78 Former US Ambassadors to African Countries Send Letter to President Trump

 

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

As former U.S. Ambassadors to 48 African countries, we write to express our deep concern regarding reports of your recent remarks about African countries and to attest to the importance of our partnerships with most of the fifty-four African nations. Africa is a continent of great human talent and rich diversity, as well as extraordinary beauty and almost unparalleled natural resources. It is also a continent with deep historical ties with the United States.

As American ambassadors abroad we have seen Africa’s complex and rich cultures, awe-inspiring resilience, and breathtaking generosity and compassion. Even as some nations have faced challenges, we have counted among our contacts dynamic entrepreneurs, gifted artists, committed activists, passionate conservationists, and brilliant educators. We learned of novel solutions to complex problems, helped American companies find partners critical to their success, and counted on African military and intelligence officials who often assumed real risks to help achieve outcomes critical to our shared security.

 

 We know that respectful engagement with these countries is a vital part of protecting our own national interests. The United States of America is safer, healthier, more prosperous, and better equipped to solve problems that confront all of humanity when we work with, listen to, and learn from our African partners. We also know that the entire world is richer because of the contributions of Africans, including the many Americans of African descent.

It was one of the greatest honors of our lives to represent the United States of America abroad. It was also a privilege to live in and learn from the diverse and spectacular countries of Africa. We hope that you will reassess your views on Africa and its citizens, and recognize the important contributions Africans and African Americans have made and continue to make to our country, our history, and the enduring bonds that will always link Africa and the United States.

Sincerely,

Mark L. Asquino – Equatorial Guinea
Shirley E. Barnes – Madagascar
William (Mark) Bellamy – Kenya
Eric D. Benjaminson – Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe
Michele Thoren Bond – Lesotho
Parker W. Borg – Mali
Aurelia E. Brazeal – Kenya, Ethiopia
Pamela Bridgewater – Benin, Ghana
Reuben E. Brigety II – African Union
Kenneth L. Brown – Ivory Coast, Ghana, Republic of the Congo
Steven A. Browning – Malawi, Uganda
Edward P. Brynn – Burkina Faso, Ghana
John Campbell – Nigeria
Katherine Canavan – Botswana
Timothy Carney – Sudan
Johnnie Carson – Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Phillip Carter – Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakry
Herman Cohen – Senegal, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Frances D. Cook – Burundi, Cameroon
Walter L. Cutler – Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tunisia
Jeffrey S. Davidow – Zambia
Ruth A. Davis – Benin, Director General of the Foreign Service
Scott H. DeLisi – Uganda, Eritrea
Christopher Dell – Angola, Zimbabwe, Deputy Ambassador at AFRICOM
Harriet Elam-Thomas – Senegal, Guinea-Bissau
Gregory W. Engle – Togo
James F. Entwistle – Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Robert A. Flaten – Rwanda
Robert S. Ford – Algeria
Patrick Gaspard – South Africa
Michelle D. Gavin – Botswana
Donald H. Gips – South Africa
Gordon Gray – Tunisia
Robert E. Gribben – Central African Republic, Rwanda
Patricia McMahon Hawkins – Togo
Karl Hofmann – Togo
Patricia M. Haslach – Ethiopia
Genta Hawkins Holmes – Namibia
Robert G. Houdek – Uganda, Eritrea
Michael S. Hoza – Cameroon
Vicki J. Huddleston – Madagascar, Mali
Janice L. Jacobs – Senegal
Howard F. Jeter – Botswana, Nigeria
Dennis C. Jett – Mozambique
Jimmy J. Kolker – Burkina Faso, Uganda
Edward Gibson Lanpher – Zimbabwe
Dawn M. Liberi – Burundi
Princeton N. Lyman – Nigeria, South Africa
Jackson McDonald – The Gambia, Guinea
James D. McGee – Swaziland, Madagascar, Comoros, Zimbabwe
Roger A. Meece – Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Gillian Milovanovic – Mali
Susan D. Page – South Sudan
David Passage – Botswana
Edward J. Perkins – Liberia, South Africa, Director General of the Foreign Service
Robert C. Perry – Central African Republic
Thomas R. Pickering – Nigeria
Jo Ellen Powell – Mauritania
Nancy Powell – Uganda, Ghana
Anthony Quainton – Central African Republic
Elizabeth Raspolic – Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe
Charles A. Ray – Zimbabwe
Fernando E. Rondon – Madagascar, Comoros
Richard A. Roth – Senegal, Guinea-Bissau
Robin Renee Sanders – Republic of the Congo, Nigeria
Mattie R. Sharpless – Central African Republic
David H. Shinn – Burkina Faso, Ethiopia
A. Ellen Shippy – Malawi
George M. Staples – Rwanda, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Director General of the Foreign Service
Linda Thomas-Greenfield – Liberia, Director General of the Foreign Service, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Jacob Walles – Tunisia
Lannon Walker – Senegal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast
Melissa F. Wells – Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Zaire (Congo-Kinshasa)
Joseph C. Wilson – Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe
Frank G. Wisner – Zambia, Egypt
John M. Yates – Cape Verde, Benin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Permanent Charge (3 years) Zaire, Special Envoy for Somalia
Mary Carlin Yates – Burundi, Ghana, Sudan
Johnny Young – Sierra Leone, Togo

