Ethiopia–United States relations
Ethiopia–United States relations are bilateral relations between Ethiopia and the United States. Ethiopia is a strategic partner of the United States in the Global War on Terrorism; the United States is the largest donor to Ethiopia: in 2008 U. S. foreign aid to Ethiopia totaled US$969 million, in 2009 US$916, with 2010 estimated at US$513 and US$586 requested for 2011. U. S. development assistance to Ethiopia is focused on reducing famine vulnerability and poverty and emphasizes economic and social sector policy reforms. Some military training funds, including training in such issues as the laws of war and observance of human rights are provided; the Ethiopian government has been criticized for severe human rights violations. According to Human Rights Watch, the aid given by the United States is being abused to erode democracy in Ethiopia; the current Ambassador of Ethiopia to the United States is Girma Birru. Principal U. S. Officials include Ambassador Michael A. Deputy Chief of Mission Troy Fitrell.
The U. S. Embassy in Ethiopia is located in Addis Ababa. According to the 2016 U. S. Global Leadership Report, 29% of Ethiopians approve of U. S. leadership, with 4% disapproving and 67% uncertain. U. S.-Ethiopian relations were established in 1903, after nine days of meetings in Ethiopia between Emperor Menelik II and Robert P. Skinner, an emissary of President Theodore Roosevelt; this first step was augmented with treaties of arbitration and conciliation signed at Addis Ababa 26 January 1929. These formal relations included a grant of Most Favored Nation status, were good up to the Italian occupation in 1935. Warqenah Eshate, while visiting the United States in 1927, visited Harlem, where he delivered Ras Tafari's greetings to the African-American community and Tafari's invitation to skilled African Americans to settle in Ethiopia. A number of African-Americans did travel to Ethiopia, such as John Robinson who became the commander of the Ethiopian Air force, where they played a number of roles in the modernization of the country before the Italian conquest in 1935.
In his autobiography, Emperor Haile Selassie notes that the United States was one of only five countries which refused to recognize the Italian conquest of his country. Following the return of Emperor Haile Selassie to Ethiopia, the United States certified Ethiopia for participation in Lend-Lease; this was followed on 16 May 1944 by the arrival of what was called the Fellows Mission, led by James M. Landis. Another significant event transpired in January 1944, when President Franklin Roosevelt met with Emperor Haile Selassie aboard the USS Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake of Egypt. Although no matters of substance were resolved, the meeting both strengthened the Emperor's strong predilection towards the United States, as well as discomforted the British, at odds with the Ethiopian government over the disposition of Eritrea and the Ogaden; these ties were strengthened with the signing of the September 1951 treaty of amity and economic relations. In 1953, a further two agreements were signed: a mutual defense assistance agreement, under which the United States agreed to furnish military equipment and training, an accord regularizing the operations of a U.
S. communication facility at Kagnew Station. In 1957 U. S. Vice President Richard Nixon visited Ethiopia and called it "one of the United States' most stalwart and consistent allies". In addition, during the 1960s the U. S. Army provided mapping for much of the country of Ethiopia in an operation known as the Ethiopia-United States Mapping Mission. Through fiscal year 1978, the United States provided Ethiopia with $282 million in military assistance and $366 million in economic assistance in agriculture, public health, transportation. Ethiopia was one of the first countries to take part in the American Peace Corps program, which emphasized agriculture, basic education, health, economic development and teaching English as a foreign language; the Peace Corps reports that since 1962, when its first volunteers arrived in Ethiopia, a total of 2,934 volunteers have served in that country. U. S. Information Service educational and cultural exchanges were an important part of their relations. After the Ethiopian Revolution, the bilateral relationship began to cool due to the Derg's linking with international communism and U.
S. revulsion at the junta's human rights abuses. The United States rebuffed Ethiopia's request for increased military assistance to intensify its fight against the Eritrean secessionist movement and to repel the Somali invasion; the International Security and Development Act of 1985 prohibited all U. S. economic assistance to Ethiopia with the exception of humanitarian disaster and emergency relief. In July 1980, the U. S. Ambassador to Ethiopia was recalled at the request of the Ethiopian Government, the U. S. Embassy in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Embassy in the United States were headed subsequently by Charges d'Affaires. With the downfall of Mengistu Haile Mariam, U. S.-Ethiopian relations improved as legislative restrictions on non-humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia were lifted. Diplomatic relations were upgraded to the ambassadorial level in 1992. Total U. S. government assistance, including food aid, between 1991 and 2003 was $2.3 billion. During the severe drought year of 2003, the U. S. provided a record $553.1 million in assistance.
