US, Ethiopian Officials Discuss Wikileaks Cables

[Kamaavi]

December 15, 2010 -- The United States officials have met Ethiopian officials to discuss Wikileaks cables, reports Capital. The cables disclose private talks with Ethiopian government officials, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his security chief Getachew Assefa, who they described as ‘reclusive’.

 

“We have discussed the WikiLeaks situation with appropriate Ethiopian Government officials,” the US embassy said in an email response to Capital.

 

WikiLeaks says it has 1,395 cables that originated from U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and a total of 1,623 records that mentions Ethiopia in its more than 250,000 leaked documents. So far it has leaked two cable sent from U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa.

 

According to Guardian newspaper, some of the cables refer to disagreements during Copenhagen climate talks. The US mounted a secret global diplomatic offensive to overwhelm opposition to the controversial “Copenhagen accord”. At the center of this controversy is our own Meles.

 

On 2 February 2009, a US embassy cable reported a meeting between the US undersecretary of state Maria Otero and Meles who leads the African Union’s climate change negotiations. The confidential cable records a US threat to PM Meles; “Otero urged Meles to sign the Copenhagen accord on climate change and explained that it is a point of departure for further discussion and movement forward on the topic.”

 

Meles responded that his government supported the accord in Copenhagen and would support it at the African Union Summit. However, he expressed his disappointment that despite President Obama’s personal assurance to him that finances committed in Copenhagen would be made available, he had received word from contacts at the UN that the U.S. was not supportive of Ethiopia’s proposal for a panel to monitor financial pledges regarding climate change. The US diplomats assured the PM that they would look into his concerns.

 

“Our discussions with US officials are normally very candid on both sides but they are very private and, therefore, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on private discussions we have had with US officials,” Prime Minister Meles Zenawi recently said in a press conference snubbing question to this regard.

 

Source: Capital