US President Joe Biden nominated State Department diplomat Ervin Jose Massinga as ambassador to Ethiopia. Massinga served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Khartoum, Sudan from 2016-2018, and in Conakry, Guinea from 2013-2016, according to the information posted on the U.S. State Department website. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has to hold a hearing to confirm the ambassadorial nominee. If confirmed, Massinga’s arrival in Addis Ababa comes after the previous ambassador, Geeta Pasi, left the post in January 2022, reportedly to pursue other opportunities. Since the conflict erupted in northern Ethiopia, the bilateral relationship between Ethiopia and the United States has been strained, and Ethiopia has been expulsed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) duty-free trade scheme at the beginning of January 2022.

Source: Ethiopian News January 05, 2023 09:34 UTC