The Foreign Service Journal, May 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2014 37 Nationals, calling from the General Services Office compound, was screaming into the phone. “The police have come to take us away,” he shouted, referring to more than 100 local staff and their families from Senegal and Mali for whomwe had arranged a place of safety there. This was in 1989, during a period of unrest in Mauritania when foreign nationals from Black Africa were hunted down and deported or killed. I immediately woke Communicator Cookie Rodriquez, who was staying with me during the crisis, and then Ambassador William Twadell and Deputy Chief of Mission John Vincent. The ambassador called the foreign minister to request assistance. When help was slow in coming, Amb. Twadell elected to go to the compound himself—despite the curfew enforced by nervous Mauritanian army troops and the danger such a trip entailed. Ms. Rodriquez volunteered to drive his limo and, with flags flying, they headed out. On the way, they met the foreign minister, and the ambassador joined him. The two officials reached the compound in time to stop the police from taking away our FSNs. The courage shown by Amb. Twadell and Communicator Rodriquez was exemplary. The following day, accompanied by American members of the embassy staff, the FSNs were taken to the airport, where Algerian and French aircraft flew them to safety. The entire embassy staff showed great empathy and courage in sheltering our colleagues fromMali and Senegal, and it made me proud to be a member of the Foreign Service. T O G O It All Started at the American Embassy Library By Azizou Atte-Oudeyi Hometown: Springfield, Mass. My journey started when I visited the American embassy library in Lomé for the first time at the age of 13. I was born in Togo, a small country located on the west coast of Africa, and immigrated to the United States through the diver- sity visa program. I became a U.S. citizen in 2005. While working for the U.S. Postal Service, I began pursuing a career as a Foreign Service officer. My dream became true in October 2013, when I took the oath of service before Secretary of State John Kerry. I was most proud of being part of the Foreign Service when my colleagues honored me with the Glenn Munro Award for Outstanding Potential and Leadership during the A-100 orienta- tion session. S O M A L I A A Roadmap in Somalia By Brandi James Hometown: Augusta, Georgia As the principal reporting officer for Embassy Nairobi’s Soma- lia Affairs Unit from July 2011 to June 2013, and one of the first State Department officials to work inside Somalia after the infa- mous Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down) in October 1993, I had an extraordinary opportunity to live and breathe expedition- ary diplomacy. I reported on Somali and international community efforts under the United Nations-backed roadmap process to end the transitional period of governance within a one-year timeframe. During that period, Somali stakeholders drafted a provisional constitution that protects fundamental human rights, which was adopted by a representative constituent assembly. Traditional elders selected educated and civic-minded Somalis to a new 275-member federal parliament. On Sept. 10, 2012, that new parliament held an historic indirect presidential election, which ushered in a new hope for Somalia and a peaceful transi- tion to the first president democratically elected inside Somalia since 1967. I have never felt as proud of being a part of the U.S. Foreign Service as I did on Jan. 17, 2013, when Secretary of State Hillary RodhamClinton officially recognized the new Somali govern- ment, the first time the United States had done so since 1991. My long days traveling inside Somalia on rickety planes under inse- cure conditions and long nights sleeping in makeshift containers or hooches had paid off. I could finally see howmy work—how- ever trivial and distant from the radar of Washington policymakers it may sometimes seem—could help make a difference. n