United States Ambassador to Burundi
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The part of Africa that is now Burundi and Rwanda was a feudal monarchy headed by a mwami (king) and a ganwa, a feudal hierarchy of Tutsi nobles and gentry until 1890. In that year the Germans attacked the nation and attempted to subdue it with armed force. Eventually the Germans backed an attempted coup d’état against the king, Mwezi Gisanbo. The coup was unsuccessful, but Gisabo was eventually forced to concede and agreed to German suzerainty. The Germans then helped him suppress the revolt. Thus Burundi became part of German East Africa in 1890.
In 1915 during The Great War, Belgian troops from Zaire drove the small number of Germans out of Burundi and took control of the country.
After WWI Germany lost its overseas possessions and the League of Nations mandated Burundi and its southern neighbor, Rwanda, to Belgium as the territory of Ruanda-Urundi in 1923. The western kingdoms of Ruanda-Urundi were stripped from the old colonies and given to British-administered Tanganyika. The Belgians administered the territory through indirect rule, building on the Tutsi-dominated aristocratic hierarchy.
Following World War II, Ruanda-Urundi became a United Nations Trust Territory with Belgium as the administrative authority.
In June 1962 the UN General Assembly terminated the Belgian trusteeship and granted full independence to Rwanda and Burundi. The United States immediately recognized the Burundian government and moved to establish diplomatic relations. The U.S. Embassy in the capital Usumbura (now Bujumbura) was established on July 1, 1962, with Herbert V. Olds as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim. Donald A. Dumont was appointed as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Burundi on October 25, 1962.
The rank of the mission was changed to Legation effective December 15, 1962, and to Embassy again effective September 16, 1963.
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[edit] Ambassadors
Diplomatic Terms
Career FSO: After 1915, The United States Department of State began classifying ambassadors as career Foreign Service Officers (FSO) for those who have served in the Foreign Service for a specified amount of time.
Political appointee: A person who is not a career foreign service officer, but is appointed by the president; often to reward political friends.
Appointed: The date that the ambassador took the oath of office—also called “commissioning.” This follows confirmation of a presidential appointment by the Senate, or a congressional-recess appointment by the president. In the case of a recess appointment, the ambassador must be later confirmed by the Senate.
Presented Credentials: The date that the ambassador presented his letter of credence to the head of state or appropriate authority of the receiving nation. At this time the ambassador officially becomes the representative of his country. This would normally occur a short time after the ambassador’s arrival on station. The host nation may reject the ambassador by not receiving the ambassador’s letter, but this occurs only rarely.
Terminated mission: Usually the date that the ambassador left the country. In some cases a letter of recall is presented, ending the ambassador’s commission, either as a means of diplomatic protest or because the diplomat is being reassigned elsewhere and replaced by another envoy.
Chargé d’affaires: The person in charge of the business of the embassy when there is no ambassador commissioned to the host country. See chargé d’affaires.
ad interim: For the time being; in the meantime. See ad interim.
- Donald A. Dumont – Career FSO[1]
- Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: October 25, 1962
- Presented credentials: January 17, 1963
- Terminated mission: Promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary August 1, 1963
- Donald A. Dumont – Career FSO[2][3][4]
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: August 1, 1963
- Presented credentials: September 16, 1963
- Terminated mission: Recall requested by Govt. of Burundi, December 29, 1965 (request received, January 10, 1966). Dumont left post, January 11, 1966.
- George W. Renchard – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: July 24, 1968
- Presented credentials: August 10, 1968
- Terminated mission: Left post, October 15, 1969
- Thomas Patrick Melady – Political appointee
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: November 4, 1969
- Presented credentials: January 31, 1970
- Terminated mission: Left post, May 25, 1972
- Robert L. Yost – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: June 27, 1972
- Presented credentials: August 19, 1972
- Terminated mission: Left post, May 26, 1974
- David E. Mark – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: June 20, 1974
- Presented credentials: September 4, 1974
- Terminated mission: Left post, August 26, 1977
- Thomas J. Corcoran – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: March 2, 1978
- Presented credentials: April 6, 1978
- Terminated mission: Left post, August 19, 1980
- Frances D. Cook – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: June 30, 1980
- Presented credentials: September 25, 1980
- Terminated mission: Left post March 15, 1983
- James R. Bullington – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: March 13, 1983
- Presented credentials: April 14, 1983
- Terminated mission: Left post, July 11, 1986
- James Daniel Phillips – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: October 16, 1986
- Presented credentials: November 20, 1986
- Terminated mission: Left post, January 12, 1990
- Cynthia Shepard Perry – Political appointee
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: November 21, 1989
- Presented credentials: February 12, 1990
- Terminated mission: Left post, February 28, 1993
- Note: The post was vacant from March 1993 to June 1994. Leonard J. Lange, Career FSO, served as chargé d’affaires ad interim during that period.
- Robert Krueger – Political appointee
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: May 9, 1994
- Presented credentials: June 29, 1994
- Terminated mission: Left post, September 10, 1995
- Morris N. Hughes, Jr. – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: June 11, 1996
- Presented credentials: June 27, 1996
- Terminated mission: Left post May 14, 1999
- Mary Carlin Yates – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: November 16, 1999
- Presented credentials: December 15, 1999
- Terminated mission: Left post June 19, 2002
- James Howard Yellin – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: August 8, 2002
- Presented credentials: September 26, 2002
- Terminated mission: Left post, July 21, 2005
- Patricia N. Moller – Career FSO
- Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
- Appointed: October 27, 2005
- Presented credentials: March 4, 2006
- Terminated mission: Incumbent
03/04/2006
[edit] Notes
- ^ Dumont was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned after confirmation on March 12, 1963.
- ^ Dumont was promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary on August 1, 1963. This required a new commission.
- ^ The rank of the mission was raised from Legation to Embassy simultaneously with Dumont’s promotion.
- ^ Following a coup d’état in Burundi, Dumont was recalled at the request of the government of Burundi on January 10, 1966.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- United States Department of State: Ambassadors to Burundi
- United States Department of State: Background notes on Rwanda
- This article contains material from the US Department of State's Background Notes which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
