Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa and covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the US government, the UN, the IMF, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington and New York.
In about 100 days, Ambassador johnnie carson who has been chosen by the president Joseph R. Biden Jr. act as special representative of the US-Africa Leaders Summit implementation, will be 80 years old. Carson, who was born on April 7, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, is married with three children and lives in Reston, Virginia.
The White House saying in a statement on December 15 that “Ambassador Carson will coordinate with representatives of government, civil society, the private sector, and the diaspora from the United States and Africa to ensure that the important dialogues that began during the Summit lead to lasting action.” “, adding that it will also work with a wide range of stakeholders “to explore mechanisms for future high-level engagement.”
Virtually everyone in Biden’s inner circle has described him as a brilliant and experienced diplomat with a 37-year career in diplomacy in Africa.
White House national security adviser jake sullivan described Carson during a December 12 press conference as a man with “a great deal of experience.”
“We look forward to working with him to ensure that the announcements made in the next three days translate into lasting action that lasts well beyond the summit,” added Sullivan, who was speaking at the White House to preview the summit. . President Biden hosted in Washington DC December 13-15.
Secretary of state Antonio J. Blinken described Carson during a December 15 press conference at the end of the US-Africa Leaders Summit as “one of our most experienced senior diplomats.”
“We know that commitments are only as good as our ability to meet them. That is why we are asking one of our most experienced senior diplomats, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, to return to the State Department as our special representative for the implementation of the US-Africa Leaders Summit. With almost four decades of experience as a diplomat, deep relationships throughout the region, I can think of no one better to ensure that our words are translated into action,” Blinken said.
In his own teleconference on December 20 to discuss the results of the US-Africa Leaders Summit, Jose W. FernandezUnder Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, also described Ambassador Johnnie Carson, who has a BA in history and political science from Drake University and an MA in international relations from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. . , as “one of my favorite diplomats”.
“He knows the region very well and is someone I have always respected. I worked with him when he was here at the State Department 10 years ago, and I would just sit and listen to him, and I was always excited, and I learned a lot from being around him. So I’m looking forward to working with him. I don’t know when Johnnie will take over from him, but knowing him it won’t be long”. Fernandez saying.
Ambassador Johnnie Carson was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs on May 7, 2009. Prior to that, he was the National Intelligence Officer for Africa at the National Intelligence Council, after serving as Senior Vice President of the University of National Defense in Washington, DC (2003-2006).
His nearly four-decade foreign service career includes embassies in Kenya (1999-2003), Zimbabwe (1995-1997) and Uganda (1991-1994); and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs (1997-1999).
Earlier in his career he had assignments in Portugal (1982-1986), Botswana (1986-1990), Mozambique (1975-1978) and Nigeria (1969-1971). He also served as a bureau officer in the Africa section of the State Intelligence and Investigation Office (1971-1974); Staff Officer to the Secretary of State (1978-1979) and Staff Director for the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa (1979-1982). Before joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Carson served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania from 1965 to 1968.
So, case closed. Ambassador Carson is excellent and can lead the implementation of the US-Africa Summit agreements and recommendations.
However, at the United States Institute of Peace on December 16, when he interviewed President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, a protest broke out. Nigerians and Americans in the audience felt that he was unaware of current realities in Nigeria, that he did not ask the real questions about issues affecting Nigerians, and that he was there to do PR for a very bad leader of the most populous region of Africa. nation.
emmanuel ihimPresident of Diaspora Alliancewho traveled from Texas, was surprised that Mr. Buhari did not answer questions from the audience, and that Ambassador Carson did not raise key issues affecting Nigeria.
Others, like Dede LaugesenExecutive Director of Save persecuted Christianswho protested during Buhari’s ‘conversation’ and was escorted out of the room, described Mr Buhari as “the mastermind behind the genocide of Christians in Nigeria”.
“I am here today with my good friends and fellow activists protesting President Muhammadu Buhari’s conversation here at the US Institute of Peace because President Buhari masterminds the genocide of Christians in Nigeria,” he said. Laugesen. She added that Buhari is not a man of peace and that he wanted to ask her about Christians in Nigeria.
faith mcdonnellA human rights defender for more than twenty-eight years, another protester, described Buhari’s invitation to the US Institute of Peace directly, but allowing the continued killing of Christians in Nigeria by Boko Haram and Fulani and calling it a problem of the climate change.
A Nigerian lawyer who traveled from Baltimore said she was disappointed by President Buhari’s performance. She claimed that issues plaguing Nigeria, such as corruption and mismanagement of resources, were not addressed during Buhari’s conversation.
Dr. Gloria Samdi-Pulduwho hails from Adamawa state in northeastern Nigeria, and is the global director of Give Her Voice and president of the LEAH Foundation, traveled from Nigeria to ask President Buhari about Leah Sharibu, a Christian girl who was among the 110 students. 11-19 years old who were abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist group from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College (GGSTC) in Dapchi, located in Bulabulin, Bursari Local Government Area of Yobe State, in the north-eastern part of Nigeria.
Leah Sharibu, a fourteen-year-old Christian student at the time of her capture, is the only Dapchi student left behind as a hostage.
These voices mean that while Ambassador Carson is celebrated in Washington by President Biden’s inner circle, those coming from Africa or Americans who have been paying attention to recent events on the continent are beginning to sense the disconnect between Washington and the reality on the ground.
Older diplomats like Ambassador Carson may not enjoy the support of young Africans, the new generation of leaders in Africa, and as coups and counter-coups multiply in Africa, implementation of the US Summit agreements. -Africa may end up being another chimera of 2014.
When older people like Carson, who have no idea what Instagram or TikTok is, join African leaders who are also too old and about to step down and are harnessed to push US-to-U.S. and Africa, it is unlikely that something will turn out as there is no future in the past.
