Fortune: United States' humanitarian assistance and development support has reached close to one billion Birr. This happened during your years as Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ethiopia. Would you consider this as your biggest accomplishment? Or is it just a mere coincidence?

Anders: I think it is just what happened in my time. What I would consider an accomplishment is that we were able to respond quickly to Ethiopia's needs. We helped the Ethiopian government and many NGOs to save lots of lives and to make a lot of children healthier, who might otherwise have been suffering from malnutrition as a result of that drought.
 

To me being able to get enough credibility in Washington D.C. with the people who make the actual and final decision on allocations; being able to convince them beforehand that we had a problem here; and being able to work with the government to move in food very quickly together with both the World Food Program (WFP) and with the new Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as our NGOs was very important
 

What would you then take as your accomplishments and moment of happiness during your years here?
 

There are several things. First is that we were able to respond when Ethiopia had a problem. We demonstrated to the government and the Ethiopian people that we care very much about them and we gave the largest amount of food aid during a time when food was a bit critical, prices were high, and markets were insufficiently run. We came through and made Ethiopia top of our list for help during this crisis.
 

The second is the work we are doing with the promotion of exports in helping the government double Ethiopia's exports to the United States with the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). We have also helped to improve the quality of coffee, leather products and some of the floriculture investments.
 

Apart from humanitarian assistance, I understand that your agency provides hundreds of millions of dollars to support other areas in the social sector.
 

There are five areas where I am very proud of our contributions.
 

Through the Social Safety Net Program we have demonstrated that you can graduate people from the program, and that you can move people out to self sufficiency to feed themselves. And we recently launched the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP-PLUS) with the ministry.
 

In health, I am very proud of the presence of malaria initiatives, where we are now able to have about 20 million dollars in assistance. The government led the initiatives we were able to get the extra funding to help support its move against malaria. Of course, in HIV/Aids, we have around 100,000 people receiving Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) in partnership with the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). We have also started to make headway on prevention of the transmission of the virus with messages that raised consciousness. This was done with the help of the Patriarch and the Ethiopian Muslim Development Association.
 

We have also supported the Ministry of Health in its program to push the health system out to rural areas, and deploy health extension workers. We helped in building their capacity and those of the health officers.
 

In the area of education, I think we have done some work in improving the quality of teachers. When I came here, the budget for basic education was about seven or eight million dollars; I think it will probably exceed 30 million dollars because we would be able to demonstrate how well the money is being used and how great the need is, particularly with girls.

We have also introduced the idea of community partnerships for schools because in a country this large and with so many schools in different areas, the government cannot easily have a budget to maintain them all.
 

We are doing a lot of works in local conflict resolution with the new Minister of Federal Affairs Shiferaw Teklemariam (PhD) who has been very supportive.
 

You came here at a time when the agency itself is transforming in somehow setting its priorities: it was changing from a purely humanitarian assistance providing agency into a more structural and sustainable way of helping people in overcoming poverty. When I spoke to you two years ago, you had wanted to help Ethiopia graduate from poverty and reduce its sense of food insecurity. Looking back, how much have you succeeded on this front because there is twice the number of people receiving food aid now than three years ago, and Ethiopia remains one of the poorest countries in the world?

The reason is partly because we had a failure of the Belg rain last year; it was so severe that it tipped many people back onto food aid and insecurity. However, one consolation from the crisis last year was that we found people who were coming to feeding centres with their children, and very few were safety net beneficiaries. I think the crisis made us understand that the safety net program does work.
 

The challenges of safety net programs now is that there are about a seven and half million people in the country who need it and the government more or less admitted that there is another five million out there who need to be in safety net program. What we need to do now is accelerate the graduation process, which I know is the policy of the government as well as the donors.
 

The year you have arrived here, the numbers of people who were receiving food aid were the lowest in 20 years. It has almost doubled this year while the assistance your government and that of others are providing to Ethiopia has increased significantly. Where is the disconnect?
 

The population growth; with the 2.5pc population growth, we have more millions of people to deal with.
 

Do you think that the government has proper programs to deal with this issue?

I think the government was late, but it has a brave family planning program now. There are also sadly unmet needs in rural areas: Women in rural areas who want to limit their family size do not have easy access to affordable contraception; with that type of rural population, the challenge is greater for the government to try to spread out.
 

Although the Federal Government's ideology is appreciated by the regional governments, I think it is not quite open to a longer term partnership with the NGOs, which we call public private partnership.

was this one of your most frustrating experience over the past three years?
 

Instead of seeing them as a sign of dependency and threat, the Federal Government and the party's leadership could see NGOs as valuable partners. We have many NGOs in the United States which help us with our city problems, and in remote areas where the government is not able to reach. That was a debate I have had almost since I have been here.
 

