Jendayi Frazer

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Dr. Jendayi Frazer

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

In office

August 29, 2005 – January 20, 2009

President George W. Bush

Preceded by Constance Berry Newman

Succeeded by Johnnie Carson

United States Ambassador to South Africa

In office

May 25, 2004 – August 26, 2005

President George W. Bush

Preceded by Cameron R. Hume

Succeeded by Eric M. Bost

 Personal details

Born 1961

Virginia[1]

Political party Republican

Jendayi Elizabeth Frazer (born 1961) is the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State

for African Affairs, heading the Bureau of African Affairs. She was a Distinguished
Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College and Department of
Social and Decision Sciences.

Contents

 1Background
 2Recent events
 3Quotes
 4References
 5External links

Background[edit]
Before taking on her position in the Bush Administration, Frazer was Special Assistant
to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs on the National Security
Council and the first woman to serve as United States Ambassador to South Africa.
Prior to entering government in 2001, Frazer was an Assistant Professor for Public
Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University from 1995 to 2001.
She was Assistant Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at
the University of Denver and editor of the journal Africa Today from 1993 to 1995. She
graduated from Stanford University with B.A. in Political Science with honors and
African-American Studies with distinction and obtained her M.A. degrees in International
Policy Studies and International Development Education, and a Ph.D. in Political
Science; during her time at Stanford, former Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice served as a faculty member in the Political Science department. [2]
Frazer is a specialist in African Affairs and International Security Affairs. During her
tenure at the National Security Council, she was instrumental in the decisions that led to
establishing the $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AID Relief (PEPFAR) as
well as the Millennium Challenge Account that has contributed to raising U.S.
assistance to Africa to a historic high of $4.1 billion in 2006. Frazer is also given credit
for designing the administration's policy for ending the wars in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Burundi. She is known for statements
condemning armed movements in Africa and in favor of peaceful opposition movements
to bring about democratic political and social change throughout the continent. [3]
Frazer's tenure as Assistant Secretary of State was a controversial one: She was
considered one of the most powerful and outspoken Assistant Secretaries in the Bush
Administration. Yet, an August 2009 report by the State Department's Office of the
Inspector General reviewed 50 years of Africa policy and criticized the Africa Bureau
describing it as low resourced and being hobbled by low morale, and a lack of qualified
personnel and a "failed" public diplomacy program. The report focused on 50 years of
the bureau's history and not specifically Frazer's tenure. [4] The Inspector General's office
criticized the Africa Bureau while Africa policy under the Bush Administration was widely
heralded as one of the Administration's most successful foreign policy achievements. [5]
[6]
 John Bolton, the Bush Administration's Ambassador to the United Nations, accused
Frazer of setting back his plans to end the U.N. Mission in Eritrea-Ethiopia that
monitored and acted as an interposition force along the disputed border between
Ethiopia and Eritrea by unilaterally deciding that the 2002 decision of the Ethiopian-
Eritrean Boundary Commission should be cast aside to favor Ethiopia's position.
[7]
 Frazer disputed Bolton's claim since U.S. policy continued to recognize the EEBC
decision.
Frazer has also been accused[8] of quietly encouraging Ethiopia's decision to militarily
intervene in Somalia in late 2006, a contradiction of the administration's official position.
[9]
 A WikiLeaks cable provides the notes from a 2006 meeting between an official with
the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea and former Assistant Secretary of State for
African Affairs Frazer.[10] According to these notes, Frazer describes the worst-case
scenario of the Islamic Courts Union (an umbrella group of Eritrean-supported militias)
defeating the Transitional Federal Government as having "a major negative impact on
the Horn" which the US would not allow.
The US Assistant Secretary's visit to Addis Ababa and meetings with Prime Minister
Meles and the presence of Rear Admiral Hunt at her side show Washington's growing
concerns about the evolving situation in Somalia and the Region. If in the past, the US
and Ethiopia had diverging views and strategies on the way forward in Somalia (ref our
CC CSX 103 of 21/6/06), the UICs military achievements have definitely led to a
rapprochement and to the potential development of a common approach to the problem.
Any Ethiopian action in Somalia would have Washington's blessing. [10]
Administration officials denied these claims. [citation needed]

