Andrea Tadic and Salem Solomon contributed to the story.
Editor’s note: Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde gave an interview to Solomon Abate of the Voice of America’s Horn of Africa service, in New York. She spoke in Amharic and English. These highlights are from their conversation in English and have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Sahle-Work Zewde was elected president of Ethiopia by the country’s members of parliament in October 2018. She became the first woman to hold this position in the country’s history. Sahle-Work previously served at the U.N. Special Representative to the African Union and Ethiopian Ambassador to France, Senegal and Djibouti. She also headed the U.N. office in Nairobi.
Solomon Abate: Your Excellency Madame President,
thank you very much for your time. I would like to start this interview
with yourself. Please tell me a little about yourself, about your
family...
Sahle-Work Zewde: I don't know where to start. I grew up in a family of four girls. I'm the firstborn. But I had a very amazing family especially my father, who has always told us that there is nothing that a woman or a girl cannot do. So this has been my motto all my life and in whatever I did, by the way, I was the first woman to do this, the first woman to do that, so I was daring. I was courageous and I had my self-esteem as well.
All this has helped. So I started in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
then, no, Ministry of Education, rather, [and] then foreign affairs. I
was [an] ambassador of Ethiopia for close to two decades. Too many
countries and multilateral as well to the African Union. Then I joined
the U.N. as an assistant secretary-general and a special representative
of the SG (secretary-general) to the Central African Republic, where my
main task was to stabilize the country and work on the peacebuilding for
close to eight years. The only United Nations headquarters in the
global south which is based in Nairobi as its first dedicated
director-general, female or male, that was the first one and the first
female of course. Yeah, so with that I'm co-founder Secretary-General.
The last posting in the U.N. was to the African Union as a special
representative of the SG again to the EU before I joined this office.
That's it in a nutshell.
Abate: And congratulations for becoming the first
Ethiopian president your, excellency. And my next question would be on
the peace and stability of Ethiopia. There are people who are very much
concerned about the future of this country. There are people who predict
[the] disintegration of that country. [In the] meantime, there are some
optimistic views from the public and from the high officials of the
country, including the prime minister of Ethiopia. How do you
characterize the current situation in the country?
Sahle-Work: First of all, I always see the glass
half full. If you don't have that perspective, then it can distort your
views. Second, I think we have to think of where we were like two, three
years ago. I think we are [on] the right path. I think this is what we
should be doing, consolidate. We have a conducive environment. Of
course, it can be improved as we move on, but we have the conditions now
for everybody to come in and play their role. So if we put the
interests of our country first, the interests of our people first, the
peace-loving people of Ethiopia because it's the people who have
suffered most. So I think we really have to come together to draw a red
line not to cross when it comes to peace, because it cannot be used as
political expediency. This is too serious of an issue. So, yeah with all
this in mind and with the conducive situation in Ethiopia, I think we
have a good opportunity to move along.
Abate: Madame President, the situation of women in
Africa is one of the greatest challenges. ... Ethiopia, of course, is
not an exception. What do you think governments should do to elevate the
ability and the participation of women and what should their
contribution be?
Sahle-Work: Yeah, I mean, if the history of Africa
was written by Africans and by women Africans, I think we would find
many unsung heroes. But that's not enough. We know the state of affairs.
In Ethiopia, the government has taken a bold decision to bring gender
equality and women's empowerment at the heart of what we do. My coming
here is a result of that, half of the Cabinet [are women] and so on.
Abate: Yeah, you mentioned that in the general assembly.
Sahle-Work: I wanted to test them if they closed
their eyes and say, 'Oh, we closed our eyes and we call to the podium
the president of...,' they will wake up to say, 'Oh, is it a woman?'
Because it's so rare. So, I think we have had two or three female
presidents addressing this assembly out of 54. So there is a lot to do,
but there is a good prospect in Ethiopia. The job has started, has
started in a very big way. It's for all of us now to make sure that the
gap is filled that women can grow along the ladder and be selected to
any position to have more women in the marketplace. In the job
marketplace, [we should] have more women entrepreneurs and so on. There
is a huge awareness currently that women should have their place. That
they should get their due. So, I think this will help us move forward.
But, of course, this will be done also with other countries with similar
situations. We have seen some encouraging steps when you look at what
has happened in Sudan. We have more females in key positions, so this
definitely will have to continue.
Abate: And at last, Madame President, let me take
you to the regional issues. The Horn of Africa is always volatile and
full of tense situations and at this point, including Ethiopia, we see
some ups and downs in the area. What should these governments do and
what role can you play to bring these countries together? And how can
you picture the relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia in relation to
the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Ethiopia is building now?
Sahle-Work: What is characteristic [of] the
current government regarding the region is that it has a bold regional
agenda. The government has understood that the progress of Ethiopia
could be limited if the Horn region doesn't come together. So we're
working hard, you know, we've been heading [Intergovernmental Authority
on Development] IGAD, we're still
heading IGAD. We have been at the core of the revitalization of IGAD,
which might need another revitalization, but nevertheless this is the
vehicle that we have currently. So, I really admire this position that
the government has that, as much as we think about national, we also
think about regional. Our faith is interrelated in any case. We have
supported peace processes and in our neighboring countries. But let me
tell you something we have to change the narrative about the Horn. If
you look at Africa, we had the Horn, which was in a turmoil two decades
ago civil war everywhere. Central Africa, which was also very
problematic, and the West was relatively calm and we didn’t know what
would come. The storm that was going to come. This has changed and we
have seen many countries going into big trouble, crisis, in West Africa.
And in the Horn, we had peace accord, and so at leas guns have been
silenced and political processes have started. I think we have a very
good opportunity now to rise from that. We have suffered for too long
that we really need to get back on our two feet and work together.
Ethiopia is playing its role in order to be a good regional player. A
regional player for the positive side of it, a regional player for
fast-tracking integration-free movement of people and so on and so
forth. So this is what the government is doing. It’s the only way to do
it if we want to progress and progress fast. On Egypt, we have a good
relationship with Egypt. I can't say otherwise. But the issue of the
Nile is to have an equitable and sustainable share and there is a
framework, a legal framework for that. So we want those who are not in
the fold to come into the fold and agree that this is the way we should
be doing things. The prime minister, one of his first trips was to
Cairo, to reassure our neighbor. So we are optimistic. The discussion
has to continue.
Abate: Do you think the Egyptians trust the prime minister?
Sahle-Work: Well, I don't know why it shouldn't
be, why it should be otherwise. But, the principle is not to harm anyone
in any case. So, we can't go against it. In any case, this is where we
are and we really would like to create a conducive environment for the
technical people to work on it and to [provide] evidence-based results
so that the politicians decide.
VOA