Jendayi Frazer

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Jendayi Frazer bigraphy, stories - American diplomat

Jendayi Frazer : biography

1961 –

Jendayi Elizabeth Frazer (born 1961) is the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, heading the Bureau of African Affairs. She currently serves as a Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College and Department of Social and Decision Sciences.http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2009/January/jan30_frazerfaculty.shtml

Recent events

On January 7, 2007, Frazer met with Somali political leaders in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss United States support for the interim Somali government. 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. 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.

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.C Bryson Hull and Barry Moody, , Reuters (IOL), January 5, 2008.

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., CNN, April 24, 2008.

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…", CNN, May 26, 2008.

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.

Background

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.

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 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.