United States President George Walker Bush has nominated a senior Foreign Service career diplomat, Ms. Robin Renee Sanders, as the new United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Nigeria.
Our correspondent gathered from a listing by the US Senate on Thursday that she was awaiting consideration by the US Senate�s Foreign Relations Committee. The White House had earlier announced her nomination on Monday.
If confirmed by the US Senate, Sanders will replace outgoing Ambassador John Campbell, who assumed his duty tour on May 20, 2004.
A biography obtained from the State Department said Sanders, who is a trained journalist and communications expert, has extensive experience in African affairs. She currently serves as the International Affairs Advisor and Deputy Commandant at the Industrial College of the US Armed Forces at the National Defence University.
Prior to this, she served as the US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of the Congo. She has also been a Director for Public Diplomacy for Africa for the State Department, and had served twice as the Director for Africa at the National Security Council at the White House (under former Presidents George Herbert Bush from 1988-1989, and Bill Clinton from 1997-1999).
She was also the Special Assistant for Latin America, Africa, and International Crime for the Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., as well as Chief of Staff and Senior Foreign Policy for Member of the House International Relations Committee.
In a separate development, the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has fixed a hearing on democracy in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan nations for Tuesday.
A statement posted on the committee�s website on Friday said the hearing, titled �Democratic Developments in Sub-Saharan Africa: Moving Forwards or Backwards?� will be moderated by Senator Russ Feingold at the US Senate�s Dirksen Building in Washington, D.C.
The witnesses, who are divided into two panels, are a former American ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Princeton Lyman; the US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Barry F. Lowenkron; Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, US Agency for International Development, Michael Hess; Nigeria researcher for Human Rights Watch, Christopher Albin-Lackey; and the Senior Africa Analyst, Open Society Institute, Awke Amosu.
On June 7, the US Congress sub-committee on Africa and Global Health chaired by Congressman Donald Payne held a hearing on Nigeria�s April elections titled �Nigeria at a Crossroads,� where the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Dr. Jendayi Frazier; Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka; and officials of some civil rights and democracy monitoring groups testified.