Alberto Fernandez, one of the few high-level US Foreign Service Officers who knows Arabic well enough to speak it on TV is being assigned to Equatorial Guinea. Some people have speculated that his 2006 on-air comment during an al-Jazeera interview that the US was “stupid_and_arrogant“ in Iraq got him reassigned to Sudan. On another note, I can’t remember hearing a US government official on either BBC Arabic or al-Jazeera in well over a year. I don’t know what explains this gap but ever since Fernadez went to Sudan there has been a notable absence of US officials on the Arabic airwaves.
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Sounds like a fine waste of our resources.
well, he’s going to be the ambassador so I guess that’s good for him but if I was an FSO I’d rather be like the 15th guy in charge at big embassy in say Egypt or Iraq or Saudi instead of the top guy in New Guinea.
I remember him. He was on Al-Jazirah a lot and became famous in the middle east. I wondered what happened to him. There hasn’t been any American arabic spokesmen on debate programs for a long time.
He is probably among the most fluent Americans in Arabic (those who studied it as a second language). But I remember he got bitch-slapped by an Arabic speaking official of the Venezuelan foreign ministry in a debate on Al-Jazeera. It wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t defend what cannot be defended.
Meanwhile, in China…
Alberto Fernandez—Arabic—Broader U.S. Policy Concerns
The central point that there is an insufficient number of Foreign Service officers in the Department of State who are fluent enough in Arabic to appear on TV is valid. However, there has actually been a stream of such appearances on al Arabiya, al Jazeera and other stations for some time, as there is a designated position in Dubai for just that purpose. The most recent officer was Mike Pellitiere [sp?]. There was a woman on from Dubai recently as well. In addition, a number of other officers use Arabic on a regular basis with the local media in the countries in which they service.
Regarding Alberto Fernandez, counter to the implication that his assignment to Khartoum was a put down, it was just the opposite. For a skilled officer like Alberto, Charge Khartoum is a sought after job. While it seems distant to those of us that focus on the Middle East and South Asia, Sudan is critical [and controversial] for the Administration, has the intense interest of Congress and the NGO community. Darfur, the North-South peace process, and counterterrorism issues make it a great challenge, requiring polished diplomatic skills with all concerned. Alberto’s presence in Sudan as an Arabic speaker no doubt allowed the Embassy to reach out to non-English speakers across that country.
Alberto’s performance in Khartoum is no doubt one of the reasons for his selection for Ambassador to E.G. Another is that he is fluent in Spanish. An ambassadorship is a recognition of capability and achievement and Mr Fernandez’s performance as chief of mission in Sudan. Like Sudan, E.G. seems to be the end of the earth for those of us focusing on the Middle East and South Asia, it is important to the US for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the growing US dependence on oil from the Gulf of Guinea and dealing with an infamous dictator. Mr Fernandez’s experience in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa position him well to take on both oil and development/governance/human rights issues. I am quite sure that his career in the Arabic-speaking world is hardly over.
EG is also a major drugs transhipment point
Peri,
Thanks for your comment. I merely said that people speculated about Amb Fernandez being sent to Suda, thanks for clearing that up.
As for your point about FSO’s going on the Arabic airwaves, I haven’t seen or heard one in over a year, and I follow al-Jazeera very closely on a regular basis. Doesn’t mean that there aren’t people making appearances, but I follow al-Jazeera and other Arabic media probabably closer than 99% of the Middle East and I’m not seeing or hearing them.
I just heard that the State Department Arab media position in Dubai has been filled and the person should be out there in a couple of months. Hopefully, this means frequent appearances. However, credibility is a different issue, and requires considerable frankness which would mean being off-script from time to time.
Whether it is the US spokesperson or senior officials, one can only hope that they give al Jazeera at least equal access with al Arabiya, which may still not be the case. In some respects, the availability of senior officials to engage foreign publics is more important and snubbing a major media outlet is unwise.
Sending Fernandez to EG is something like getting rid of him without really doing it …