| Post: | Ambassador of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the United States of America |
| Insignia: | File:Emblem of Ethiopia.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 120px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of Ethiopia |
| Incumbent: | Fitsum Arega |
| Incumbentsince: | 10 April 2019 |
| Style: | His Excellency |
| Residence: | 2209 Wyoming Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. |
| Appointer: | The President of Ethiopia |
| Inaugural: | Blatta Ephrem Tewolde Medhin First Envoy Ras Imru Haile Selassie First Ambassador |
| Formation: | 1943 Envoys Extraordinary 1949 Ambassadors Extraordinary |
| Website: | Ethiopian Embassy, Washington D.C. |
The Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States is in charge of the Ethiopian Embassy, Washington, D.C., Ethiopia's diplomatic mission to the United States, The full and official title is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the United States of America.
Fitsum Arega, who is also accredited to Canada and Mexico, is serving as the Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States since 10 April 2019, succeeding Kassa Teklebirhan in that post.
The position of ambassador to the United States is considered to be one of the most important jobs in the Ethiopian diplomatic service, along with the Ambassadors to China, France, the European Union, and the Permanent Representative to the United Nations.[1]
The ambassador's main duty is to present Ethiopian policies to the American government and people, and to report American policies and views to the Government of Ethiopia. He serves as the primary channel of communication between the two nations, and plays an important role in treaty negotiations.
The ambassador is the head of Ethiopia's consular service in the United States. As well as directing diplomatic activity in support of trade, he is ultimately responsible for visa services and for the provision of consular support to Ethiopian citizens in America. He also oversees cultural relations between the two countries.
U.S.-Ethiopian relations were established in 1903, after nine days of meetings in Ethiopia between Emperor Menelik II and Robert Peet 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.[2] These formal relations included a grant of Most Favored Nation status, and were good up to the Fascist 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, where they played a number of roles in the modernization of the country before the Italian conquest in 1935.[3]
But it was not until after Ethiopia's liberation from Italian occupation that Ethiopia would reciprocate by opening its own Legation in Washington, which it did on November 9, 1943, with Blatta Ephrem Tewolde Medhin as the first Ethiopian Envoy to the United States. In September 1949 the Ethiopian mission was raised to the status of Embassy, and the Envoy, Ras Imru Haile Selassie, became the first Ambassador.[4]
The importance of the post was reflected by the careers of the ambassadors; amongst several other offices, five had served or would go on to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs, two had served as Mayor of Addis Ababa, and one, Mikael Imru, would eventually serve as Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Relations between Ethiopia and the United States continued after the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie by a military junta in a coup d'état in 1974, but were broken in June 1978. It was not until 1992 that another ambassador would be appointed.
The ambassador's residence is located at 2209 Wyoming Avenue, N.W., in the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Built around 1929, the Colonial Revival-style building is designated as a contributing property to the Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The building previously served as the Dutch ambassador's residence and the Ethiopian Embassy's chancery.
| No. | Portrait | Name | Appointment | Credentials received | Termination of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blatta Ephrem Tewolde Medhin | November 9, 1943 | December 20, 1943 | March 27, 1945 | |
| 2 | Ras Imru Haile Selassie | May 6, 1946 | May 15, 1946 | September 21, 1949 | |
| No. | Portrait | Name | Appointment | Credentials received | Termination of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ras Imru Haile Selassie | September 21, 1949 | September 27, 1949 | March 27, 1953 | ||
| 2 | Lij Yilma Deressa | September 11, 1953 | September 26, 1953 | April 28, 1957 | ||
| 3 | Bitwoded Zewde Gebrehiwot | August 25, 1958 | September 30, 1958 | October 8, 1959 | ||
| 4 | Lij Mikael Imru | May 11, 1960 | June 8, 1960 | April 1, 1961 | ||
| 5 | Ato Berhanu Dinka | April 28, 1961 | May 23, 1961 | June 15, 1965 | ||
| 6 | Afe Negus Teshome Hailemariam | August 25, 1965 | August 25, 1965 | October 19, 1968 | ||
| 7 | Dr Minasse Haile | October 18, 1969 | October 31, 1969 | June 11, 1971 | ||
| 8 | Ato Kifle Wodajo | April 26, 1972 | May 15, 1972 | April 10, 1975 | ||
| 9 | Ato Ayalew Mandefro | November 4, 1977 | November 22, 1977 | June 4, 1978 | ||
| No ambassadorial relations | ||||||
| 10 | Ato Berhane Gebre-Christos | March 16, 1992 | April 2, 1992 | June 19, 2002 | ||
| 11 | Ato Kassahun Ayele | March 26, 2002 | June 19, 2002 | January 9, 2006 | ||
| 12 | Dr Samuel Assefa | May 11, 2006 | May 15, 2006 | November 19, 2009 | ||
| 13 | Ato Girma Birru | January 6, 2011 | February 23, 2011 | November 29, 2017 | ||
| 14 | Dr Kassa Teklebirhan | December 8, 2017 | January 24, 2018[5] | December 24, 2018 | ||
| 15 | Ato Fitsum Arega | December 24, 2018[6] | April 10, 2019 | present |
Book: Metaferia. Getachew. Ethiopia and the United States: History, Diplomacy, and Analysis. limited. 2009. Algora Publishing. New York. 978-0875866468. 208.