How about your experience last year where there was a growing threat of drought, cattle death, child malnourishment and death occurred in the southern, western and eastern parts of the country. Despite your push, the government was slow to acknowledge the depth of the problem and respond. I remember you - in the donor community - were furious at the time.

We were frustrated; I would not say we were furious. It was the millennium year after all, and very difficult when the year was one of celebration and talk about a change in the country. It was hard to admit something like that when it was a time of change from an image of hunger, to one of growth and progress. You know any government does not like to admit that.
 

But you had all the numbers and statistics of the children who were about dying at the time? 

Yes, we had the statistics but we were not so sure whether they were correct. Certainly, the anecdotal evidence was clear; but we told the government that we had to prepare food because we were going to have problems.
 

The government told you that you had exaggerated, right?
 

Yes, they said that but they did not refuse the food. I did not see anyone stopping us from bringing food. They were very grateful and I have heard this repeatedly from the leadership of the EPRDF, particularly the regional governments. I think there was a tacit admission that they had problems. I was frustrated; I wish they had admitted the numbers were as big as they were originally. I see that it was just bad luck in the millennium year; but fortunately the economic growth was good, and 90pc of the country was doing well.
 

How about when you were told last year that the national food reserve was below 100,000tn, while it was to be a lot more than that?
 

We were very unhappy about that; we prohibited any more of our food assistance from  going elsewhere until we got a better commitment.
 

Has the situation improved since?
 

Yes, 200,000tn were in the reserves. I remember that it was for the first time the government imported in about 600,000tn of wheat; I think the government has been very responsible in ensuring that they have enough food on hand and they can also stabilize prices in urban areas.

Traditionally, successive Ethiopian governments were known to be fiscally disciplined. But beginning 2005, we see huge public investments in infrastructure, thus a cause for inflation. Isn't that a sort of fiscal irresponsibility on the part of government?
 

The double digit economic growth that the government has attributed to the expansion of the road networks, for instance. The substantial increase on flowers and floriculture exports would not have been possible and their products would not have been competitive if it was not for the road network. This is responsible for getting exports out. The problem with hydro electric investments is that the payoff time is much longer down the line; you have to wait another couple of year before the country starts to sell electricity, one of the goals which will bring in foreign exchange to pay for more imports.

But the imbalance is caused because it is a little over the fence and there is so much public investments that have outstripped the capacity of the private sector to meet the demand.
 

That brings me to the issue of more trade than aid. I understand that you are a proponent of transforming poor nations from aid recipients to trading partners to the rest of the world. You said two years ago that you consider WTO as an important vehicle to helping countries to trade more, and you would like to help Ethiopia join the WTO as fast as possible. Three years down the line, Ethiopia is still not a member of WTO and I understand that many of the USAID people hired to assist in this area are very frustrated with the  lack of political commitment from the highest order and the speed things are moving. Do you share their frustration?
 

I did not know that the contractors were frustrated. I realise that there are some frustrations because it is a long process; it is not unusual for a country to take seven or more years to join the WTO; China took 15 years. The situation is not that the government has intentionally slowed down the process, even though people are not happy about the speed. I do not think it is incredibly slow or the government is stalling the process on purpose. It is just that this is how the process works. That is what I see and the issue you raised is unfounded. The USAID staff working in the WTO Accession Plus Project do believe that the government has the willingness to join the WTO.
 

The trade representative of the United States was here last week; he precisely told the government to open up the telecom and financial sectors to more competition. The government seems not impressed by this. Don't you think that shows, in part, the lack of political commitment to speed up the process?
 

When you join the WTO, it does not necessarily mean that you have to immediately liberalize or privatize banking; it means that you have to agree that overtime, you will allow private investments in what we call trade and services. China has done this to some of its sectors. That is the whole point of the WTO; it is a negotiation process where you can protect what you think are strategic industries. I do not think Ethiopia has anything to worry about agriculture because it is a very strong competitor in agriculture. But at some point, you have to face a time line that one day, you might invite private investment to these industries.
 

When you first arrived here, one of your interests were to help the private sector to trade with the world in a competitive manner. You have some program for the private sector which includes six sectors, including leather, livestock, hide and skin, horticulture, and coffee. At the time, the total budget the agency allocated to this sector was about 17 million dollars; you were hoping that the following year it would increase to 30 million dollars. I have checked this figure recently, it is about 15 million dollars?
 

I do not think this figure is right. Overall, what we call an economic growth category, which includes agriculture, private sector, and trade and investment increased. The increase is not so much in our private sector program, but with the agricultural sector, because we have been using our private sector fund to help grow the agricultural sector as well. I feel good that we have been able to increase the economic growth of our portion of our overall funding; next year we will increase in a most substantial way.
 

