British Foreign Secretary stops in Ethiopia, before attending South Sudan independence

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

July 8, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, on Friday visited Ethiopia for consultations with top government officials ahead of his visit to South Sudan to attend the new country’s independence celebrations.

After two decades of bitter civil war the world is due to witness the birth of new nation, South Sudan, on Saturday with tens of thousands of exiled southern Sudanese flocking home to celebrate the long waited North-South divorce.

Britain’s top diplomat was due to hold meetings with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn on bilateral, humanitarian regional and continental issues on Friday.

According to press release issued by the British Embassy in Addis Ababa, officials of the two countries are consulting on how UK and Ethiopia could jointly work to resolve current crises in Libya as well as how to secure lasting settlement to pending issues in Sudan after South Sudan’s independence.

“I am very pleased to be visiting Ethiopia. The UK’s relationship with Ethiopia is strong, and based on numerous shared interests and values. This government recently decided to double aid to Ethiopia based on the strong developmental progress. This makes Ethiopia the largest recipient of UK aid in the world”, William Hague said ahead of his arrival in Ethiopia.

East Africa is reported to be facing the world’s worst food crisis according to a famine warning organisation. Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are expected to the worst effected.

“In addition to development issues, the UK and Ethiopia are working closely together on regional security, and I commend Prime Minister Meles for the positive role he is playing with both North and South Sudan.”

Ethiopia are due to send over 4,000 UN peacekeepers to the contested border region of Abyei until an agreement is made or referendum can be held.

The Foreign Secretary will meet African Union Commission Chairperson Dr Jean Ping and Deputy-Chairperson Erastus Mwencha, to discuss political instability in the continent, in Somalia as well as Libya.

“The AU’s importance to stability and development in Africa cannot be overstated. The AU has an important role to support what must be a Libyan-led and owned process to reach a political settlement, with the additional help of the UN and wider international community. There are many elements of the AU’s recent proposal that we can work with. It is right that the AU has signalled that Qadhafi cannot be part of the negotiation process, and that there must be a transfer of power.”

Mr Hague is due travel to South Sudan on Saturday to attend the independence ceremony in Juba.

(ST)