New US Embassy in Addis Ababa

The US embassy in Ethiopia has been relocated to a safer location on Entoto Road overlooking Addis Ababa. Housing both the US embassy to Ethiopia and the US mission to the African Union, the chancery building has assembled all resident US government agencies under one roof, with approximately 1,000 American and local staff. In the past US government agencies operated out of four different locations around Addis Ababa.

The energy-efficient building is the largest US chancery in Sub-Saharan Africa and its exterior design by Virginia architects Page Southerland Page includes architectural features from the sacred monuments of Axum and Lalibela in northern Ethiopia.

Inaugurated by US deputy secretary of state James B. Steinberg, the new $157 facility was completed by Alabama contracting firm B.L. Harbert International in two-and-a-half-years, employing more than 1,200 Ethiopian construction workers.

The new compound is the 77th such US diplomatic facility to be completed by America