Donald Yamamoto, who has extensive diplomatic experience in Africa including two tours as a US ambassador, took office last Tuesday as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. He is the second career official tapped for a senior policy position on Africa in the Trump administration.
The news of Mr. Yamamoto’s appointment has been welcomed by Africa policy watchers.”Having someone with Don Yamamoto’s experience in that post is very important,” Mel Foote, Constituency for Africa president, told newsmen. “As Africa confronts many challenges, we want to see responsible US engagement in partnership with African governments and civil society organizations.”
Earlier last month, senior CIA analyst Cyril Sartor was named senior director for Africa at the National Security Council – after two previous attempts to fill the post failed.
Yamamoto has a one-year assignment. Naming him as acting Assistant Secretary gives the administration more time to decide who to formally nominate for the position – which requires Senate confirmation – while putting the Africa Bureau at the State Department in knowledgeable hands. He holds the rank of Career Minister. Among his honors is the Presidential Distinguished Service Award.
“Don Yamamoto has broad knowledge and experience, both in the field and in Washington,” says Ambassador Johnnie Carson, who served as Assistant Secretary for Africa during President Obama’s first term. “He will be able to provide the leadership needed to address the range of issues that the Bureau has to address.”
Thin ranks at State extend beyond the Africa bureau. The White House has announced nominations for only four of the 22 Assistant Secretary positions in the Department – one has been confirmed – and for one of the six undersecretary slots, a position one level higher than assistant secretary.
Yamamoto will inherit an “extremely young” staff, said one official familiar with the Bureau he will lead. “Africa experience will need to be developed.”
Yamamoto is currently senior vice president of the National Defense University. He was U.S. ambassador to Djibouti from 2000 to 2003 and to Ethiopia from 2006 to 2009. He served as Acting Assistant Secretary previously, after Carson’s 2013 departure, and was Charge d’ Affairs in Somalia in 2016. He held senior posts in Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015.