The U. S. Congress, attempted to set conditions, over the objections of the Bush Administration. In October, 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007, banning military aid, for other th
Kenya–United States relations
Kenya–United States relations are bilateral relations between Kenya and the United States. Kenya and the United States have long been close allies and have enjoyed cordial relations since Kenya's independence. Relations became closer after Kenya's democratic transition of 2002 and subsequent improvements in human rights; this was preceded by sometimes frosty interludes during President Moi's regime when the two countries clashed over bad governance issues, resulting in aid suspension and many diplomatic rows. Following the election of the new government of Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013, relations somewhat took a dip when the new president forged a new foreign policy looking east away from traditional western allies. Kenya–United States relations have been cemented through cooperation against Islamist terrorism and a visit by President Obama to Kenya, the homeland of his father. Kenya's athletic mastery of some auspicious American events such as the Boston Marathon and New York Marathon have increased ordinary Americans' consciousness of Kenya paving the way for a warm mutual regard between the two peoples.
An attack on Kenya by Al-Qaeda in 1998 as well as subsequent more attacks by Al-Shabaab, has drawn the two countries politically closer due to the shared fate the U. S. has had of similar targeting in the horrific September 11 attacks by Al-Qaeda in Lower Manhattan and The Pentagon. Kenya is one of the most pro-American nations in Africa and the world more so than the U. S. itself. According to the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project, 87% of Kenyans view the U. S. favorably in 2007, decreasing down to 83% in 2011 and 81% viewing the U. S. favorably in 2013. and according to the 2012 U. S. Global Leadership Report, 68% of Kenyans approve of U. S. leadership, with 14% disapproving and 18% uncertain. In a 2013 BBC World Service poll, 69% of Kenyans view U. S. influence positively, with only 11% viewing U. S. influence negatively. After Kenya's independence on December 12, 1963, the United States recognized the new nation. However, it was not until March 2, 1964 that diplomatic relations were established with William Atwood establishing the U.
S. Embassy at Nairobi; the United States provided the fledgling nation with $21 million in funds and technical aid, with Kenya seeking more loans from the United States. The United States soon found itself invested in Kenyan politics due to the power struggle between Tom Mboya and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga; the United States had been impressed by Mboya since the 1950s, sought to empower him in the new administration instead of the more leftist Odinga. The United States was successful, Mboya began wooing Kenya's prime minister Jomo Kenyatta into becoming more favorable with the United States and the CIA. After Odinga's fall from power, Kenya found itself squarely in the Western bloc during the Cold War period; the fact that Soviet ideals never gained traction in post-independence Kenya meant that there was little to no jockeying between the United States and the U. S. S. R. in this region. This meant there was little need for Kenya and United States relations, since the United States took Kenyan support for granted.
However, the 1980s saw. After Jomo Kenyatta's death, the new president of Kenya Daniel arap Moi sought to further strengthen relations with the United States Moi joined the United States' Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, allowing for the construction of United States military installations in Kenya; the most notable development of this military construction was allowing United States naval access to Mombasa, which resulted in the United States paying Kenya $26 million. Good relations, fell into jeopardy with the deteriorating civil rights picture in Kenya. In 1987, the chairman of the Congress subcommittee on Africa, Michigan congressman Howard Wolpe, accused Daniel arap Moi of bankrolling criminals and committing human rights abuses; the issue was placed on the agenda for Ronald Reagan's talks with Moi, but nothing came of it at this time. In 1991, the United States joined with a coalition of other nations who gave financial assistance to Kenya to pressure for reforms. In a 1991 meeting in Paris, Kenya's aid donors insisted on ending corruption and human rights abuses, threatening to pull their aid.
These concerns caused the United States to suspend its aid in 1992. When United States pressure forced multiparty elections in 1992, relations were tense all throughout the 1990s due to international discontent with the tactics of the Moi regime; the United States reacted positively to the Kenyan elections of 2000, the first democratic transition of power in Kenya's history. The new president, Mwai Kibaki was honored as the first African head of state to be invited to Washington D. C. for a state visit. On August 7, 1998, al Qaeda terrorists detonated a car bomb outside the United States embassy in Nairobi, leaving 200 dead and thousands wounded; the immediate aftermath strained relations between the United States and Kenya, as Kenyans felt that the United States only cared about the Americans who lost their lives, not the Kenyans. The situation was worsened when the American ambassador, Prudence Bushnell, implied that Kenyans were attempting to loot the embassy. However, since that event, the Kenyan and U.
