Today’s guest His Excellency Ambassador Dina Mufti is a lifelong and seasoned diplomat. He was born and raised in Arsi Zone, Oromia State. He graduated from Addis Ababa University in Political Science and International Relations (PSIR). He then left for Canada to study Master’s degree in the same discipline.
He has served as a diplomat from the university gate door; he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as third secretary and served as a diplomat in Asia &Australia. Then he was dispatched as a diplomatic secretary to Canada. From there on, he was promoted to counseling and also served at the Ethiopian embassy in Washington. After returning home he was appointed as first ambassador to Zimbabwe where he used to cover Zambia, Mozambique, Mauritius and Angola.
After he finished his term in Zimbabwe, he was appointed as an ambassador to Scandinavian countries such as Sweden where he served as resident ambassador to Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. Then he came back home and served as the first spokesperson to the ministry. He was then appointed as an ambassador to Kenya then to Cairo.
Following the advent of the new government, Ambassador Dina, came back home and has been serving as a spokesperson and director for public diplomacy within MOFA. The Ethiopian Herald made a brief stay with him and raised a range of issues directly or indirectly related to diplomacy. Excerpts;
To start with your career, could you tell us how it feels like being an ambassador? Does the profession require special wisdom and talent?
Yeah! The profession requires wisdom, talent, patience and endurance because there are challenges you can come across when you promote a national interest. You also devote yourself towards protecting national interest. Your vision should be beyond your ethnicity, religion and ideology. It’s about defending national interest as it supersedes everything else. So it requires knowledge, early preparations. It needs constant information on the development with regard to the issue and the agenda in advance. It needs to be prepared and always vigilant as well. It is a kind of skill whereby gaining more information gives small words. It is a process of give and take as well. As an ambassador you cannot get annoyed, you should not lose confidence and you should act with sobriety.
Do you think you are effective in diplomacy over the past years? If so, what is your secret to that?
Well, Passion is important and basic. That is why I joined the department. The PSIR department gives you a skill so as to be a diplomat. That is why I joined it. The first thing I have is passion and respect for the profession. That is why I can be relatively successful. But you need to work hard to be successful.
You have served as an ambassador representing Ethiopia in many countries. How do you explain the time you spent in Egypt?
I stayed in Cairo for a year. That is a challenging post for Ethiopian diplomats as the issues related with the GERD or the Nile River is misperceived by some Egyptians and deliberately distorted. There are Egyptians who believe that the Nile emanates from that country. Many believe that its source is Aswan- it is a border with Sudan. Due to the GERD project, there are challenges from some corners and always there are suspicions in following ups and things of the sort. So it was a big challenging moment but a pleasant moment.
Egypt is an ancient and historical country in the world. It is also related with our country in many ways. Is there anything that we can learn from Egyptians?
We learn more from their commitment towards their national interest. I see uniformity of positions with regards to GERD. They have uniform and very strong positions. I see, they strongly supported their government with regard to the GERD issue. This is something I have seen as strengthening in that case.
We learn to defend national interest uniformly. We learn national interest with zeal and enthusiasm. We learn how we consider national interest above political, social and economic differences.
How do you see our cooperation with China especially when you compare it with the west?
Our cooperation with China is excellent. We do have a partnership which we call a special strategic partnership. The relationship is the highest level in all sectors, it encompasses political, economic, social and cultural relationships and is very strong. It is a type of exemplary relationship that we can have with the country. We wish we could have the same thing with the western because all are our partners. We have the potential to elevate the relation with others to this level because we want to be friends with everyone else irrespective of their ideology and their inclinations. So, therefore, we are equally entitled to strengthen, upgrade and elevate our relations with the western countries as well. That is how I compare it. Relationship with China is excellent. We would like the relation with the west to be as excellent as with China.
How do you see the collaboration of African countries against western interventions?
When we talk about western intervention, we should qualify. Not all western countries are putting pressure on Ethiopia. There are some. I think they were misguided and hopefully resist from putting further pressure on this because there is inclination and enthusiasm in the part of African countries to actually resist this. And there is the support of African countries that has been demonstrated through recent #NoMore movement abroad. Therefore, the collaboration among African countries with regard to resisting pressure from any corners be it West or East is very important because the principles of mutual respect and
noninterference with the internal affairs of other countries and respecting sovereignties of other countries should be observed by anyone be it countries from the west or the east, if there is any east or west.
What do you say about the EU top diplomat’s recent remark that he is so angry for not sanctioning Ethiopia like the USA?
First of all an individual is entitled to his view. He could be misguided or the right one it does not matter. But in this particular case, there is no valid objective for the EU and anybody else to put sanctions on Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a friend with all these countries in the west and there is no reason to impose sanctions on it. Whatever is happening here, an internal affair of Ethiopia can manage on its own. It has a wisdom and capacity to do this and it should be left alone. If a country is willing to help Ethiopia, it should come out and help on Ethiopia’s terms, but not on its own terms which is not acceptable to us. Therefore, whatever the envoy said is wrong and it is a sort of imperialistic notion of imposing the will on other sovereign countries like Ethiopia. This is a nonstarter.
What does the future look like for the horn countries’ cooperation?
The prospect is a bright future. There is a huge potential in the horn of Africa that makes countries to cooperate be it in the form of IGAD or others. And so this time they live together to cooperate.
They have untapped resources, human potential, good geopolitical creation and similar destiny. So, these countries have to benefit from cooperating, coming closer, helping each other, standing together against any challenge that the Horn of Africa countries think that time has come and hopefully they will succeed.
Ethiopia’s cooperation with Sudan is not good like that of the previous? Would you comment on that?
There is skewing and hiccups there. It is more than hiccups even. Sudanese are forced to violate Ethiopia’s territorial integrity. Ethiopia has shown maximum tolerance for that. We always said, if it is a border issue, it has a mechanism by which we can overcome it. This is what we are telling to Sudanese and their friends in the world. Ethiopia’s patience is admirable. We do not want to blow things out of its proportions. We do want to handle it and manage it. The Sudanese, it will be wise on the part of the Sudan leadership to resist it. This is what I want to say.
Why did the Ethiopian government kept silent considering the overall pressure the USA has been and is doing over Ethiopia?
Whatever pressure being imposed by other countries on Ethiopia is not acceptable. Ethiopia has been making this clear to the rest of the world and to transgressors, to the violators as well. In the diplomacy world we do not know ways of talking on the microphone, not always announcing whatever you say, not always making things happen. Whatever misgivings and concerns you have, any government including the US has been talking through diplomatic channels. We have an embassy in the US and they have an embassy here as well. Embassies are instruments to talk together. There is always interaction and expressions of concerns. And that has to be continued. There is nothing silent.
Perhaps the silence is considered to be silence because it has not been broadcasted. Otherwise, there is always an interaction. There is an expression of concern whenever the other side, be it the US or others violates laws and rules that govern international relations.
The USA is working against Ethiopia’s democratically elected government. How do you see the present stance of the country?
Well, that is wrong. They know this is wrong. They are also told about it as well wherever they do it. That’s all.
All I want to convey for them is this. We have stored relationships with the U.S. for the last 100+ years. We have people to people relations. We have done a lot together for instance we together avoid terrorists in the region.
There are a lot of opportunities to cooperate in various areas. So, my message is let us forge our relations and look forward to further strengthening it. Let us come to the hiccups of misunderstanding.
Thank you ambassador Dina for you time.
Thank you for the invitation.
The Ethiopian Herald December 18/2021