Recent events[edit]
On January 7, 2007, Frazer met with Somali political leaders in Nairobi, Kenya, to
discuss United States support for the interim Somali government.[11] Later that day she
cancelled a planned trip to Mogadishu, Somalia, due to the media revealing the details
of her itinerary and riots in the city the day before over a faulty disarmament plan. [12] The
U.S. envoy, the highest ranking in 14 years, made a surprise visit to Somalia on April 7,
2007. She visited Ali Mohammed Ghedi and Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed to help with the
national reconciliation of Somalia.[13]
On January 4, 2008, Frazer was sent by President George W. Bush to Kenya to help
seek a resolution of that country's political dispute following the December 2007
presidential election, and she met with President Mwai Kibaki and opposition
leader Raila Odinga.[14]
On April 24, 2008, Frazer noted that Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of
the Movement for Democratic Change won the disputed Zimbabwean presidential
election, 2008, and stated that President Robert Mugabe should step down.[15]
On May 25, 2008, Mugabe delivered a speech that mentioned Frazer in negative terms:
"You saw the joy that the British had, that the Americans had, and saw them here
through their representatives celebrating and acting as if we [Zimbabwe] are either an
extension of Britain or ... America. You saw that little American girl [Frazer] trotting
around the globe like a prostitute ..." [16]
As of late October 2008, she has been put in charge of issues concerning the Conflict
in North Kivu.
In late August 2009, Frazer criticized the Obama Administration's senior officials
statements that they must practice "tough love" with Africans. She asserts that Obama
should reorient his administration's policy away from patronizing notions of "tough love"
to better emphasize the U.S.'s strategic interests in Africa.
Frazer has been critical of the International Criminal Court, accusing it in 2015 of
unfairly targeting African leaders accused of fomenting violence. [17]
On August 8, 2016, Frazer became one of fifty senior national security and government
experts to sign a letter highly critical of the Republican candidate for the 2016 US
presidential election, Donald Trump. The letter stated their belief that Trump was
unsuited to assume office, denouncing him as dangerous.
Frazer currently sits on several boards of Non Profit and other organizations, including,
the Atlantic Council,[18] The Mastercard Foundation, KBFUS, The Africa
Center, Seedo, CoDa

Quotes[edit]
This issue of insurgency is one that continues to trouble me and Africa as a whole. The
way forward is development and legitimate opposition, not through picking up arms and
insurgency, and it's a message the A.U. needs to make much more loudly to its member
states. – Frazer in a press conference discussing instability in the horn of Africa.[1]

References[edit]
1. ^ http://www.africa-confidential.com/whos-who-profile/id/2460
2. ^ Rice, Condoleezza (2017).  Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom. New York:
Grand Central Publishing. p. 202.  ISBN  9781455540181.  Jendayi knew Kenya. A highly
regarded Africanist, she had been my PhD student at Stanford.
3. ^ Guardian Staff (2010-12-07).  "US embassy cables: Ugandan president's fears of Libyan
attack".  The Guardian.  ISSN  0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
4. ^ US State Department Office of the Inspector General, Report of Inspection: The Bureau of
African Affairs Archived 2009-08-13 at the Wayback Machine, Report no. ISP-I-09-63, August
2009
 5. ^ Bob Geldolf, "With Bush In Africa: A Journey Across A Continent and into the Soul of a
President," Time (March 10, 2008)
6. ^ Kim Ghattas, "Countries that will miss George Bush," BBC News (January 16, 2009), p. 1–3
7. ^ John Bolton, Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and
Abroad, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), p. 347.
8. ^ Francavilla, Chiara (6 January 2012).  "Wikileaks on Somalia – Public Reluctance, Private
Insistence".  Think Africa Press. Archived from  the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 2
February  2014.
9. ^ Frazer, Jendayi.  "Al Jazeera Interview".  Television Interview. Al Jazeera. Retrieved  2
February  2014.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b Official with UNMEE. "Meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs". Summary notes from meeting. WikiLeaks. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
11. ^ McCrummen, Stephanie (2007-01-07). "U.S. Diplomat Meets With Somali Leaders".  The
Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-01-07.
12. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey; Mohammed Ibrahim (2007-01-11). "Islamists Out, Somalia Tries to Rise
From Chaos".  The New York Times. Retrieved  2007-01-11.
13. ^ "U.S. envoy makes surprise visit to Somalia, officials say". CNN. Associated Press. 2007-
04-07. Archived from  the original on 2007-04-12. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
14. ^ C Bryson Hull and Barry Moody, "Opposition brushes aside Kibaki offer", Reuters (IOL),
January 5, 2008.
15. ^ "Mugabe trying to steal election, says U.S. official", CNN, April 24, 2008.
16. ^ "Mugabe labels U.S. diplomat a 'prostitute'", CNN, May 26, 2008.
17. ^ "Wall Street Journal". Retrieved 9 October 2015.
18. ^ "Board of Directors". Atlantic Council. Retrieved  2020-02-11.

External links[edit]
 Biography at United States Department of State
 Appearances on C-SPAN