S. governments have intensified cooperation to address all forms of insecurity in Kenya, including terrorism. The United States provides equipment and training to Kenyan security forces, both civilian and military. In its dialog with the Kenyan Government, the United States urges effective action against corruption and insecurity as the two greatest impediments to Kenya achieving sustained, rapid economic growth. Families and victims of the attack have severally appealed to the Kenyan government to petition the U. S. gov
Benin–United States relations
Benin–United States relations are the international relations between Benin and the United States. The two nations have had an excellent history of relations in the years since Benin embraced democracy; the U. S. Government continues to assist Benin with the improvement of living standards that are key to the ultimate success of Benin's experiment with democratic government and economic liberalization, are consistent with U. S. national interest in reducing poverty and promoting growth. The bulk of the U. S. effort in support of consolidating democracy in Benin is focused on long-term human resource development through U. S. Agency for International Development programs. Efforts to pursue this national interest are spearheaded by USAID, which has effective programs focused on primary education, family health, women's and children's health, combating sexually transmitted diseases the spread of HIV. USAID's Democracy and Governance program emphasizes encouraging greater civil society involvement in national decisionmaking.
A panoply of military-to-military cooperation programs reinforces democratizing efforts. U. S.-Benin military cooperation is now being expanding, both bilaterally and within a broader regional framework. In February 2006, the Government of Benin signed a 5-year $307 million Millennium Challenge Compact to increase investment and private sector activity in Benin; the program removes key constraints to growth and supports improvements in physical and institutional infrastructures in four critical sectors: land, financial services and markets. The proposed projects reinforce each other, contributing to an economic rate of return of 17%; the U. S. advances the ethos of law enforcement by working with Beninese authorities to crack down on crimes, help eradicate corruption, promote good governance, the rule of law, greater official accountability. The U. S. Public Affairs Office in Cotonou leads the U. S.-Benin cultural and educational exchanges, with a focus on helping educate the Government of Benin and the public on the trade opportunities and advantages of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
The PA Office helps in expanding efforts to build a more responsible media. The U. S. Peace Corps program in Benin provides ongoing opportunities for increased understanding between Beninese and Americans; the 110 volunteers promote sustainable development through activities in health, the environment, small enterprise development. The U. S. Peace Corps program in Benin is one of the most successful in Africa, in part because of Beninese receptivity and collaboration. Trade between Benin and the United States is small, but interest in American products is growing; the United States is interested in promoting increased trade with Benin in order to contribute to U. S. trade with Benin's neighbors Nigeria and Burkina Faso, which receive large amounts of their own imports through the port of Cotonou. Such trade is facilitated by Benin's membership in the Economic Community of West African States and in the CFA franc monetary zone; the U. S. Government works to stimulate American investment in key sectors such as energy, telecommunications, transportation.
Benin has been eligible for the African Growth and Opportunity Act since the program began in 2000. It qualified for AGOA textile and apparel benefits in January 2004. Ambassador--Cyrille S. Oguin Deputy Chief of Mission--Martina Boustani Director, USAID Mission--Rudolph Thomas Peace Corps Director—Vacant Public Affairs Officer—vacant Political/Economic Officer--Jason Hahn Consular Officer--Christopher Derrick Management Officer--Lyngrid Rawlings The U. S. Embassy is located in Benin. Foreign relations of Benin Foreign relations of the United States History of Benin - U. S. relations
South Sudan–United States relations
South Sudan–United States relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of South Sudan and the United States of America. The United States recognized South Sudan on 9 July 2011, the same day they declared independence; the United States Embassy in Juba, South Sudan, was first established on the same day with the former consulate, opened in 2005 in Juba being upgraded to the status of an embassy. The chief of mission was Chargé d'Affaires R. Barrie Walkley, pending the appointment of an ambassador to South Sudan. On 19 October 2011, Susan D. Page was confirmed as the first United States ambassador to South Sudan. In 2012, President Obama found that the United States could provide military assistance and equipment to South Sudan; this was soon followed by a team of five American officers to advise the South Sudanese military. Obama named Donald E. Booth as his special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan on 28 August 2013. In December 2016, USA drafted a resolution, that failed to pass, which would have implemented an arms embargo and more sanctions, due to signs in South Sudan of possible genocide.
UN alliterated this by warning South Sudan of possible genocide. In 2017, the USA's UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, criticized South Sudan for creating a "man made" famine. While South Sudan has not been its own sovereign country for a long time, President Salva Kiir has established rapport with the United States. Then-President of the United States Barack Obama recognized South Sudan the day it declared independence from Sudan, current President Donald Trump fostered relations with Kiir before he won the presidency in 2016. While relations between the two countries have changed from support to subtle threats the United States has been open about both the right to self-determination and insistence that humanitarian aid to South Sudanese affected by the civil war reach its victims. In August 2016, when Donald Trump was campaigning for the United States presidency, the South Sudanese government led an attack on Western aid workers, which included American humanitarians. Following this attack, the U.
