Washington, DC — Her Return to Policymaking Raises Hopes for Increased High-Level Focus
Jendayi Frazer, who served for the past year as U.S. ambassador to South Africa, has assumed the State Department's senior Africa policymaking post. She was sworn in as assistant secretary for African Affairs on September 7 by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Frazer was a key architect of Africa policy during President Bush's first term, serving as senior director for African affairs on the National Security Council (NSC) staff under Rice at the White House before being appointed ambassador in March 2004. She succeeds Constance Berry Newman, who was chosen for the post by former Secretary of State Colin Powell after the departure of Walter Kansteiner and held the job for 14 months.
As assistant secretary, Newman had a central role in several aspects of U.S. Africa policy, including the declaration by Powell last September that "genocide has been committed" in Sudan's Darfur region. She also played a lead in the administration's preparations for last year's G8 summit hosted by President Bush in Sea Island, Georgia, as well as the July summit in Scotland, chaired by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who made Africa the top agenda item.
The same month, Newman accompanied Rice on her three-day visit to Darfur and Dakar, where she addressed the U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum. Newman returned to Sudan in August following the death of southern Sudanese rebel leader John Garang to emphasize U.S. backing for the comprehensive peace accord that ended decades of civil war.
There is a perception among Africa watchers that the continent's problems and issues have received less high-level attention since Rice replaced Powell at State. Powell made Africa the destination for his first official trip - a six-day, four-nation tour in May 2001, while Rice's July trip, which was originally projected to take in several countries, ended with only two briefs stops on the continent before she moved on to the Middle East.
When Rice became secretary of State in January, speculation arose that Frazer would soon be called back to Washington by her former boss, and many Africanists are hopeful that Frazer's close relationship with Rice could increase Africa's claim on administration attention. The two have a long association. Frazer earned her B.A., two master's degrees and a PhD. in political science from Stanford University, where Rice was professor of political science and later provost. After Newman quietly submitted her resignation in March, Secretary Rice prevailed on her former aide to join the Department's top policy team.
As assistant secretary, Frazer leads the State Department's Africa Bureau, assisted by three deputies. Department officials have said privately that she will replace two current deputy assistant secretaries. Michael Ranneberger and Thomas Woods are expected to depart, while Donald Yamamoto - who handles East African issues - has been asked to remain in his post for another year.
Frazer has selected Bobby Pittman, who was her deputy at the NSC, to one of the deputy posts. Pittman is currently serving in the Treasury Department as deputy assistant secretary for multilateral development institutions and policy and worked as an economist at the Central Intelligence Agency before going to the NSC.
Also this month, a number of new American ambassadors are taking up their posts in Africa. A few hours after Frazer took her oath on Wednesday, Rice swore in Pamela E. Bridgewater as the U.S. ambassador to Ghana. Bridgewater served as U.S. ambassador to Benin from October 2000 until December 2002 and then spent two years as deputy assistant secretary in the Africa Bureau.
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Other career diplomats recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate for postings in Africa include Katherine Hubay Peterson (Botswana), Alan W. Eastham, Jr. (Malawi), Roger Dwayne Pierce (Cape Verde), Donald E. Booth (Liberia), and Terence Patrick McCulley (Mali). In North Africa, Francis Joseph Ricciardone, Jr., has been confirmed as ambassador to Egypt.
The latest class of African envoys includes one political appointee, Michael Retzer, a former Air Force captain, franchiser and treasurer to the Republican National Convention who has been confirmed as ambassador to Tanzania.
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