Saturday, September 29, 2012

VOA Interviews Ethiopia's Prime Minister

The Voice of America's Peter Heinlein interviewed Ethiopia's new Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, in New York on 27 September 2012. This was Hailemariam's first interview since taking office.

The 39-minute interview covers Ethiopia's relations with Eritrea, United States, China and European social democratic political parties. Hailemariam comments on the Nile water issue, the role of the EPRDF, his approach towards press freedom and opposition political parties, Sudan and South Sudan, and whether he will be a candidate for prime minister in 2015. He said he is willing to work with the Amharic service of the Voice of America so long as it ends its partisan approach to Ethiopia.

Click here to listen to the audio of the interview.

Click here to read Peter Heinlein's summary of the interview.