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New Ethiopian Ambassador Presents Credentials to President Bush
Wednesday May 17, 11:36 am ET

WASHINGTON, May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 15, His Excellency Dr. Samuel Assefa, the newly appointed Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States, presented his credentials to President George W. Bush in a White House ceremony.

Ambassador Assefa has most recently served as vice-president of Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia's leading institution of higher education. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Dr. Assefa earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and economics from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. After earning his doctorate in political science at Princeton University, Dr. Assefa taught at Princeton, Williams College, and Rutgers University.

Upon presenting his credentials to President Bush, Ambassador Assefa said: "The United States and Ethiopia have enjoyed diplomatic relations for more than 100 years. This century of friendship and cooperation continues to the present day. Ethiopia faces many challenges but because of the moral, political, and cultural support our country receives from the United States, those challenges are much easier to overcome. Our two countries share a strong commitment to democratic governance, respect for the rule of law, and to seeking an end to terrorism in Africa and around the globe."

Dr. Assefa has long been convinced of the need for civil society to be actively involved in the search for solutions to both local and regional concerns. To further these goals he has worked with a variety of institutions such as, among others, the InterAfrica Group, the Center for Peace, Democracy and Human Rights, the African initiative for a Democratic World Order, the Heinrich Boll Foundation, the Bonn International Centre for Conversion. Most recently, he has been a founding member of "Ethiopia Past and Future," an ad hoc group composed of ambassadors from leading donor countries and members of Ethiopian civil society that seeks to promote dialogue in the aftermath of the 2005 elections. Among his many civic engagements, Dr. Assefa is a member of the Board of Directors of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Development Commission.

Dr. Assefa's father was also a distinguished Ethiopian diplomat, serving as his country's Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany from 1961 to 1964 and again from 1970 to 1974.

A reproducible photograph of President Bush and Ambassador Assefa is available at http://www.scribeus.com/photos/photo_ethamb.jpg.

For more information, visit http://www.ethiopianembassy.org.