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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Swearing-In Ceremony of Katherine J. Almquist, USAID Mission Director for Sudan
Remarks by Ambassador Randall L. Tobias, U.S. Director of Foreign Assistance and USAID Administrator
Robert Zoellick, Deputy Secretary of State
Andrew S. Natsios, Former USAID Administrator
Katherine J. Almquist, USAID Mission Director for Sudan
April 20, 2006
USAID Headquarters
Washington, D.C.
AMBASSADOR RANDALL L. TOBIAS: Well, I'd like to welcome all of you, family, friends and colleagues, to the swearing in of Katherine J. Almquist as the USAID mission director for Sudan.
I want to extend a special welcome to Kate's father, Ken, her mother, Mrs. Janelle [ph] Almquist, and I understand there are three brothers, and families, and a grandmother who is here, and we welcome you all to this very important occasion.
I'm particularly pleased to welcome Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, former administrator of USAID, Andrew Natsios, the Sudanese ambassador to the United States, His Excellency, Ambassador Khidir, who I believe has not arrived but is on the way. Mr. Ezekiel Gatkuoth, the SPLM representative for North America. Connie Newman, the former assistant administrator for Africa, here, at USAID, as well as the former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, and I believe Assistant Secretary Jendayi Frazier--oh, there you are. And a number of other dignitaries, too numerous to mention; but welcome, all.
Sudan is clearly one of the top priorities of this administration. For USAID, it is one of our highest profile programs. It is the largest development program in the African bureau and one of the largest recipients of humanitarian and food assistance as well.
In 2005, USAID provided over $850 million in reconstruction and humanitarian assistance to Sudan, and it will continue to be one of the agency's flagship rebuilding state programs.
In recognition of our substantial and ongoing commitment to help the people of Sudan recover from war and respond to humanitarian needs in Darfur, we are reopening a USAID office in Sudan, and I congratulate Kate on her selection to assume this very important post, the directorship of USAID Sudan.
Kate has been a critical part of the senior management team here at USAID. I want to thank her for all she has done for the Africa bureau, for the agency during her tenure here, and on a personal note, I want to thank her for all of the time she has spent with me personally, trying to get me up to speed about the issues in Sudan.
As many of you know, Kate has been involved with Sudan issues for many years, both from within and outside USAID. Through her work with World Vision, an organization that has a long history in Sudan, she was a strong voice on Sudan issues from the faith-based and NGO community.
As director of the Sudan Task Force at USAID, she was responsible for providing policy direction and program coordination for USAID activities in Sudan and preparing the agency's post-conflict assistance strategy.
As deputy assistant administrator for Africa, she has been a continuing advocate for our programs in Sudan and a driving force to achieve the reopening of a USAID mission in Sudan, in order to integrate USAID's reconstruction programs in the South, and the three areas with its humanitarian activities in Darfur and the east, and as mission director, I know she will continue to be an advocate for the Sudanese people and will work in partnership with other donors and political leaders to bring about lasting change.
I'm particularly pleased that Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick has asked her to serve on the international committee monitoring implementation of the peace agreement, another very important role that she carries on, and while we will miss her talents here in USAID, in Washington, I'm very pleased that she will be remaining a critical part of this agency's efforts in her new role.
I'm delighted that Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick is here with us today and in introducing him, I want to take just a moment to recognize the truly extraordinary role that he has played and continues to play in leading the issues of the United States Government directed at the issues facing Sudan.
Secretary Zoellick's commitment to Sudan is evident through his personal leadership, including his heading the U.S. delegations to the Oslo donor conference in 2005 and the Paris donor conference in 2006.
His numerous visits to Sudan which have included USAID projects in Darfur and the south, and the announcement of the U.S. consulate and USAID mission in Juba last November.
This coordinated State/USAID response on Sudan I think provides an excellent example of what we will be doing more broadly under the reorganization of foreign assistance.
We look forward to continuing and expanding this close collaboration in the future.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming my friend, the Deputy Secretary of State, the Honorable Robert Zoellick.
DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, thank you very much, Randy, and I see so many friends in the audience here. I wanted to come by, in primary part, to thank Kate for the tremendous job that she's done, but also as a way of thanking all of you, because the work that Kate has done with me, and so many others, really represents the coming together of so many important things that AID is about.
As a humanitarian program, you know this is one of our biggest, it's one that is critical, it's always on the knife's edge in terms of keeping people alive and helping them sustain themselves.
But also in terms of the reconstruction in the south and the development, it brings together core components of what AID is about, with a larger goal, which is to try to give a chance to build a peace and give a chance for a nation to have a start and give people that live in conflict and war to come together with a whole new vision.
I had the great pleasure of working with many people from AID over the years. When I was USTR, I had a chance to obviously work with many of you on the excellent work you've done in terms of the capacity building and linking trade and development.
But I got a even stronger sense, when I had a chance to work with Andrew and Kate, when I came back to the State Department and started to work on the Sudan issue.
And here I want to say how much I appreciate Kate's help. Kate has been a leader in so many different dimensions of this. As many of you know, she played a vital role with Andrew and Senator Danforth, and others in this room, as we tried to put forward the comprehensive peace accord for north and south in Sudan, that we also hope will create the basis for a new future for Sudan.
Her knowledge and skill of the issues, the aspects that we needed to push forward as part of the CPA, who were, frankly, vital for me as I tried to get up to speed on what was going to be a very difficult and complex subject, and time after time, she's always been there in terms of sharing information, sharing insights, always good judgment, extraordinarily patient, frankly, the class, or the class for America's public servants.