With the food security program?
 

I think it is because of the focus on global food security and the fact that the new administration came in. Some in Congress have been sensitised as Hilary Clinton [Secretary of State] is also concerned with the issue.
 

You now have a Democratic administration in your country. Considering that the Republicans are always very generous in support of African countries and the Democrats are seen as stingier in that regard, and you have your own backyard to bailout, how do you see international development assistance from the United States government evolving in the year to come?
 

The American International Development was started under J. F. Kennedy [a Democrat] as was the Peace Corpse program. The commitment to foreign aid was actually started by Harry Truman with the Marshal Plan; he too was a Democrat. Democrats have been well associated with foreign aid. What happened under Bill Clinton Administration was that when Republicans were critical of foreign aid, Clinton had other agendas - such as pushing welfare reform - and I do not think he defended foreign aid as much as he could have.
 

When President George W. Bush came into office, there really was an increase to aid to Africa which came through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) because fighting the spread of HIV/Aids was important to Africa.
 

Under the first year of Obama Administration, we actually have seen our request [USAID] for assistance to Africa increased. I think this administration has a very strong commitment to Africa.

Over the past two years, USAID in Ethiopia seems to have given so much attention to the Somali Regional State. Is it because you [the American Government] are haunted by guilt of neglect for so many years? Or is it because the urgency of things that followed the conflict between an insurgent group there and the federal defence forces has brought some humanitarian concerns? Could it be attributed to the region's closeness to your interest in fighting terrorism in Somalia?
 

I would not say it is guilt. The Somali region is somewhat different. It probably was neglected so much. The fact is that we are in humanitarian assistance, who generally are directed in areas where we have the highest number of malnourished children and the most obvious kind of malnutrition. Farmers are much poorer coping with drought than pastoralists. The Somali people are incredible copers. We have just seen that in drought after drought, they seem to be able to keep going; they also take care of the children because they have milk and meat. They also have a habit of feeding their children first. I understand that when things get bad in Somali region, the older people are the ones to get malnourished first.
 

Our focus is perhaps because of the shift which occurred in the 2003 drought. We saw so many pastoralists losing their herds and felt that there must be a better way we can help them out, even though it again represents a very small proportion; four to five million people in a country of 77 million people. We found that there were more ways of interventions, such as helping connect pastoralists with a little more market; giving them weather information; perhaps doing a better job in water sources; and marketing facilities. In all these, we could actually make a difference.
 

There is an obvious strategic concern because it is next to Somalia. We all wonder what we can do better in Somalia, just as anybody who can bring that country back on track. Hopefully, this new government can and we all give our best hopes and prayers to it. We know there are foreign fighters running around. We are very concerned that if the Somalia government is not strong, if it is not providing services to the people, then you could have what we call an ungoverned state and that state will be very easy for terrorists to come in. That is the same concern the government [here] has.
 

Our agendas are similar in trying to strengthen the Somali region both from the humanitarian and economic point of view. This country has the biggest livestock herd in Africa and much of that herd is in Somali region. It is an economic asset and I think, the Prime Minister himself has realized it because he spent time with pastoralists gathering and trying to see them as a vital part of the economy and not just a hinterland. This is true not only from the point of view of bringing that into the economy and have it contribute, but also to ensure that there is no infiltration by terrorists due to lack of government. We share both the strategic and the economic interests.
 

Would it be wrong to assume that your strategic interest prevails on all other interests when obviously you are waging war against international terrorism in Somalia?
 

We argue that all the time with the [US] Embassy, because the Embassy has some bilateral strategic security concerns. But for us, both long-term and short-term developments are synonymous with security; in building strong economy; getting governance services; and having less risk of instability or terrorism, whether it is from the outside or whether the problem is inside.

Many are criticizing you for reducing your programs on governance, democracy and human rights issues.
 

Not really. When I came here, we had about almost two million dollars for democracy and governance. And this year, we are up to almost nine million dollars to this program. For instance, we have ambitions to put a lot of funding into the national elections but until we can get commitments that the board is going to be fair and play by the rules, we are not going to invest on that.
 

On the other hand, we have programs with the judiciary which we hope will grow. We want to do political party training equally for the EPRDF and the opposition parties. We have offered the government that and had a dialogue with them about doing that. We're doing human rights training with the Human Rights Commission. We continue to do a lot of work in conflict resolution.
 

We are now in very intensive discussions with the Somali regional government about working around Jijga by helping the region with its economic development plan.
 

You have not done much when it comes to promoting press freedom. Have you?
 

