Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXIV, Africa

308. Information Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (Williams) to Secretary of State Rusk¹

Washington, November 3, 1965.

SUBJECT

• Former Ethiopian Ambassador Dinke

Background

Shortly after ex-Ambassador Dinke resigned in mid-June,² we recommended to you that we delay making a recommendation to the Immigration & Naturalization Service on his request for permanent residence until we had had sufficient time to assess the Ethiopian Government reaction to his defection and determine whether his permanent presence in this country might prove politically embarrassing to us in our relations with the IEG. You approved our recommendation on July 28. Since then Dinke has sent critical letters to high IEG officials, distributed anti-regime literature and obtained a small amount of publicity in the American press. As a result, we have had several protests from the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, the Prime Minister and their new Ambassador to the United States about Dinke’s “political activities.” The Emperor called in Ambassador Korry on October 1 to say he could not understand how the United States, in the interest of good relations, could permit Dinke to carry on activities against a friendly government. The Acting Foreign Minister told the Ambassador on October 16 that the IEG would object if the United States granted permanent residence to Dinke.

We have emphasized two points to the IEG: (1) while residing in the United States, Dinke benefits from the same right to freedom of speech as Americans; hence we cannot legally silence him; and (2) if we try to force him to leave, the resultant publicity could damage the Ethiopian and United States Governments.

Recent Developments

On October 18 IEG’s Ambassador Tashoma called on me at his request. He reiterated then the IEG’s grave concern over the political activities of Dinke in the United States (while discounting his effectiveness) but asked that we take no action on Dinke until he, the Ambassador, had had the opportunity to examine instructions he had just received on the subject, after which he would discuss the matter further with us. To date, Ambassador Tashoma has not requested another appointment regarding Dinke and during a recent call on the Department in connection with another matter, he did not raise the Dinke question at all. Ambassador Korry now thinks the Emperor may be somewhat more relaxed about Dinke than in previous weeks as a result of his discussions of the problem with him.

Under the circumstances, we will postpone making further recommendations to you on the Dinke case until we have had the opportunity to determine whether the Emperor’s possibly more relaxed mood is permanent or transitory.³

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 30–2 ETH. Secret. Drafted by Galanto and Blake on November 2.
2. On June 15, 1965, Dinke asked the U.S. Government for political asylum. (Telegram 1336 to Addis Ababa, June 15; ibid., POL 17 ETH–US)
3. On August 5, 1966, Secretary Rusk approved informing the Immigration and Naturalization Service that the Department of State had no objection to approval of Dinke’s application for permanent resident status. (Memorandum from Palmer to Rusk, August 1; ibid., POL 30–2 ETH)