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(UPDATE) Diplomat says racist comments won't affect Ethio-US relations
Ethiopia's chief diplomat Seyoum Mesfin

UPDATE: Below is reportedly a portion of the racist comments by Mrs. Emerson, the wife of the American employed by a company working for the US Embassy in Ethiopia. Both of them have been kicked out of Ethiopia.

  • "This is Ethiopia, an undeveloped country, where people are dirt poor and quite used to doing things we developed people would classify as ‘filthy’, ‘sick’, ‘gross’, ‘nasty’, and ‘backwards’…I ate Ethiopian food and didn’t die .... The people are stinking up my house… seriously, I sprayed 20 seconds of Lysol everywhere, but that just created a winning combo like Lysol and BO. African body odor is like mustard gas. It is lethal and deadly. It will sear your contact lenses to your eyeballs. I do not wish room full of it on my worst enemy. By the way, the whole country smells bad" - Source: SSI

Ethiopia's chief diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyoum Mesfin, said that racist comments that angered Ethiopians working at the United States Embassy here in Addis Ababa, do not affect the two states' bilateral ties. Leah Emerson Barry Blog - a post regularly written by American national -Emerson Barry- has angered hundreds of Ethiopians working in the US Embassy compound after the writer repeatedly posted racially prejudiced comments including mocking the Ethiopian Christian Orthodox Church and Muslim faithful religious practices. Emerson is a wife of Brendan Barry, who was until recently stationed here in Addis Ababa and employed by B.L. Harbert International Construction Company. B.L. Harbert International, the private American company, is constructing new buildings inside the premises of the US Embassy as part of the 280 million dollar deal it secured from the State Department to design and build three new U.S. embassies including the one in Ethiopia. Mrs. Emerson has extended her racially charged posts against Ethiopian and Africans for months resulting in some 600 workers engaged at the embassy construction site to go on strike in protest.

According to (US Embassy spokesperson) Gonzales, after the content of the blogs became known, B.L. Harbert International asked Mr. Barry to leave Ethiopia immediately, as of last Thursday, December 17. Mrs. Barry, who reportedly was teaching at the International Community School, aka the American School in Addis Ababa, remained in the United States where she left two weeks ago for vacation. According to Gonzales she too will not return to Ethiopia anytime soon. "She is a private American citizen who exercised, I would argue poor judgment in,” her freedom of speech when expressing her comments. With freedom comes responsibility and she and her family are now having to deal with the consequences of what she wrote, primarily being asked to leave the country by the company that brought them here," Gonzales said adding that the views expressed are not consistent with both the US government's and the company's values.

READ MORE: CAPITAL ETHIOPIA

Post A Comment
Comments 22 comments for this article
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Added: January 21, 2010. 11:30 PM GMT
shame on you spoiled lady! you are a disgrace
Anonymous
Added: January 21, 2010. 11:42 PM GMT
what a double standard!
Why do we africans always jump on white people whenevere they make racist remarks while we africans are always saying ethnic slurs and jokes ourselves??

here i list some of the offensive words used by ethiopians regularly

shanqela
baria
ag@me
g@la


many more...
Omo
Added: January 22, 2010. 12:25 AM GMT
what about ferenge
as an american i love ethiopia, but I do not condone the double price standard for FERENGES, nor do I like being referred to as a ferenge. The ignorant woman who posted slurs in her blog is just as ignorant and guilty as the ethiopians who identify outsiders via their color and special names. racism is unhealthy in any form. Grow up people.
Just Another Ferenge
Added: January 22, 2010. 12:35 AM GMT
mastawesha
omo.

menewe neftegane eresakewe.
Anonymous
Added: January 22, 2010. 01:48 AM GMT
hahaha!!
just imagining begar TPLF cuting relations with its financer
what a joke!
Kumsaa
Added: January 22, 2010. 11:24 AM GMT
Lucifer Seyoum do not joke!
Post the link to blog- let us have our own judgement. Woyane is more racist than Hitler’s dogs, so they have no moral upper ground to comment racism. Beastly Tigre morons!
Kumsaa
Added: January 22, 2010. 04:14 PM GMT
this is howall westerners act in third world countries
we have seen it in amazing race tv show
Anonymous
Added: January 22, 2010. 04:56 PM GMT
addis is full of poop
Maybe she is telling the truth, everyone shitS everywhere the last time i was in addis lol
Helen
Added: January 22, 2010. 05:21 PM GMT
may she burn in hell
Anonymous
Added: January 22, 2010. 05:56 PM GMT
Ethiopia Stinks to High Heaven
I'd like to disagree with the woman but I can't for I lived there and the BO, dirty shoes smell in taxis, stinky breath in "woyeyet", minivan taxis is so unbearable.

What about people esp. men peeing against walls, fences or almost everywhere there is an open space?

C'mon. It sucks to be insulted but when she speaks the truth, it's hardly an insult.
Not Anonymous
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