The Trump administration has recalled the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard M. Mills Jr., who was appointed on July 25, 2024,
and 29 other career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts around the world ending tenures for mission chiefs.
Blueprint.ng reports that 13 Africa countries were affected as US moves to reshape its diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of Donald Trump’s “America first” priorities.
Associated Press reports that the chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two state department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves.
It further reported that all of them had taken up their posts in the Biden administration but had survived an initial purge in the early months of Trump’s second term that targeted mainly political appointees.
That changed on Wednesday when they began to receive notices from officials in Washington DC about their imminent departures.
Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, although they typically remain at their posts for between three and four years.
Those affected by the shakeup are not losing their foreign service jobs but will be returning to Washington for other assignments should they wish to take them, the officials said.
The state department declined to comment on specific numbers or ambassadors affected, but defended the changes, calling them “a standard process in any administration.”
It noted that an ambassador is “a personal representative of the president and it is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda.”
Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.
Second is the Asia-Pacific region, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam affected.
Four countries in Europe (Armenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovakia) are affected; as are two each in the Middle East (Algeria and Egypt); South Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka); and the western hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname).
