Johnnie Carson Appointed as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

Finally!

It seems as if some key nominations in the Obama administration are filling up. Earlier last week Obama appointed a new special envoy for Sudan.  On March 20th, with little attention from the media, the White House also announced that Johnnie Carson would be nominated as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. President Obama said, "This group of public servants joins my administration at a critical time in our nation’s history. As we work to rebuild our economy, achieve energy independence and keep American strong at home and abroad, I will rely on their trusted counsel and extensive experience on the issues. I look forward to working with them in the months ahead..."

As I begin to formulate a profile of this nomination, does anyone have any thoughts?  Will he be better than the current Assistant Secretary, Jendayi Frazer?  What’s your expectation for U.S. policy towards Africa?

This is his biography, according to the National Intelligence Council:

Johnnie Carson
National Intelligence Officer for Africa

Ambassador Johnnie Carson joined the NIC as National Intelligence Officer for Africa in September 2006 after a 37-year career in Foreign Service. Prior to this appointment, Carson served as the Senior Vice President of the National Defense University in Washington D.C. (2003-2006). Carson's Foreign Service career includes ambassadorships to Kenya (1999-2003), Zimbabwe (1995-1997), and Uganda (1991-1994); and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs (1997-1999). Earlier in his career he had assignments in Portugal (1982-1986), Botswana (1986-1990), Mozambique (1975-1878), and Nigeria (1969-1971). He has also served as desk officer in the Africa section at State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1971-1974); Staff Officer for the Secretary of State (1978-1979), and Staff Director for the Africa Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives (1979-1982).

Before joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Carson was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania from 1965-1968. He has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Drake University and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the School of Oriental and Africa Studies at the University of London.

Ambassador Carson is the recipient of several Superior Honor Awards from the Department of State and a Meritorious Service Award from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The Centers for Disease Control presented Ambassador Carson its highest award, "Champion of Prevention Award," for his leadership in directing the US Government's HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in Kenya.

Comments

[folke.lofgren]

For britta

[Sylain E.M. Ngung]

Sylvain E.M. Ngung
Fmr. Deputy Permanent Representative of
The African Union to the United Nations.
147 Chase Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10703
Tel. (914) 751-6443

March 23, 2009

Dear Ambassador Carson,

I am delighted to hear that you have been appointed as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. I wish to seize this occasion to express to you my warmest congratulations for this appointment. I have every confidence that you will assume your functions with competence, being a career diplomat and an expert of African Affairs. I indeed appreciated your great qualities as diplomat when we met in Bamako, Mali, in October 2003 when I represented the African Union at the North and West Africa Counter-Terrorism Seminar that was organized by Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
I wish you all the success in your functions.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

S.E.M. Ngung

H.E. Ambassador Johnnie Carson
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
State Department
Washington, DC

[Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH]

Dear Ambassador Johnnie Carson

Congratulations for your appointment as Assistant Secretary State for African Affairs at this critical time in world history and US-African Relationships.

As you can observe from global news and developments, Africa is i a critical stage of its Economic Development and Security as the US is facing a series of Economic challenges and security challenges.

I request you consider this position as an opportunity to reach out to African Countries and plan for President Obama to visit Africa and engage Africans in creative solutions of the future in his first year term in office.

As the president has been to the Americas, Europe and Asia already in his first 100 days, we trust he will make it in his first year and not wait in his last year as Bush and Clinton did.

Africa is the only continent that has Green Energy resources, the future of US and Global Economic transformations.

I propose that you contact the African Union in Addis and make President Obama the first American President to visit Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the capital of African Union and the highest Diplomatic hub in the world.

May you have a creative and innovative time as you support Mrs Hilary Clinton in her efforts to reach out the American Diplomatic Vision to the rest of the world.

See you and President Obama in Addis in his first term.

Thank you and Yes We Can Make it to Africa this year

Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
Global Strategic Enterprises, for Peace and Prosperity
www.Globalbelai4u.blogspot.com
Globalbelai7@gmail.com

A

[Dr Mohamed]

MR AMBASSADOR;

PLEASE DO YOUR HOMEWORK PROPERLY TO KNOW BETTER WHAT IS THE REASON BEHIND SOMALIA'S PROBLEMS.

ONLY IF YOU KNOW THAT YOU COULD SUCCEED IN FINDING A PROPER AND LASTING SOLUTION.

[Idris Ahmed Guled]

by Idris Ahmed Guled (Idris Ganey)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Please read related article.