S. and other countries in the U. N. Security Council moved to provide “4,000 more U. N. helmets to secure the capital.” While Donald Trump has shifted views on leadership and the status quo in South Sudan many times, the Obama administration was key to the self-determination of the South Sudanese people. In November 2016, when Donald Trump became President of the United States, many nations did not welcome the change. South Sudan, on the other hand, was pleased. At the time, South Sudan had dealt with three years of civil war and viewed Trump’s victory as a new and possible way to end the conflict. New U. S. policies on South Sudan were something that Tor Deng Mawien, a South Sudanese presidential advisor on decentralization affairs, was “looking forward” to. In March 2016, before Trump had won the election, South Sudanese leader Salva Kiir called Trump to wish him success, saying that if he was elected the two countries would work to gain back the mutual trust lost when Barack Obama was president.
While Kiir congratulated Trump on his victory, U. S. ambassador to South Sudan stated that, “there is no expectation that the United States government will change its foreign policy in South Sudan despite the election of Trump. Many South Sudanese supported Trump, believing that his presidency would result in Trump working towards a solution to end the civil war rather than its own interests. However, many South Sudanese viewed Obama’s presidency as “lukewarm” and “doing either no good or bad to the people of South Sudan.” The South Sudanese are “already in despair, so all we can hope for is a positive response from Trump.”In October 2017, U. S. Ambassador to the U. N. Nikki Haley was the first senior member of Donald Trump’s administration to visit South Sudan. At this point, South Sudan had been in a civil war for around four years, according to Haley, “The United States was at a crossroads and that every decision going forward was going to be based on actions.” Haley expressed that Americans were disappointed in Kiir’s leadership in South Sudan.
In addition to pressure from the U. S. the United Nations alleged ethnic cleansing on behalf of Kiir’s government and a “fertile ground” for genocide, which Kiir’s government denied. Trump imposed sanctions on three South Sudanese in September 2017 and expressed that the way to regain trust of the government is through providing care for affected citizens; the U. S. demanded that Kiir let “full and consistent humanitarian aid access” into the country, as well as an unspecified timeline of Kiir’s actions, to further positive relations between the two countries. In December 2018, Donald Trump officiated a controversial relocation of the U. S. embassy in Israel, moving it from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Following the decision, a foreign newspaper published a report saying that South Sudan “lauded” the decision. In addition, it was said that a South Sudanese embassy had congratulated both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the decision, a high-ranking South Sudanese presidential aide had spoken to the newspaper supporting Trump’s decision.
However, an official statement said otherwise. According to the South Sudan Presidential Press Unit, the government “will not make any specific statement or take any position on the decision of President Trump.” The government views the newspaper that published the report as “fabricated and false.” South Sudan expressed that their main priority is to find an inclusive solution to their country’s conflict, not the affairs of other countries. In December 2018, Donald Trump proposed a new Africa strategy, being specific on South Sudan; the country ended a violent five
Botswana–United States relations
Botswana–United States relations are the international relations between Botswana and the United States. According to the 2012 U. S. Global Leadership Report, 79% of Botswana people approve of U. S. leadership, with 8% disapproving and 13% uncertain. The United States considers Botswana an advocate of and a model for stability in Africa and has been a major partner in Botswana's development since its independence; the U. S. Peace Corps returned to Botswana in August 2002 with a focus on HIV/AIDS-related programs after concluding 30 years of more broadly targeted assistance in 1997; the USAID phased out a longstanding bilateral partnership with Botswana in 1996, after successful programs emphasizing education, entrepreneurship, environmental management, reproductive health. Botswana, continues to benefit along with its neighbors in the region from USAID's Initiative for Southern Africa, now based in Pretoria, USAID's Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub, headquartered in Gaborone; the United States International Board of Broadcasters operates a major Voice of America relay station in Botswana serving most of the African continent.
In 1995, the Centers for Disease Control started the BOTUSA Project in collaboration with the Botswana Ministry of Health in order to generate information to improve tuberculosis control efforts in Botswana and elsewhere in the face of the TB and HIV/AIDS co-epidemics. Under the 1999 U. S. Government's Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidemic Initiative, CDC through the BOTUSA Project has undertaken projects and has assisted organizations in the struggle against the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana. Botswana is one of the 15 focus countries for PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, has received more than $556 million since the program began in January 2004 through September 2011. PEPFAR assistance to Botswana, which totaled $84.4 million in FY 2011, is contributing to HIV/AIDS prevention and care interventions. The Governments of Botswana and the United States entered into an agreement in July 2000 to establish an International Law Enforcement Academy in Gaborone; the academy, jointly financed and staffed by the two nations, provides training to police and government officials from across the Sub-Saharan region.
