Interview with outgoing German ambassador, Herbert Honsowitz

Germany is one of Ethiopia’s main trading partners. It has also been accused of providing a home to the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which the Ethiopian government holds responsible for terrorist attacks. Here the outgoing German ambassador to Ethiopia, Herbert Honsowitz, outlines his views on the OLF, trade and human rights in Ethiopia. QUESTION: How do you feel about the fact the OLF, which Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has described as a terrorist organisation, has one of its main bases in Germany? ANSWER: I doubt they have one of their main bases in Germany. This is an assertion which seems to be uncorrectable in a way. I think it is unfounded. It is true that the OLF had strong offices or representations in Germany in the 1990s. It is not true that there is a military arm or a military organisation operating from Germany, although this is asserted sometimes here in this country. It is true that the main headquarters of these organisations is operating from outside of Europe, and certainly not from within Germany. There are still a number of prominent OLF leaders residing in Germany, but not those propagating military activity. We have had a split within the OLF, and the prominent Oromos residing in Germany were those who opted for civilian political struggle and not for a military one. So I think it is utterly wrong to say that the military activities of the OLF are emanating from Germany. Q: Do you agree with the prime minister that they are a terrorist group, and have the German and Ethiopian governments exchanged information on the OLF? A: The legal status is that the OLF is a private organisation like so many others. We do know that the Ethiopian government maintains this is a terrorist organisation. I don’t think we have taken any stand officially on that, but we certainly do not support the OLF as an organisation, be it military civilian or whatever, there are no links between these two [organisations]. It is certainly true [that] some segments in the German civil society do support Oromos and Oromo organisations and this may be true of this private organisation, the OLF. But please differentiate between the OLF as a broad political organisation and those within OLF who undertake military activities. This is not the common denominator for the OLF. There has been a split dating back to a meeting they had in [the Somali capital] Mogadishu in 1999 when some opted for the military struggle and others for the political one. Since then if there has been any considerable OLF activity in Germany, then it has been reduced enormously, because we did not condone and those in Germany who support Oromos did not condone this option for military struggle. The Ethiopian government has seen no reason to contact us to inquire to initiate talks with us, because there is no foundation for these kind of rumours. Q: Ethiopian businessmen find it increasingly difficult to export to Europe, and so is Germany gradually abandoning Africa and Ethiopia when it comes to investment? A: Trade policies are an integrated part of European Union policies. There is no national independence in that area any more. We act as the EU, and EU trade is open for Africans. The EU last year took a major initiative saying [that] anything but arms will be open for least developed countries. The European market is totally open to least developed countries and Ethiopian goods. On the economic side - the competition side - are Ethiopian goods, are Ethiopian companies, competitive on the European market? That is quite another story, but has nothing to do with restrictions. It is true there is under-investment from the European and American states for this country. This is not specific for Germany. It is true that our investment is rather small for all of Africa, not only Ethiopia. These are sovereign decisions of German companies. They invest wherever they think it is profitable or wise to do that. We try and improve the situation. Q: Are there any obstacles to trade? A: We had initialled a number of years ago an investment protection agreement, but it was never signed because we could not agree with the government of Ethiopia on the thorny issue of compensation for German companies who had been nationalised during the Derg period [under Mengistu Hailemariam]. The question of compensation is still an ongoing one. We still negotiate, and we had seen good progress the last few months, but it is still not settled. So this is one of the impediments to investment. If your property is nationalised in this country and it takes you 25 years or more to get some sort of compensation and you are still unable to do that you might be a little bit reluctant to invest again. The level of money is very little - about US $10 million in the case of Germany. Other obstacles have to do with the local prevailing conditions - what we find here which are not very attractive for foreign investment. Q: What is your assessment of the Ethiopian economy? A: I think the result is not so good. I think Ethiopia has done quite well in relative terms. Very roughly, you have had a net growth rate of two percent a year, which is a very good result in the African context. That [figure of two percent] means taking into account population growth of three percent and [gross domestic product] growth of five percent a year. That is a good accomplishment. Whether it is good enough to satisfy the Ethiopian citizens and their needs and their desires, and given the very low starting point from which you achieve these growth rates, that is another story, and one for Ethiopians to answer. Q: What is your view on the human rights issue in Ethiopia? A: I think we see in general a positive development in this country with regard to democratisation, human rights liberalisation. The general trend is a positive one, and there are very few people who would like to deny that. At the same time, there are shortcomings and deficiencies - and sometimes rather serious ones as we have witnessed recently in the case of the killings in Tepi and Awasa [both in the southwest] and other places. The EU is still pursuing a dialogue with the Ethiopian authorities on these developments and how to avoid them in the future and what lessons to learn. The balance is a mixed one. Q: How successful has been the repatriation programme of Ethiopian academics from Germany? A: The programme is not very successful to start with, and this is due to a number of reasons. No other country has been successful in its efforts to make Ethiopians return to Ethiopia, to reinsert themselves, to bring [back] their capacity, whatever they have learned abroad, the capital they have acquired, to bring it back here and invest it here, which would be highly desirable. Nobody has been very successful in that. There are many factors to be considered. One of them has been the Ethiopian attitude in the past. The government has taken, in my view, a very wise decision now in order to promote this return from its point of view giving them [returnees] tax brackets and customs brackets. It is also true that most Ethiopians are not willing to return even if you offer them an incentive as we do. We offer them up to euros 20,000, which they can help start business. This programme goes back to 1996. A civil society institution runs it not our government. We have had a number of successful cases of return, but we couldn’t claim this programme has been hugely successful. Much less than 10 percent.