April 20, 2010
The Conference on Good Governance, Peace, Security, and Sustainable Development in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa a Resounding Success!

Summary

The three-day Conference on Good Governance, Peace, Security, and Sustainable Development in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, held at the Double Tree Hotel in Arlington, Virginia from April 9 -11, 2010, was a resounding success. The conference, whose honorary chair was the unjustly imprisoned political leader Judge Birtukan Medeksa, offered an in-depth examination and discussion of the challenges facing Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, and the prospects and “best-bets” for peace and good governance in the region. The conference panels explored the prospects for advancing democracy, economic development, and security and discussed how to undertake advocacy for a people-oriented U.S. foreign policy towards Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. The underlying consensus and message of many of the participants was that there is a need to build partnerships and collaborations on what was common to all and not to focus on differences. The participants identified political leadership as a key missing factor for the absence of good governance, democratization and conflict prevention in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. The symposium was attended by close to a thousand people over the three days coming from various parts of the United States, Canada, Europe and Africa. There were close to 70 speakers and panelists. For the first time, Conference proceedings were streamed live on the internet for all to watch and at one point there were nearly 15,000 observers around the world watching the live transmissions. Furthermore, the audio of the proceedings was transmitted to various virtual facilities. Organizers noted that over 7,500 listeners were variously in the discussion facilities and there were 240,000 hits on the organizers’ websites. Finally, Conference organizers are proud to note that not only a wide spectrum of the Ethiopian Diaspora was represented at the conference reflecting the sentiments of Ethiopians, but participants from Eritrea, Somalia, and the Sudan also enriched the decisions. To read the entire report click here.