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DE RUEHDS #0387/01 0551245
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FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 000387 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM MOPS ECON EINV EAGR SO AF ET
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: PM MELES-CODELS TALK FRANKLY ABOUT 
DEMOCRACY, ECONOMICS, MORE 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000387  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Members of Codels Durbin and Meeks asked PM 
Meles on February 17 about the status of Ethiopia's 
democracy, prospects for food self-sufficiency, differences 
between Chinese and U.S. approaches to economic assistance 
and investment, the high numbers of Ethiopian medical 
professionals who have relocated to the U.S., and security 
challenges on the Somalia border.  Meles straightforwardly 
replied that Ethiopia's 90-plus opposition parties 
demonstrate a lack of a coherent opposition and hence the 
immaturity of its democracy; that Ethiopia cannot develop its 
agricultural resources without massive foreign input; that 
China's influence in Ethiopia is growing dramatically because 
China offers serious assistance in building infrastructure; 
that Ethiopia is trying to retain its primary care medical 
professionals rather than the specialists who find better 
offers overseas; and that Ethiopia combines strong defensive 
measures with religious and ethnic tolerance in an effort to 
keep religious extremists at bay along the Somalia border. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Codels Durbin and Meeks met jointly with Ethiopian 
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for 90 minutes on February 17 in 
his Addis Ababa office.  Four members of Congress joined 
Charge John Yates in the meeting: Senator Dick Durbin, 
Senator Sherrod Brown, Congressman Gregory Meeks, and 
Congressman Melvin Watt.  Gebretensae Gebremichael, senior 
advisor to the PM, also participated as did P/E counselor. 
 
 
Meles: Elections Pose Threat to Constitutional Order 
------------------------------- -------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Noting the vibrant two-party system in the U.S., 
Congressman Watt asked after the state of Ethiopia's 
democratic development.  The PM replied that "multiparty 
democracy is a work-in-progress in Ethiopia."  He said the 
existence of 90-plus opposition parties is not a sign of 
strength but of extreme divisions within a political class 
that is still at an early stage of its evolution.  He alleged 
that a key difference between Ethiopian and American politics 
is that some of the opposition parties in Ethiopia oppose the 
Constitution and, if elected, would work to change it in 
fundamental ways.  As a result, he added, "political debate 
in Ethiopia is more heated and the outcome of elections is 
more far-reaching than in the U.S." Notwithstanding these 
difficulties in engagement between the parties, he concluded, 
"we are moving the right direction." 
 
 
Ethiopia Trying to Hold the Line on Food Insecurity 
-------------------------------- ------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Congressman Watt asked why Ethiopia cannot replicate 
its great success in growing and exporting coffee in order to 
support its people with a vibrant agricultural sector.  Meles 
replied that Ethiopia's record in this regard was a qualified 
success in that its population has doubled since the 1980s 
but the number of food insecure people has not changed.  He 
said the southwest of the country has been receiving adequate 
rain and has greatly increased productivity by use of 
improved seeds and other modernizations whereas other areas 
have not received adequate rain in recent years and that's 
where the problem of food insecurity is acute.  He said 
massive investment in these "environmentally degraded" areas 
is needed, adding that "the international donor community has 
not been as forthcoming as we had hoped, although the Obama 
initiative has us hoping again." 
 
China: Hard to Beat Free Money, But U.S. Investors Welcome to 
Try 
------------------------------- 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Senator Durbin asked the PM about Ethiopia's 
economic relations with China and whether there were concerns 
about long-term impacts of relying heavily on Chinese 
largesse.  Congressman Meeks asked whether the Chinese model 
has included capacity building and job-creation for Ethiopia. 
 Meles replied that "China is alone in doing infrastructure 
work in Africa and people feel they have no choice" but to 
accept China's outreach.  He said China has extended $1.5 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000387  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
billion in credit for expansion of Ethiopia's telecom network 
and extended billions more in credit for construction of 
roads.  He acknowledged that terms of these soft loans 
usually include provisions that Chinese companies will do 
much of the work involved but justified the arrangements on 
the grounds that "they are prepared to come up with the money 
whereas western donors have opted out of infrastructure," 
adding that Chinese companies would win most contracts even 
if openly tendered because "they do quality work cheap." 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Beyond infrastructure projects, Meles said China 
also is intensifying private investment in Ethiopia.  He sees 
this investment as the logical consequence of growing incomes 
in China that are making labor-intensive manufacturing 
unprofitable.  He expects the relocation factories, many of 
them western-owned, from China to Africa to continue.  He 
said Ethiopia would prefer to diversify its business-partners 
and pointed to rapidly increasing Indian investment as well. 
Nevertheless he admitted to concerns about overreliance on 
China and the disproportionate involvement of Chinese labor 
in Chinese-financed projects, a concern he said he shared 
with leaders across Africa.  He said China had been somewhat 
responsive to these concerns and has begun to arrange 
training of Ethiopian workers through vocational colleges. 
In the longer term, Meles expects market forces to compel 
China to hire more Ethiopian workers. 
 
¶7. (SBU) PM Meles urged the visiting Codel members to look at 
Ethiopia, and Africa generally, as an emerging market in the 
sense that India was 20 years ago.  He said China and India 
today see the same problems with corruption and other 
obstacles that U.S. investors see, yet Indians and Chinese 
invest whereas the west does not.  He explained this 
difference in investor perspective as the result of 
experience with Chinese and Indians less risk averse because 
their own national stories demonstrate that these obstacles 
to not preclude serious profit.  He asked the visitors to 
help change the perception of Africa from one of a basket 
case to an emerging economy worthy of the leveraging of 
investment resources. 
 
Ethiopia Resigned to Poaching of Medical Professionals 
----------------------------- ------------------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) Senator Brown raised the fact that the Washington, 
D.C. area has 2,500 ethnic Ethiopian physicians and that the 
U.S. has more ethnic Nigerian doctors than African American 
doctors.  He asked the PM what we should do to address this 
effective subsidization of U.S. medical care by Ethiopia. 
Meles was familiar with the situation and said his pragmatic 
approach to the problem started with a realization that 80 
percent of Ethiopia's most acute health-care cases involve 
preventable diseases treatable by primary care physicians 
rather than the specialists more likely to emigrate.  He said 
legal tools such as withholding diplomas pending completion 
of required public service help mitigate the worst effects of 
the doctor drain but added that Ethiopia has no real choice 
but to train more physicians than needed in the hope that an 
adequate number will remain in Ethiopia. 
 
Somalia: Ethiopia Using Carrots and Sticks Along the Border 
------------------------------------------ ---------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Senator Durbin raised Somalia, asking Meles how 
Ethiopia approached the danger of fundamentalists trying to 
gain a foothold in Ethiopia by playing on the ethnic and 
religious associations of refugees and the cross-border 
population.  The PM replied that Ethiopia has in place 
substantial defensive measures along the border and remains 
vigilant 24 hours a day.  Regarding Ethiopia's indigenous 
Somali population, Meles said his government's policy is to 
let the people use their own languages and courts and to 
implement infrastructure improvements that will help foster a 
sense of connectedness to Ethiopia. 
MUSHINGI