The academy's permanent campus, in Otse outside of Gaborone, opened March 2003. Over 3,000 law enforcement professionals from Sub-Saharan Africa have received training from ILEA since it began offering classes in 2001. Ambassador/ Charge D' Affairs—Michael Murphy Deputy Chief of Mission—Gregory Shaw Senior Defense Official / Defense Attache - LTC Joshua Reitz Office of Security Cooperation - LTC Joshua Reitz Centers for Disease Control—Dr. Margarett Davis International Board of Broadcasters— Charles Shepard International Law Enforcement Agency—Stan Moran Peace Corps—Peggy McClure The U. S. Embassy is in Gaborone. OSC is located at the embassy. CDC is located on Ditlhakore Way in Gaborone. ILEA is located in Otse, about 30 minutes outside of Gaborone; the IBB station is located in Selebi-Phikwe, about 400 kilometers northeast of Gaborone. Foreign relations of Botswana Foreign relations of the United States This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Department of State website https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/index.htm.
History of Botswana - U. S. relations Media related to Relations of Botswana and the United States at Wikimedia Commons
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War known as the Second Indochina War, in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or the American War, was an undeclared war in Vietnam and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and other communist allies; the war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war from some US perspectives. It lasted some 19 years with direct U. S. involvement ending in 1973 following the Paris Peace Accords, included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, resulting in all three countries becoming communist states in 1975. American military advisors began arriving in what was French Indochina in 1950 to support the French in the First Indochina War against the communist-led Viet Minh. Most of the funding for the French war effort was provided by the U. S. After the French quit Indochina in 1954, the US assumed financial and military responsibility for the South Vietnamese state.
The Việt Cộng known as Front national de libération du Sud-Viêt Nam or NLF, a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North, initiated a guerrilla war against the South Vietnamese government in 1959. U. S. involvement escalated in 1960, continued in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy, with troop levels surging under the MAAG program from just under a thousand in 1959 to 16,000 in 1963. By 1964, there were 23,000 U. S. troops in Vietnam, but this escalated further following the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which a U. S. destroyer was alleged to have clashed with North Vietnamese fast attack craft. In response, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authorization to increase U. S. military presence, deploying ground combat units for the first time and increasing troop levels to 184,000. Past this point, the People's Army of Vietnam known as the North Vietnamese Army engaged in more conventional warfare with US and South Vietnamese forces; every year onward there was significant build-up of US forces despite little progress, with Robert McNamara, one of the principal architects of the war, beginning to express doubts of victory by the end of 1966.
U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces and airstrikes. The U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The Tet Offensive of 1968, proved to be the turning point of the war; the Tet Offensive showed that the end of US involvement was not in sight, increasing domestic skepticism of the war. The unconventional and conventional capabilities of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam increased following a period of neglect and became modeled on heavy firepower-focused doctrines like US forces. Operations crossed international borders. S. forces. Gradual withdrawal of U. S. ground forces began as part of "Vietnamization", which aimed to end American involvement in the war while transferring the task of fighting the communists to the South Vietnamese themselves and began the task of modernizing their armed forces. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the Case–Church Amendment passed by the U.
S. Congress; the capture of Saigon by the NVA in April 1975 marked the end of the war, North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities. Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 275,000–310,000 Cambodians, 20,000–62,000 Laotians, 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict, a further 1,626 remain missing in action. The Sino-Soviet split re-emerged following the lull during the Vietnam War and confllict between North Vietnam and its Cambodian allies in the Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea, the newly-formed Democratic Kampuchea begun immediately in a series of border raids by the Khmer Rouge and erupted into the Cambodian–Vietnamese War, with Chinese forces directly intervening in the Sino-Vietnamese War; the end of the war and resumption of the Third Indochina War would precipitate the Vietnamese boat people and the bigger Indochina refugee crisis, which saw an estimated 250,000 people perish at sea.
Within the US the war gave rise to what was referred to as Vietnam Syndrome, a public aversion to American overseas military involvements, which together with Watergate contributed to the crisis of confidence that affected America throughout the 1970s. Various names have been applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most used name in English, it has been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this particular conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ, but less formally as'Cuộc chiến tranh Mỹ', it is called Chiến tranh Việt Nam. The primary military organizations involved in the war were as follows: One side consisted of th
