BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
Today’s Herald Guest is the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ethiopia, Burundi, Chad, and the African Union, Aleli Admasu (Alelign Admasu). Aleli was born and raised in Dar-Azezo, the out skirt of Gondar town in Ethiopia. He attended primary education at Darazezo, and continued his secondary education at Fasiledes Secondary School in Gondar Town.
During his childhood, Aleli did various jobs in order to help his family. In 1983, Aleli moved to Israel. Then, he studied his first and second degree in one of the Israel Universities. He has also served his country Israel as a solider. He served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as Major (Reserve), Education and Youth Corps, training post, Officers’ School lecturer, IDF Personnel Command Advisor and participated in “Operation Solomon”.
He has also changed his route to politics and started involving in various political activities. In this course, he rallied for a seat in Israel Parliament (Knesset) and won. Besides, he worked as an advisor for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for three consecutive years. At the moment, he is working as Israel Ambassador to three African nations and the African Union.
During his interview with The Ethiopian Herald, the Ambassador highlighted the deep-rooted economic, political and people-to-people partnership between Israel and Ethiopia. Have a nice read!
How do you see the current bilateral relations between Israel and Ethiopia?
Like any other great and deep-rooted relations in the world, the relation between Israel and Ethiopia has continued for more than three thousand years. The nations’ history is inscribed in history and in various books. From the time when our father Mosses was in Egypt to bring back the children of Israel to their promised land (Canaan), his companion was an Ethiopian lady.
In addition, even in the time of King Solomon, the two peoples had various interactions in trade and knowledge transformation. History teaches us that the king had even a son with the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba.
When the Romans destroyed the second temple of Israel, Jews scattered to various parts of the world. Asia, Africa and Europe were their destinations. Following the longest river, Blue Nile (Abay), the people of Israel arrived to Ethiopia. We, Ethiopian Jews, have been here due to this reason.
During our stay here in Ethiopia in the past two millennia, we, Ethiopian Jews, have preserved our culture and religion and lived together with other religions like Christianity and Islam. In 1948, Jews have decided to come together and build their own nation so that the scattered people around the world had returned to build Israel.
Regarding the two nations’ bilateral partnership, due to the history of long connection with the Ethiopian Jews, Ethiopia has different properties in Israel. Ethiopia is one of the nations that accepted Christianity early, so the country has its own churches like Golgotha in Israel. The people and the government of the two nations are intermingled in culture, history, and economy for the past many years. This time, we are working to strengthen our partnership further.
What are the major areas of cooperation between the two countries?
Though Israel is only 75 years old, the nation is filled with skilled and knowledgeable human resource. To this end, the nation is eager to share its knowledge and skilled to friendly nations. Therefore, Israel is mainly working with Ethiopia in agriculture, health, technology and innovation sectors,among others.
The agriculture sector is one of the main sectors that the two nations are working on. One of the achievements in this part is the avocado production. Four million avocado seedlings have been distributed to Ethiopian farmers. Avocado is very important agricultural product in Europe, Asia, and even in the USA. Due to its climate and its natural resources, Ethiopia is an ideal place for avocado production.
It is better for the government to give due attention to avocado production so that it will bring more foreign currency income for the nation. It can contribute even more than coffee.
Regarding the health sector, Israelis are working in collaboration with Tikur Anbessa, Bahir Dar, Hawassa, Gondar, and Jigjiga hospitals. Israel delegations of doctors have arrived in different occasions to work together and help their counterparts in Ethiopia. They have been sharing their skills and knowledge.
A textbook example could be the movement ‘Save A child’s Heart’ where two of Ethiopian Doctors were trained in Israel to cure Ethiopian children with heart diseases. Besides, two more nurses were trained, too. Due to excessive expenses to get the service in Israel, we even plan to establish a center here in Ethiopia and expand our skill transformation. Not only Ethiopia, but other African countries and nations around the world come to Israel to acquire the knowledge.
The other working section is the technology and innovation sector. We have recently had a conference with government stakeholders on promoting technology and innovation. We are operating to bring in high-tech innovations in Ethiopia like solar energy.
