A senior official told the Reuters news agency on Monday that the recall was “a standard procedure in any administration,” claiming that an ambassador should be treated as a “personal representative” of the president. The State Department declined to provide a list of the diplomats.
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The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that “the president has the right to ensure that he has individuals in these nations who support the America First agenda.”
Almost 30 senior diplomats posted to smaller nations, where the top US representative has traditionally been recruited from the apolitical Foreign Service, were among those ordered back to Washington, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
According to two unidentified State Department officials, senior diplomats from at least 29 nations were being given notice about their imminent departures on Wednesday, according to an anonymous source with the Associated Press.
Politico first reported on the recalls, which claimed a State Department official cited a statement from Politico that said on Friday that two dozen ambassadors were being told to leave their posts.
The American Foreign Service Association, a group of officers who represent foreign service officers, announced on its Facebook page that it had received “credible reports” that “multiple career ambassadors appointed under the Biden administration” had been phoned to leave their posts by January 15 or 16 without giving an explanation for the decision.
According to spokesperson Nikki Gamer in an email cited by Reuters, “Abrupt, unexplained recalls reflect the same pattern of institutional sabotage and politicisation that our survey data shows is already harming US credibility abroad.”
Giving China and Russia the upper hand in the US
Ambassadors are elected by the president, but typically they serve for three to four years.
According to State Department officials who spoke to AP, those who are affected by the shakeup do not lose their jobs in the international service, but instead will go back to Washington to take other assignments if they choose to.
Ambassadors from 13 nations were removed from Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda, according to the news agency.
According to the statement, Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Armenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Algeria, Egypt, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, and Suriname will also see ambassadial changes.
Trump is “giving away US leadership to China and Russia by removing qualified career ambassadors who serve faithfully no matter who is in power,” according to Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on X.
Source: Aljazeera
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