We have tried. We brought in international consultancy on the Press Law and we even held a public workshop which we thought would be helpful. I do not know how much we influenced it. You can offer assistance, but on what the government and the ruling party in Parliament finally does, it is not our country. Although we are uncomfortable with some of the structures in the media law, you live with decisions you do not necessarily agree with.
 

I think we all have a very positive effect on the NGO law, though. The first draft we saw was really much more terrible and would have unintended consequences because it was so strict.

Could it be said that it was one of your most displeasing legislations? Obviously you guys were not happy with the civil society law?
 

I am less unhappy with the law itself. I think it is totally how it is to be implemented.
 

Are you saying you do not have a problem with the law itself?
 

No, it certainly could be better. We do not think, for instance, advocating the cause of disabled, children or women should be a problem for the government if foreign funds are involved in that. We find that odd in the law. Some of the rights of the government are very intrusive.
 

But to me, it is really the attitude and the ideology behind the law. There is this thinking that sees the civil society as a threat to the government, or indicates dependence on outside players rather than the partnership. To me the word used in the proclamation "charity" is really an antiquated word; we do not consider them charities, but partners. The thinking behind the law is what I am more disappointed with. I have not been unable to convince the government on this partnership with civil society.
 

Another debate along this line is that following the legislations of the Civil Society Law and the Press Law, people feel that the political space has been narrowing. Others within the government and outside are arguing to the contrary. I just want to pick your brain; do you find political space narrowing today than when you first came here three years ago?

Things were pretty bad in 2005 after the violence and polarization all around. I think the donors in many ways did not contribute in a very positive way to the opposition but led it to think that they were more powerful, although they may have been more popular. The ruling party was shaken by that, they saw, perhaps, the division of the country along ethnic lines and a lot of the opposition frankly can be ethnically based. On the one hand, I think the ruling party is very concerned about stability and the long-term growth of Ethiopia as a nation.
 

The government has got to let the opposition grow. In order to be a fully credible government, you need to have a loyal opposition. I hope that the government will allow that type of opposition flourish. The 2010 election will be very much important. We have discussed with the government about opening up space as much as possible because these loyal opposition can participate. The party is very strong; it has done many good things. It has made all the public investment, and actually tried to build a sense of a nation of Ethiopia, rather than the different cultures. I fully expect it to continue the leadership role; but not having an opposition, it just does not work.

When you leave this week, will you be leaving this country with a feeling that the political space is more or less narrowed?
 

Since I was not here in 2005, it is hard to say because it was really the base line. It is hard for me to say whether it is opening or closing.
 

I gathered that you are a tough manager who focuses on the job. I am sure you would like to be remembered in some ways when you leave; how would you want to be remembered in Ethiopia?  
 

I am happy that I have the reputation to be as a tough manager because we do move a lot of money; it is wise for people to know that we care about how each dollar is used.
 

If you were to leave a message on your desk to your successor, what would be your important advice about Ethiopia, its people and the thing that he should be careful about?
 

Certain things are not as they seem to be; as we Americans want to move quickly and we like to make decisions fast, we have to be very careful. This is a very complex country and culture. You cannot make assumptions, and take the first opinion you hear; you have to think about things very well. What I would say is do not believe every thing you hear; get out, see, meet people and spend your first months fully appreciating Ethiopia. That was best thing I did when I came first to this country; visiting and feeling. I could not just imagine, because in imagination you see political polarization, and excesses.
 

Do you have a last word for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi?
 

 He has got a tough job, because he truly believes in bringing the country to democratization. I just hope that he continues with some of the excellent programs he is doing in terms of infrastructure; and the appreciation for the role of economy.
 

Would you like to see him running for another term?

He seems to be a pretty strong candidate. But, I have not seen anyone who has quite the competence that he does. He is widely respected in Africa and he is becoming its spokesman. We feel that Ethiopia is the rock of stability and he seems to be part of that. But again, I do not know the competition and what the choices are.

You were enormously positive about Ethiopia when I talked to you two years ago. Do you that same feeling now?
 

My job is to be positive because we would not have been able to finish it if were positive. I am a paid optimist. But I think I am a bit more searching now because I realise the magnitude of some of the difficulties. The government can have very good partners in the NGOs community and the private sector. It is very nice for the government to build partnership with all these other people to help solve its problems.

What are the memories you will be taking from Ethiopia and cherish for the rest of your life?
 

The religious festivals here are unique; they are very colourful. I will never forget the beauty of the country; I will never forget those colourful places in Tigray and Abiyata Lake. Overall, I will not forget the hospitality of Ethiopians and basic politeness, and the welcoming nature of the people. It is really wonderful.