In this regard, the Ethiopian Airlines coupled with Israel Aerospace Industry are working on changing Ethiopian passenger planes to cargo airplanes. One is already finished and operational, and the other is in the pipeline. In the near future, more cargos will come. It will also help the nation to freight its local products easily.
In the future, we plan to teach and train Ethiopian students, engineers, and technicians by opening a center in Ethiopia and give services to the rest of Africa. Talks were held with government stakeholders such as Ministry of Skill and Labor and Ministry of Innovation.
Regarding cultural and religious ties between the nations, how does the government of Israel protect Ethiopian cultural heritages found in Israel?
Needless to say, Israel is a democratic state where all religions and beliefs are equally treated. A believer of any religion has the right to come to Israel and visit the holy places. The Israel government is also responsible to preserve those heritages.
In relation to Ethiopian heritages in Israel, it is obvious that there is a friction between the Egyptian Coptic Churches and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church regarding the ownership of Deir El Sultan. Ethiopia and Egypt are the only African countries with a property in Israel along with some other countries around the world.
The Government of Ethiopia is responsible to preserve and protect its heritages in Israel. It is true that Deir El Sultan is the property of Ethiopia. Accordingly, both governments should also sit around the table and resolve the issue. Israel’s position, in this regard, is that any country that possesses a heritage should protect and keep the status quo of the place.
Recently, the federal government and the TPLF signed a peace agreement at Pretoria, South Africa. Likewise, Israel had signed agreements dubbed ‘Abraham Accords’. To this end, how do you suggest the implementation of such accords in full terms? What is Israel’s experience in this regard that Ethiopia can draw a lesson?
Israel is a peace- loving country. We always need to live peacefully. Though some countries still do not want Israel to exist as a nation, but we still have unwavering interest to live together with every country in the world in peace. This time, Israel has become the source of electric power and water for neighboring states. This shows how Israel wants to live in peace.
In Ethiopian context, the recent war in Ethiopia was a conflict between brothers. It is very sad. The peace deal is very important and a step forward for the people of Ethiopia to live together and bring back the peace. The peace accord will also pave a way for many investors to come to Ethiopia and invest. Many international companies will be settled here, too.
Israel believes that the world is enough for all of us. We need to share what we have and support one another to live together. Israel has been involved in many wars in different times including the six days war, Sinai war, and Lebanon war. All those wars that we got involved in caused loss of lives from each side. We lost many things because of those wars.
Therefore, Israel supports the Ethiopian peace deal in all means because we experienced the worst situation due to wars. Also, Ethiopia is known for its peace-loving stand. The nation is the one that pulled African nations together in order to establish the African Union. The nation is also seen as the beacon of freedom and independence. Ethiopia has been working, in various occasions, as a mediator to resolve disputes in other countries. The people of Ethiopia deserve peace, and the government and the people should focus on nation’s development.
Are there any investments or projects Israel lost due to the war? If so, how do you plan to restore them?
It is true that Israel companies and NGOs have been working in Ethiopia. Regarding investment, there was a company called ‘Netafi’ that planned to plant a factory worth 120 million birr. The project was found in Wolkaite and Tegede Town. It was planned to use the Tekeze River for irrigation and produce sugarcane.
The project was a joint venture with a Chinese company for the construction of the factory. 70 percent of the project was completed. However, due to the war, it was destroyed. The owners of the company have not returned, so we will see how to deal with this with the government.
Regarding the agricultural sector, Israel is highly advanced in agricultural technologies. How can your country contribute to Ethiopia’s agricultural development? How Ethiopia can learn? Is there any ongoing project with Ministry of Agriculture?
Regarding agriculture, Israel has been doing much on summer productions. We do not wait for rain; rather we purified the Mediterranean water and use it for drinking and agriculture. To this end, we have invited Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture to take part in a conference held in Israel. We have shared experience on the event.
