because of my conviction that truly empowered human beings have far less inclination to engage in the domination of other peoples or to fall sway to the destructive ideologies of mass terror.

II. HISTORY AS THE FOUNDATION OF OUR SHARED FUTURE

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the context in which I observe to you that now is a very appropriate time – and Howard University is an excellent place – for us to reflect upon America's relationship with the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

I say this not only because this is the centennial year of our formal diplomatic relations. That is important – but I think that you will agree that our primary focus at this conference should be the future, not the past.

We are creating the legacy that our children will inherit.

Our children are our living messages to a future that we may never see. And it is our responsibility to send messages to that future that are filled with competence, confidence and hope.

Looking over the program for this conference, I commend the organizers for balancing discussion of the past with a clear focus on the concrete steps that we must undertake now to build that better future for our children. The people of our two great nations have much to learn from our shared past as we move forward with our mutual desire for a more secure, democratic and prosperous world.

The last century of America's bilateral relationship with Ethiopia illustrates both successes and failures.

From the viewpoint of the future, the failures in our past are instructive.

With the benefit of hindsight, we now realize that America's failure to stand by Ethiopia against fascist Italy contributed to the breakdown of the League of Nations and the onset of World War II.

More recently, American and Soviet miscalculations during the Cold War contributed to the rise of dictatorship in Ethiopia, great hardship for all of the peoples of the Horn of Africa, and increased vulnerability for the United States and our strategic interests in the region.

I recall these failures of the past because of their relevance to current U.S. policy.

III. THE CHALLENGES THAT WE MUST FACE TOGETHER

During both the Clinton and Bush Administrations, a bipartisan coalition in the Congress has supported modest, but growing, U.S. involvement with Ethiopia in the areas of trade, economic development and public health – especially in our shared struggle against HIV/AIDS.

Those initiatives are squarely within what I have termed the "diplomacy of human empowerment." They reflect our shared humanity – and our shared interest in a more prosperous and more democratic world.

As laudable as these U.S. efforts have been, it is clear to me – and to my colleagues within the Congressional Black Caucus – that America should be doing far more in our partnership with Ethiopia.

Given Ethiopia's strategic significance to U.S. efforts against terrorism, that aspect of our bilateral relationship has gained increased prominence since September 11, 2001; and America appreciates Ethiopia's active engagement.

Shared efforts against terrorism, however, should not unduly dominate the relationship of our two countries. Our mutual efforts to stop terrorism today will be seen by history as short-sighted if they are not balanced by expanded U.S. engagement in Ethiopia's desperate need to achieve three critical objectives:

First, we need to work more pro-actively with the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea to end their conflict, reduce poverty and set the stage for expanded economic development throughout the Horn of Africa.

Second, we must do more to help Ethiopia alleviate poverty in the short run.

Third, notwithstanding the difficult circumstances under which the Ethiopian government is now working, it is in everyone's interest to advance fundamental human rights in the country and accelerate full democratic participation by all Ethiopians.

As you listen to the experts who will be participating in this conference, I hope that you will keep the following three observations about Ethiopia in the forefront of your thinking:

First, the economic realities confronting the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi are so compelling that failure to achieve short-term improvement may well seriously destabilize the country:

With a population of between 67 and 70 million people, Ethiopia is one of the most populous countries in Africa. It is also one of the poorest.

Currently, Ethiopia is staggering from four blows to both the head and body of her economy: (1) the cumulative impact of the border conflict with Eritrea; (2) a deterioration in the international terms of trade (especially the price of coffee); (3) the most recent drought, devastating to an economy dominated by agriculture; and (4) the HIV / AIDS epidemic.

I should note that, even prior to these blows, Ethiopia's real per capita GDP of about $100 per year was already one of the lowest in the world - and only about one-fifth of the Sub-Saharan African average.

As a result, more than four out of every ten Ethiopians continue to live below the basic needs poverty line – a condition that has become far more volatile because of the limited success in alleviating this widespread poverty during the last decade.

Second, the HIV virus is a knife at the throat of the Ethiopian nation that we must act more rapidly to remove.