Idris Ahmed Guled (Idris Ganey)
E-mail: idrisganey@gmail.com

[Idris Ahmed Guled]

by Idris Ahmed Guled (Idris Ganey)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Please read related article.
Why War is a fungible Commodity in Somalia?
Idris Ahmed Guled (Idris Ganey)
E-mail: idrisganey@gmail.com

[Idris Ahmed Guled]

Advice to Mrs Clinton USA Secretary of State, regarding her trip to Africa, particularly her meeting with Sheik Sharif Somalia Transitional appointed by the UN and IGAD States:

1) Somalia does not need Military assistances and armaments but humanitarian assistances of all sorts specially in development programs.

2) In order to terminate 18 Years of slow genocides in Somalia, USA must request the UN security Council to call upon all interested States to intervene militarily and disarm all Somalis without any distinctions what so ever, all Militias belonging to The very weak Central Government, the so auto-proclaimed Regional Governments, and of course the Islamists.

3) After disarmament Somalia must be put under a trusteeship for a period not less than 20 years in order to pave the road for reconstructions and reconciliation.

Thanks.

[Tichafa Mundangepfupfu]

Your Excellency, I am sending you this email again after I did not get a reply when I first sent it, in the event you did not receive it.
Dear Ambassador Johnnie Carson,
I read with gratitude on Google the news that you were appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. Congratulations are in order and I wish you success in your new endeavours.
If you recall we had brief talks each time you passed through my wife’s small shop at Sam Levy’s Village in Borrowdale around 1995/96 while I was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Zimbabwe Civil Service.
Our talk at that time was on the changing policy in the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management (now known as Parks and Wildlife Management Authority), where the focus was on indigenisation of African officers, replacing white officers at management level. Your exact words were; “If you are carrying out a renovation, why break down the house?” Experience has shown since then that not only the Department of Wildlife was a victim of this policy, but many other sectors suffered the same demise. This policy lead to an exodus of experienced Terrestrial Ecologists to such countries as Namibia and South Africa, which has lead to a lack of experienced officers in the department, to which end capacity building is urgently needed.
My last meeting with you was at a farewell party that was hosted by the then UN-FAO Regional Representative for East and Southern Africa, Ms. Victoria Sekitoleko at the end of your tour of duty in Zimbabwe in 1997. I had retired from the Civil Service and was now a short term consultant with FAO Regional Office in Harare, at a time when the social and economic conditions of ordinary Zimbabweans was deteriorating. This made me decide to take early retirement after 14 years, eight of which I was Permanent Secretary. In 1999 when my contract ended with FAO, I decided to return to Canada where I had been a student and then a citizen in the seventies before joining the Zimbabwean government in 1981.I left Rhodesia illegally in December 1966 for Zambia and then to the UK after one year in Zambia, later to the USA where I graduated at Ithaca College, Ithaca New York. After graduation in 1974 I went to the University of Ghana Legon for a Masters Degree in Agricultural Economics and Farm Management and returned to the USA in 1975. At the end of 1975 I migrated to Canada as a Landed Immigrant since Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia. In Canada I went back to graduate school in Environmental Studies and graduated with an MES degree in 1980. In 1981 I was recruited to work for the new government of Zimbabwe and went back first in the Ministry of Agriculture and then was promoted to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. By 1987 I was appointed Permanent Secretary of that Ministry until my retirement in 1995.
I was in Zimbabwe in March this year to witness the newly created unity government and to offer them my assistance in strategic planning as a consultant in my former ministry. I was well received by both sides of the divide, and their urgent need for assistance was help in building capacity in the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. Special emphasis was on developing sustainable wildlife and tourism policies for the now established Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area which overlaps parts of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This new tripartite partnership in wildlife management has created a new opportunity for eco-tourism for the three countries. The key economic driver linking these national parks is wildlife-based tourism that seeks to maximize returns from marginal lands in a sector where Southern Africa enjoys a global competitive advantage. The problem the department faces is that they do not have funds to hire people of my experience as a consultant for a specified period. Most AID Agencies have not engaged with the new government on development issues, but only on relief. My offer therefore is open whenever they have the necessary funds for me to travel to Zimbabwe and establish myself for at least a 2 year contract.
My reason for writing to you is to renew our acquaintance and to offer myself to any needs or opportunity that may arise, and which you feel I would be well suited to participate in, as you grapple with African political, social and economic issues.
To this end I am still active in development issues in the area of Environmental and Natural Resources Management policies in African ecosystems.
By the way, I read with surprise your acrimonious exchange of words with President Mugabe in Libya. Ironically you know him well having been US Ambassador to Zimbabwe from 1995 to 1997. As the cliché goes, it is difficult but not impossible to teach an old dog new tricks!
I look forward to further discussions.
Respectfully,
Tichafa Mundangepfupfu August, 31. 2009

[Online Pharmacy]

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