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Ethiopia PM Reacts to Trump's Head Scratching Nobel Prize Comments
Salem Solomon
Ethiopians and U.S. foreign policy observers are trying to unravel a
comment made by President Donald Trump last week where he claimed to
have "saved a country" and implied he should have been given the Nobel
Peace Prize for the achievement.
Trump made the comments during a rally in Toledo, Ohio, and appeared to
be [1]referencing Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed whose Nobel Peace
Prize was announced in October. "I made a deal, I saved a country, and
I just heard that the head of that country is now getting the Nobel
Peace Prize for saving the country. I said, 'what? Did I have something
do with it?'"
Abiy received the prize for his [2]efforts to end nearly 20 years of
hostility between Eritrea and Ethiopia relating to disputes over their
shared border.
Observers believe Trump was [3]referring to White House efforts to
mediate discussions between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan over water usage
from the Nile River. Ethiopia is building a massive hydroelectric power
project known as the Grand Renaissance Dam, but countries downstream on
the Blue Nile are concerned it will deplete their principal water
source.
The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee wasted no time jumping on what
they believed to be a gaffe by Trump. "Trump is confused. Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts
to bring peace to the Horn of Africa, not stalled negotiations about a
new dam on the Nile," the committee said on its Twitter account on Jan.
10.
The committee, which is chaired by a Democratic lawmaker, also pointed
out that the negotiations have not been successful. The three countries
continue to be deadlocked and have been unable to reach an agreement as
they approach a Jan. 15 deadline to resolve the issue.
"If they gave the Nobel for deals that didn't happen, the Pres. would
have a shelf full of them," the Foreign Affairs Committee Twitter
account stated.
Trump is confused.
PM [4]@AbiyAhmedAli was awarded the [5]@NobelPrize for his efforts
to bring peace to the Horn of Africa, not stalled negotiations about
a new dam on the Nile.
If they gave the Nobel for deals that didn't happen, the Pres. would
have a shelf full of them. [6]#Ethiopia [7]https://t.co/WhJ6nLvb6Z
-- House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign) [8]January 10,
2020
Trump has not elaborated on the comments since then. When asked about
the meaning, the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia referred reporters to
comments made in October by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
congratulating Abiy on the award, [9]the Washington Post reported.
For his part, Abiy did not appear bothered by the statement. "To be
honest, I don't have any clue about the criteria [of] how the Nobel
committee selects an individual for the prize. So, the issue of
President Trump must go to the Nobel Prize Committee," Abiy said on
Jan. 12 during a press conference in South Africa.
Abiy added that he is more concerned with progress toward peace in the
region than awards. "I am not working for the prize. I am working that
peace is a very critical thing for our region and if they recognize and
if President Trump complained, it must go to Oslo, not to Ethiopia," he
said.
VIDEO: After US President Donald Trump said that he believes he
deserves the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, Abiy Ahmed, the winner and
Ethiopian Prime Minister replied: "If Donald Trump wants to
complain, he should go to Oslo, not Ethiopia"
[10]pic.twitter.com/63IrjUKK9D
-- AFP news agency (@AFP) [11]January 12, 2020
Ambassador Herman Cohen, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for
African affairs, said these types of confounding, off-the-cuff remarks
have become a hallmark of Trump's presidency. "He has this tendency to
make comments without first looking in the background. That's the way
he operates," Cohen told VOA's Amharic service.
But Cohen said the U.S. has the potential to play a leading role in
relieving tensions among the Nile River countries. Representatives from
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia[12] met at the White House on November 6.
This week, the delegations are continuing to negotiate. They have
meetings scheduled with Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and
the President of the World Bank David Malpass. "
Egypt has been in a very tense situation with Ethiopia. And what
President Trump did was he called both countries and said 'come to the
United States and we'll mediate your dispute.' And this caused a drop
in the tension between Ethiopia and Egypt," Cohen said. "And for that,
I think President Trump deserves a lot of credit. Now, maybe he'll get
the peace prize for that next year."
VOA Horn of Africa's Amharic service Solomon Abate contributed to this
story.
References
1. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1215435613203202048?s=20
2. https://www.voanews.com/africa/ethiopian-pm-abiy-ahmed-awarded-nobel-peace-prize
3. https://www.voanews.com/africa/ethiopia-condemns-egyptian-proposal-nile-water-usage
4. https://twitter.com/AbiyAhmedAli?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
5. https://twitter.com/NobelPrize?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
6. https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ethiopia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
7. https://t.co/WhJ6nLvb6Z
8. https://twitter.com/HouseForeign/status/1215656428150587393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
9. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/trump-takes-partial-credit-for-ethiopian-prime-ministers-nobel-peace-prize-thats-news-to-ethiopians/2020/01/10/e94383be-33b7-11ea-91fd-82d4e04a3fac_story.html
10. https://t.co/63IrjUKK9D
11. https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1216366722199904256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
12. https://www.voanews.com/usa/trump-meets-egypt-ethiopia-sudan-fms-about-dam-feud