Recent UN-AIDS estimates reveal that: (1) nearly 2 million Ethiopian adults have been infected by the virus – more than 230,000 children under the age of 15; (2) more than 160,000 Ethiopians have already died from the disease; and (3) nearly one million Ethiopian children are "AIDS orphans" today.

Perhaps Congresswoman Jackson Lee will have more to say about this ongoing tragedy. At this point, I offer only this insight:

These Ethiopian children are the world's children, ladies and gentlemen. These children are our children.

To paraphrase the words used by an African public health official some years ago:

"We must not allow history to say that, in the time of the great plague, the difference between those who died and those who were saved was no more than the color of a person's skin."

Third, a final peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea must be achieved, and it must be achieved soon.

This is a conflict that has done great damage to the people of the region – a dangerous situation that continues to stand in the way of peace and economic development today.

The cost to Ethiopia of the conflict between 1998 and 2000 was staggering, And that cost is continuing, standing in the way of critically needed initiatives in economic development, public health and regional security.

Consider these facts: (1) during the two years of bloody fighting, 100,000 Ethiopians and Eritreans lost their lives; (2) hundreds of thousands more were displaced – a human and economic crisis that is yet to be fully resolved; and (3) The war cost Ethiopia nearly $2 billion directly – and possibly an equivalent amount in indirect costs to her economy.

IV. TAKING ACTION FOR PEACE

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to ask you to join me in trying to do something constructive about this continuing roadblock to progress in the Horn of Africa.

It is my hope that, working together, we can encourage the President of the United States to invite the Presidents of Ethiopia and Eritrea to Washington for some serious discussions about achieving a lasting and mutually beneficial peace.

So, I am asking you to write me a note to this effect and leave it with Dr. Cummings, Ambassador Dawson or your conference registrars to be forwarded to me. If a substantial number of you will do this simple act for peace, I will write a letter to the President of the United States and Secretary of State Powell.

I will say to them that here is an opportunity for America to make up – just a little – for our failure to stop Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia.

Here is our opportunity, I will say, to show everyone in the Horn of Africa that the United States is willing to be helpful in establishing peace and prosperity there.

Will you do this for me and the people of Ethiopia?

Let this effort be the first legacy of this conference – our first action to make the future better for the children of an ancient and great civilization.

Let's do what we can to end this war.

CLOSING: THE POWER OF THE DIASPORA

I am almost finished now, but I want to conclude these remarks with a personal reflection about the power that those of you who are part of the Ethiopian "diaspora" have in your hands.

I want to remind you – ladies and gentlemen – that you have the power to influence the future of two great countries.

I know this from my own personal experience.

I didn't come to this interest that I have in the future of Ethiopia totally by accident. My admiration and concern for the people of Ethiopia predates my term as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Some years ago, before my election to the Congress, I was practicing law in Baltimore. In that capacity, I was asked to represent a small, Baltimore parking management firm owned by an Ethiopian American family.

My clients had originally come to the United States to complete their education.

When the light of freedom darkened in Ethiopia, they became refugees.

They started a small business parking cars. And, like so many of you here today, they worked hard, succeeded and became citizens of the United States.

The father and husband in this family is gone now. I miss him more than I can express.

But the mother and wife, Ms. Amsale Geletu, is here with us today.

With her permission, I will read you what Amsale said to then Mayor (and now Howard Law School Dean) Kurt Schmoke and a group of us back in 1998, when she was celebrating the first decade of her company.

I read you these words because they exemplify the courage and determination, the wisdom and strength, that I have come to know in so many of my Ethiopian friends.

Here is what Amsale Geletu said back in 1998:

"THANK YOU FOR OUR HOME"

I welcome each of you to the 10th anniversary celebration of our firm, the company with the memorable name. It is good to mark this milestone in the company of so many friends.

Good friends are always important in business. It is always the people around us who make the difference in our lives.

That is why I decided to invite my friends to the 10th Birthday Party of PMS Parking.

You are the reason I have my business.

