Ambassador Roble Olhaye Has Died
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:37 pm
AUN.Amb. Power on Death of Djiboutian Amb. Olhaye
27 July 2015
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
Office of Press and Public Diplomacy
New York, New York
Remarks by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to the UN General Assembly in Honor of the Late Djiboutian Permanent Representative, Roble Olhaye, July 27, 2015
AS DELIVERED
Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, distinguished ambassadors, and guests:
I have the honor to speak today on behalf of the government of the United States, the country that has the privilege of hosting the United Nations. I offer our deepest condolences to the people and Government of the Republic of Djibouti, on the passing of His Excellency Ambassador Roble Olhaye, Djiboutian Permanent Representative to the UN and Djiboutian Ambassador to the United States.
Some days when we come to work we can feel anything but united here at the UN. But if there is one thing that all representatives of all nations can agree upon, it is the depth of the loss that we feel with Roble’s passing. He was our dean, our leader, our big brother, and we will miss not only his strong opinions and commanding presence, but also, above all, his personal warmth and generosity.
Before I moved to New York to take up my position, I asked my predecessor Ambassador Rice what were the first things I should do when I arrived here. Her counsel was typically straightforward: “Go see the Djiboutian Ambassador,” she said. “He knows everyone, and he knows everything.” He knows everyone, and he knows everything.
When I paid a call on him in my first days here, he greeted me with two enormous boxes of cannolis and eclairs. “One box for you,” he said, with delight, “and one box for your son and your daughter!” There was no geopolitical conversation with Roble that didn’t begin with a discussion of our families, and our love of our kids. That is one quality that made him such a tireless diplomat: he never lost sight of the individuals and families who were – and still are – affected by all of the debates we have here.
Although Roble seemed an omnipresent fixture here at the United Nations, he somehow managed to moonlight between New York and Washington, where he was the longest-serving Ambassador to the United States. When he took over as Djibouti’s ambassador in Washington on March 22nd, 1988, he said, “Americans had never heard of Djibouti.” Even among diplomats, the nation was not very well known. Djibouti did not even have an embassy in Washington before his arrival. But Roble persuaded his president to open one – and then used that embassy as a perch from which to forge the trust and relationships that were his currency.
“When we opened,” he later said, “a lot of people in this country were writing to us for information, addressing letters ‘Dear Mr. Djibouti.’” Roble changed that. He mailed out information packages about his country to high schools and elementary schools. He seized opportunities to speak about his nation with the broader public – in press interviews, public forums, and conferences. And within the diplomatic community, of course, he built the relationships that allowed him to promote Djibouti’s interests and those of his continent.
It is a testament to the largeness of Roble’s personality, the boundlessness of his energy, and the breadth of his ambition – for Djibouti but also for Africa as a whole – that his colleagues and friends in both New York and Washington felt him as a full-time presence.
Wherever he was, he was a tireless advocate for Djibouti, and for economic development and trade on the African continent. It is true that he will not get to see the world’s embrace of the new Sustainable Development Goals in September, but it is no exaggeration to say that the agenda Roble pushed his entire career is one that will be enshrined in these goals.
How large a force was Roble? It is not every day that the President of the United States pays tribute to the passing of a member of our community here, but that is what President Obama did last week, crediting our beloved colleague for his “personal role” in helping secure the passage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act – a piece of legislation that assists the economies of sub-Saharan Africa – and praising Roble for the way he “represented his nation and all of Africa with pride.”
Roble projected tremendous pride. Pride in Djibouti, pride in Africa, and pride in what all of us could do if we put our minds to it.
We mourn the passing of Roble Olhaye, as a colleague and as a friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Amina Farah Ahmed, and his five children and all those who loved him and were loved by him.
Early yesterday, an emotional President Guelleh and most of the Djiboutian Cabinet were at the airport to greet the arrival of the Ambassador’s remains.
Roble, given all you did for your country, and your people, and your continent, yours was a truly triumphant return.
A grieving and forever grateful nation welcomes you home.
Thank you.
Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/engl ... z3h96ejiMO
