US envoy pledges to press Ethiopia on rights

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama ’s nominee to be the next US ambassador to Ethiopia pledged on Tuesday to press the government in Addis Ababa to improve human rights, free political prisoners and make upcoming elections fair. Donald Booth said the United States had “complex interests” in Ethiopia, and that the two nations, while differing in tactics, saw largely eye-to-eye on the need to bring stability and prevent an Islamist takeover of Somalia .