The Africa Society Reacts to President Trump’s Comments

African Group of Ambassadors to the United Nations React to President Trump’s Remarks

African Union Mission – Washington, DC – Reacts to President Trump’s “Shithole Countries” Remarks

An AMIP News Editorial on President Trump’s January 11 Vulgar Remarks

Photo: Getty Images

There Are No “Shithole Countries” Anywhere: Sorry Mr. President

Just like the United States of America, every single country on earth has its own set of overwhelming challenges, but that makes those countries no “shitholes” at all. If not, the US would be the biggest “shithole” for its painfully frustrating leadership crisis under President Trump. This reflection on President Trump’s reported vulgar comments on January 11, 2018, reaffirms each country’s dignity under conventional international relations norms. There are no “shithole” countries—period. Not Haiti, El Salvador, or a single one of the 55 in Africa.

With respect to Africa, the United States found value in Africa and Africans centuries ago, unfair howbeit. Their history goes way back to 1565, in Saint Augustine, Florida, where several colonists of African descent—both slaves and freemen­—were counted among the first settlers.

Using examples from President Trump’s own first year in office, here are a few reasons why African nations are certainly no “shitholes,” no matter how challenged some of them may be.

August 2017

Representatives of 38 sub-Saharan African countries met US representatives at the 16^th AGOA Forum in Lomé, Togo. The theme of the forum was “The United States & Africa: Partnership for Prosperity Through Trade.” The United States delegation certainly did not travel to Togo for a discussion on trade partnerships and prosperity with representatives from “shithole countries.”

September 2017

President Trump met the Presidents of Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, South Africa, and President Alpha Conde, Chairperson of the African Union, in a meeting in New York. Below are excerpts from his remarks delivered at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel.

         “Africa has tremendous business potential. I have so many friends going to your countries, trying to get rich. I congratulate you. They’re spending a lot of money. But it does — it has a tremendous business potential and representing huge amounts of different markets. And for American firms it’s really become a place that they have to go — that they want to go. I see partners for promoting prosperity and peace on a range of economic, humanitarian, and security issues. Six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies are in Africa. Secretary Tillerson and the US Millennium Challenge Corporation are already considering an investment worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Côte d’Ivoire, which has made impressive economic reforms. Really, you’ve done a tremendous job.”

These were not heads of state of “shithole countries.”

November 2017

The Department of State hosted the 5^th annual US-African Union High Level Dialogue, continuing a robust partnership across a broad spectrum of issues. An African Union delegation representing all 55 African nations attended this important event held at the Department of State.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with delegations from 37 countries and the African Union Commission, in addition to representatives from the US and African private sectors and civil society on November 17 and to discuss cooperation in increasing trade and investment, promoting good governance, and countering violent extremism and terrorism.

Secretary Tillerson did not schedule a meeting with delegations from 37 “shithole countries.”
President Trump’s vulgar comments have political, diplomatic, social, and economic ramifications that will play out over time; they also reveal that President Trump only values Africa and Africans when there’s a bounty.