U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Tibor Nagy after his visit to Ethiopia last week continued his regional tour, arriving in Djibouti on Saturday (December 1). He held talks with President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf during a visit aimed to further promote the longstanding U.S. and Djibouti relationship which is guided by mutual strategic interests and commitment to address shared challenges. Ambassador Nagy also met young Djiboutians who have attended the US Young African Leadership Initiative and alumni of the US International Visitor Leadership Program.
The Assistant Secretary of State met and held talks with President Isaias Afwerki, discussing bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest. According to Yemane Gebremeskel, Minister of Information of Eritrea, President Isaias underlined Eritrea’s readiness for constructive engagement to foster warm ties of cooperation with the US in various sectors. Ambassador Nagy also met with Eritrean youths who had participated inYoung African Leadership Initiative.
The visit of Assistant Secretary Ambassador Nagy to the region created the right platform for him to discuss regional issues with countries of the Horn of Africa. It was all the more important as the visit followed the lifting of UN sanctions on Eritrea. It is hoped that continued US engagement and closer cooperation with the countries of the region will be an additional encouragement to the already improving peace and security situation in the region. The dawn of peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea has catalyzed the process of resolving longstanding conflicts in the region and has become instrumental in helping to improve long existing diplomatic stalemates.
In September when Ambassador Nagy addressed the Sub Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US Congress in a discussion “Reviewing Current Developments in Ethiopia”, he said that, “Looking more broadly at regional issues, we enthusiastically welcomed Dr. Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki working together to end 20 years of conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. There is still much work to do to repair the consequences of the conflict for the peoples of both Eritrea and Ethiopia, especially in border regions. But we have already seen a tremendous outpouring of emotion on both sides supporting peace, and both governments have highlighted the positive consequences this will bring for the entire Horn of Africa.”
Indeed, as he predicted, the Ethio-Eritrea peace rapprochement has unleashed a renewed interest among countries of the region to work effectively to resolve long-standing issues of conflict in the region. In October, Ambassador Nagy wrote an article entitled, “The Future Belongs to Africa”, discussing his vision for US/Africa engagement. He articulated four themes of engagement for his regional tour: the promotion of stronger trade and commercial ties between the United States and Africa; harnessing the potential of Africa’s youth; advancing peace and security through partnerships; and underlining the US’ enduring commitment to the people and nations of Africa. These themes resonate well with the aspirations and wishes of the people to see a stable, prosperous and peaceful region. Creation of jobs is a challenge that needs the efforts of the countries of the region and also the concerted efforts of partners such as the United States to assist in the in the creation of sustainable job opportunities. In April this year, the then Acting Assistant Secretary, Donald Yamamoto, made a similar visit to the region, visiting Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