This time, Israel companies have been working with the Ministry of Agriculture on increasing agricultural production in Ethiopia. These Israel companies and volunteers are working mainly on avocado production and desert area development for agriculture. Accordingly, these companies and volunteers have trained more than 75 thousand Ethiopian farmers from different parts of the country.
We all know that avocado has plenty of advantages. There is also a high demand in Europe and other parts of the world. At this very moment, in collaboration with the government, we are helping Ethiopian farmers to be more effective on avocado production. We are dealing with how to implement packaging and how to select the best quality products. The avocado project was financed by the US-AID and the Israelis have come up with their skills.
In terms of investment, what does the embassy do to attract Israel investors to work in Ethiopia?
Three months ago, we have had Ethio- Israel Economic Conference. The event was the first of its kind. Ethiopian ministers, economic experts, representatives from Addis Ababa and national Chamber of Commerce have met with Israel counterparts and manufacturing companies. The conference created a room for both parties to discuss on investment opportunities. Accordingly, representatives from the two nations’ chamber of commerce signed an agreement for working together in the future.
Notwithstanding this situation, the companies that are interested in investing in Ethiopia have been encountering numerous bureaucratic obstacles. It is important to remember that investors who invested in Ethiopia have got their finance from loan. When they produce and get profit, they need to return the money but due to the current shortage of foreign currency in the country, they are unable to draw their money back to their country. This has been a bottleneck for the investment. These companies are creating job opportunities for citizens.
We are deeply concerned about the tax system and custom services of the country coupled with bureaucratic hurdles in various sections. At some point, the custom authority has forced us to pay tax for item imported for humanitarian assistance from Israel people to Ethiopians.
I recommend that the government of Ethiopia should give due attention to those challenges as the nation could lose investment opportunities. Hence, responsible stakeholders must solve such system problems. The government should also keep its promises.
How do you evaluate the military cooperation between the two nations; and how does Israel support Ethiopia’s military institutions?
From the time of Emperor Hailesilassie I and Derg regimes, Ethiopia’s military has been the strongest in East Africa. From that point of time, Ethiopia and Israel have cemented strong partnership in relation to security. The two nations’ security institutions are working in parallel.
Israel has learnt a lot from the worst war experiences. Due to this, Israel has become one of the leading countries in military technologies. The modern drones and iron dome technologies are firstly produced by Israelis. Even this time, Israel has advanced its power to create radiation weapons.
Ethiopia and Israel have been jointing acting on counter terrorism. Like the people-to-people bond of the two nations, there are a lot of technology and knowledge sharing between the countries.
In order to promote and strengthen the historic relationship between the two nations, what major actions does Israel take in relation to people-to people relation?
As I said it before, all the partnerships we have with Ethiopia is based on our long-rooted people-to-people bond. Like the Government of Israel, the Ethiopian Government should also be responsible to take part to strengthen the partnership.
We have continuous discussions with the Ethiopian government officials to make the partnerships even better. We have a very good connection. The two nations have been dealing together on the bureaucratic bottlenecks seen in the country.
We believe that Ethiopia has a resource of young population that can bring economic change. The nation is also blessed with natural resources especially water, but it needs the technology to get the best out of it. Therefore, we are still eager to strengthen our bilateral partnership with Ethiopia.
This time, Ethiopia is striving to be regional powerhouse by planning major projects, what is Israel’s position to support Ethiopia’s mega projects?
Such mega projects are owned by the Government of Ethiopia so that it needs a proper agreement between the governments to work together. In relation to hydropower, there are big Israel companies who are functioning on the field, and they want to work in Ethiopia, but it is all about the two nations’ agreement. If the Government of Ethiopia is willing to work with Israeli companies, we can bring them here. In addition, we are still working on various sectors.
I have finished my questions. If there is anything you would like to say, the stage is yours.
I would like to thank the Ethiopian Herald Newspaper reporters to show their interest to take this interview.
The time is a week of Christmas celebrations, so I wish all Ethiopians to have a blessed Genna Holiday. May the year bring peace to all Ethiopians!
Thank you for your time!
You’re most welcome!
The Ethiopian Herald January 14/2023
