Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders, an African American who is currently US ambassador to the Republic of Congo, has been nominated by President George W. Bush as the new US ambassador to Nigeria. If she scales through the Senate hearings, she will be resuming in Nigeria at about the end of October, replacing Ambassador John Campbell, who has served out his term as ambassador to Nigeria.
Ambassador Sanders, who is expected to go through the Senate hearings smoothly, was nominated on July 9 and her nomination was sent to the Senate two days later. She will appear before the Senate committee on September 19, before subsequently meeting the full Senate.
Ms Sanders, a career member of the Foreign Service, most recently served as director for public diplomacy for Africa for the State Department. Prior to this appointment, Sanders served twice as the director for Africa at the National Security Council at the White House (under former presidents Bush 1988-1989, and Clinton, 1997-1999), as 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., and as chief of staff and senior foreign policy for members of the House International Relations Committee.
The new ambassador holds a Masters of Arts degree in International Relations and Africa Studies, a Masters of Science degree in Communications and Journalism from Ohio University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Hampton University. She has received extensive professional training from the State Department�s School of Advanced Studies in Political Analysis, and African and Latin American studies.
Ms. Sanders has worked as a political affairs officer abroad for the Department of State for 13 years, most notably serving in Senegal, Namibia, Sudan, Portugal, and the Dominican Republic. She has also been assigned to special missions to Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While abroad, Ms. Sanders worked extensively on issues ranging from democratisation and governance to elections, development assistance, refugees and peacekeeping. She also served as an election observer for Namibia�s first-ever post-apartheid election, and provided expert analysis on elections in several African nations as well as Portugal and the Dominican Republic. While in Sudan, Ms. Sanders served as the point-person for analysing the raging civil war in southern Sudan as well as the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in that nation. Ms. Sanders has also managed human rights and democracy projects and emergency food assistance programmes in several African countries. As chief of staff and senior foreign policy advisor for a member of Congress, Ms. Sanders covered issues ranging from Africa, Latin America, Cuba and Bosnia. She also had responsibilities for key domestic issues such as crime, health care, and arms control.
Ms. Sanders is the recipient of three State Department Superior Honour Awards, three State Department Meritorious Honour Awards and several citations in Who�s Who of American Women. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Ms. Sanders was born on Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia. She speaks French and some Portuguese and Spanish.
She comes to Nigeria at a very difficult time for the United States: her home country has not formally congratulated President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua on winning the April election. The United States, like most members of the international community, has insisted that the election that brought Yar�Adua to power was rigged beyond what is acceptable. On the other hand, it is in the United States� enlightened self-interest to continue to maintain good relations with Nigeria because of its strategic interests in the country. Ambassador Sanders is therefore expected to use her vast experience and diplomatic expertise to direct the US through this very tight rope.
Diplomats who spoke with LEADERSHIP Sunday insisted that they would accept nothing short of free and fair elections in Nigeria. They also said the United States was watching the election tribunals with keen interest. “So far, we are satisfied that the new Nigerian leader has indicated that electoral reforms and the rule of law are some of his priorities,” a senior diplomat in the State Department told LEADERSHIP Sunday . The same view is held by influential experts on Nigerian affairs. Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, member of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Professor Jean Herskovits, professor emeritus of the Suny Purchase University, New York, also insisted on democratic elections as the minimum requirement for recognition.
Black American envoys have not fared well in Nigeria. Ambassador Campbell�s predecessor was Ambassador Howard Jeter, who almost literally endorsed former President Obasanjo�s rigging of the 2003 elections, the precursor of the 2007 rigged elections. Ambassador Walter Carrington, who was ambassador during the days of General Sani Abacha, got too intimate with anti-government forces and did not have the faintest idea of how to engage the government of the day constructively. And that almost frustrated President Bill Clinton, the US president at the time.
President Yar�Adua is expected to be in New York in a few days to address the United Nations General Assembly for the first time. Top members of the US government will also hold closed-door discussions with him in order to get a glimpse of the workings of his mind. Sources close to both the State Department and the White House informed LEADERSHIP Sunday that they would not want to make the same mistakes they made with former President Obasanjo: they overestimated Obasanjo until it was too late.