Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech on Tuesday before the African Union, to become the first US president to speak before the regional institution.
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“Our commitment to democracy is real – not skin deep”, he said.
Hailemariam acknowledged his country was a “young democracy” that had more to do, but said he had “minor differences” with America about the speed of that process.
On Monday, Obama will hold talks with the leaders of Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, along with the chairperson of the African Union Commission and the foreign minister of Sudan.
Before Ethiopia, Obama spent two days in his father’s homeland of Kenya, where he was hailed as a native son. He says nobody questions the need for the U.S.to engage with large countries like China, but that a different standard is applied to smaller countries like Ethiopia.
Ethiopia jails more journalists than any other nation in Africa apart from neighbouring Eritrea, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
During a news conference in Ethiopia on Monday, Obama said Republicans, seeking to replace him in 2016 election, were using rhetoric about the July 14 agreement that was “ridiculous” and “sad”.
After being devastated by starvation in the 1980s, Ethiopia is one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa and has pushed growth to double digits.
“There is still more work to do, and I think the prime minister is the first to admit there is still more to do”, Obama said, standing next to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, whose party won 100 per cent of seats in parliament two months ago. During a visit here to the Ethiopian capital, he will meet with regional leaders to try to build a consensus behind a peace proposal, and to come up with a backup plan in case that fails involving increased sanctions and possibly an arms embargo.
The ethno-political conflict has since spurred a humanitarian crisis, throwing country into turmoil four years after its creation.
Human rights groups, however, have criticized Obama for visiting Ethiopia, saying his trip lends legitimacy to an oppressive government.
Obama said in his public remarks that he brought up the issue of media and political freedom in Ethiopia. Indeed, the United States has a strong defense partnership with Ethiopia in the fight against terrorism, particularly against the Al Shabab group in neighboring Somalia: Ethiopia shares intelligence with American officials and sends troops into Somalia to address instability there.
Ahead of Obama’s arrival, the government released several journalists and bloggers it had been holding since April 2014 on charges of incitement and terrorism.
“It undermines a lot of the presidential goals about good governance on the continent”, Sarah Margon, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, told the Associated Press.
The other thing we would expect from President Obama’s visit is to really see some outcome, some positive result.
“We’ve had a sitting senator, who also happens to be running for president, suggest that I’m the leading state sponsor of terrorism”, he said, referencing comments from Sen.
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“This is a problem first and foremost for the region to resolve”, the official said, while adding it is becoming of a scale and intensity that all of us are ultimately, one way or another, affected”.