You are the friends who have helped me to support my son, Mikael.

You are the reason we have a home in America.

For you to understand how important each of you is to me, I have to take you back before 1988, before there was a PMS Parking.

Getahun and I were young, then. We had left our homes in Ethiopia to get an education in America.

We traveled to a far-away place called Baltimore. We wanted to learn what America could teach us and take that knowledge back to Ethiopia.

We were young and carefree students, studying in a foreign land.

But while we learned about business and baseball,
while we studied history and ate crab cakes,
while we fell in love in a foreign land,
thieves came with guns in their hands
and stole our homeland.

So, I value you, the friends who have helped us create the business which gives my son a home.

You gave us a home when our homeland was gone.

Getahun and I came to America care-free,
and, then, the world changed -
and we became refugees.

We had come to America to reach the stars,
and here we were, parking your cars.

But we worked hard, and we learned,
grateful to have a place that was safe,
to have work here in Baltimore,
back in 1988.

And that is where you begin to enter our story, my Baltimore friends.

We decided to stay here, to become one of you - Americans, through and through.

We decided to take a chance on ourselves,
and a man named Elijah helped us to win
our first parking contract, the Holiday Inn.

Our business was started, but we needed to grow.
We looked to the City, but found the doors closed.
Just a few old firms, with friends in the know,
controlled all the work.
We had nowhere to go....

So we went to the Mayor.
We went to see Kurt,
and asked for some bids
to give us a chance -
He was fair, so he did.

The old firms decided
to give us a fight.
But Elijah stuck with us
and brought his friend, Mike.

When the bidding was opened,
when the fighting was done,
the old guard was broken,
and we had won.

That is the story of our beginning, friends. That is how two immigrants from a tortured foreign land found a home in America.

The years that followed brought me the joy of our son, Mikael, and the pain of losing Getahun.

In our ten years, we have known success and failure.

We have grown as a company. We now manage 2,500 parking spaces. We can offer work to 60 people.

We still are not large, but we work hard, and we are growing.

You cannot know how grateful I am to all of you for being part of our American story.

Unless you have been displaced from your home,
you cannot know
what it is like to be alone
among strangers.

And that is why I am so grateful to all of you here.

To my friend, Mayor Kurt Schmoke, for giving us a chance.

To my friend, my former lawyer and now Congressman, Elijah Cummings, for believing in us and turning our chance into a new start in our new country.

To my friend, Mike Christianson, for always being there when we needed him.

To my friend, Herb Garten, for catching us when the world fell apart.

To my friend, Scott Phillips, for picking us up again.

To all of you, to all of the friends who have made America our home, Mickey and I and all of rest of us at PMS Parking - the people who make our company a family - say:

"Thank you, for taking us in."

"Thank you for giving us a home – and a new country."

We will never forget what you have done for us.

We will never, ever, let you down.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are the words of a great Ethiopian and – now – a great American.

Amsale Geletu, would you stand for a moment? I have something that I want to say to you.

Amsale, we never know how or when we will be in a position to influence the course of history for the better.

Because of the content of your character – because of the integrity that Getahun and you showed to me, again and again – I developed a special affection for all of the Ethiopian people.

You words to that little gathering back in 1998 reveal to all of us here today something important – something that the historians and other experts cannot fully express.

The strength of Ethiopia is not in her history. The strength of Ethiopia is in her people today – both those living in the Horn of Africa and those who have become Americans.

So, to you, and all of the other Ethiopians like you, I say this: Thank you for being who you are.

Thank you for putting a human face on the diplomacy that can make the world more secure and more free.

Thank you for helping me to advance a "diplomacy of human empowerment," a new diplomacy that we all need to be supporting with every ounce of our being.

You are a great lady, Amsale Geletu. You and your son, Mikael, exemplify America's future and Ethiopia's destiny.

That is how I know that Ethiopia, despite all of the trials and challenges she faces, will succeed as a democracy.

Thank you for that, my friend.

And thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your kindness to me today

- Speech Site http://www.house.gov/cummings/speech/sp032504.htm