So I was absolutely delighted when I thought that the only thing that I could ask more of Kate would be if we could clone her, and not being able to do that, at least at this stage in modern science, I figured the next best thing is that we could try to get her help as part of this assessment and evaluation commission, the capstone of the CPA, which she graciously agreed to do, and she's already played a key role with Tom Vraalsen, the Norwegian, who's the chair of that.
But then I thought, well, maybe the other thing is that if we could work with AID and get her an additional role in terms of being the mission director, we could combine two things that are often influential in life, which is some political power and some money. That doesn't--be a bad combination.
And fortunately, Kate agreed to take one more step of public service to help us do that. So I know we've got some members of her family here today, and I just want you to know, Kate is one of the people that I've been most proud with to be able to serve. She's an excellent example of what America can contribute to the world, and I know in this post, she's going to be challenged once more, but I have absolutely no doubt of her ability to help the people of Sudan and help the people of the United States and help them connect better together.
So it's really been a particular honor and pleasure for me to be able to work with her and I'm delighted that I'll be able to do so in this capacity, and for all of you that I know play a key role on this and other issues, I just also want to thank you as well.
As you know, there's an awful lot asked of the United States in the world but we received a lot, so there's a lot we can give. So thank you.
AMBASSADOR TOBIAS: Bob, thank you. Thank you very much.
I'm also very pleased to welcome back to this venue my predecessor, friend, and colleague, Andrew Natsios. As you all know, Andrew was the president's special humanitarian adviser on Sudan during this time here as the leader of USAID. In that role, he has been a tireless advocate, keeping the focus on Sudan issues throughout the administration. And I would also like to thank him, personally, for the many hours of briefings and insights and conversations he has provided for me as I prepared to assume my own new role.
His presence here today reinforces not only his respect for Kate but his continuing commitment to USAID, to Sudan, and to the field of international development.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming back to USAID, the Honorable Professor Andrew Natsios.
MR. NATSIOS: Thank you very much. It's good to be back among so many friends. I didn't realize so many more people had walked in since I sat down.
I do want to congratulate you, Randy, on your assumption of your two formal roles. You, I'm sure heard, that Carol Lancaster and I had a spirited debate at the Center For Global Development on this whole reform effort. I had, actually, a lot of fun, until I realized they put verbatim a videotape of what I said, and I got a little too animated a couple a times, on their Web site. So the entire debate is there, and my son walked in one day, he said I watched the whole debate. I said you did? How do you know what was--he said it's on the Web site; everybody's watching it.
I said, oh, my heavens! I have to be careful what I say now in public, not that I ever did when I was in office.
It is an important day for Kate in this ceremony today but it's even a more important day for the people of Sudan. The U.S. government opens missions in developing countries when the programs have reached a size and importance, that on the ground, senior leadership and management is required.
And that is certainly the case in Sudan right now. AID has had programs in Sudan for many years. It was true, interestingly enough, in the '70s and '80s, the largest AID program in the '70s and '80s was Sudan. This is under the old government, the Nimeiri government.
And of course we closed the mission, I think it was around 16 years ago, and so this is a historic event, to announce that the mission is being reopened.
Not only is Sudan the largest, Randy mentioned--he's absolutely right--it's the largest development program in Africa, including all other programs, including the MCC, and even if you include HIV/AIDS, it's still the largest program.
But it's the third largest U.S. Government assistance program in the world. Only Iraq and Afghanistan are larger than Sudan at this point, if you include all spigots, all funding sources for Sudan.
And that's a comment about how important the Sudanese people are to the American people, and how important Sudan is as an issue to the American people, because AID is not just a matter of politics, it's a matter of people's lives, people literally live or die in many countries in the world as a result of the presence of this agency over a period of time.
The proud thing, for me, is that we're moving now in the south from a long-term humanitarian relief program in the middle of a horrendous civil war, to a development program, and instead of seeing Westerners immunizing children from NGOs, from the United States or Europe, we're now seeing Sudanese in health clinics being run by the health clinics of the new government of southern Sudan, immunizing children, which is as it should be.
And we're seeing roads that were never paved being paved. We're seeing commerce that has never taken place, not a revival of commerce, because the commerce never existed cause the roads didn't exist.
And in Western Equatoria, one a the last times I visited there, it was a year ago, year and a half ago, there was a massive increase in the connection between Africa and southern Sudan, because the roads were opening up between Kenya and Uganda and Sudan. That makes a huge difference.
AID is very symbolic and an AID mission's very symbolic. It was very interesting, when we opened the AID mission in Pakistan, I was there, it was January of 02, was when the terror wars--we just beat the Taliban, the initial stage of the war in Afghanistan, and we were there to open it up. Colin Powell I think beat me to it by announcing it a couple a weeks earlier. And I was there.
And it's very interesting. We went into the city and I think Kate was with me, and I think Joanne, you were with me too, and we went to one of the stores, and they said where are you from, and we said we're from USAID, and they said we just reopened the mission.
Now I said to this merchant, How do you know that we just reopened the mission? He said everybody in Pakistan knows it. AID is so respected in Pakistan and the programs are so important to us, that when you came back people celebrated, even people that may not necessarily agree with you politically on things. So I think it's very important, in a symbolic sense, that the people to people contact that AID programs bring is now present again, in a formal sense.
I do want to congratulate Kate formally on this position. She worked with me, as you know, or maybe don't know, in World Vision when she was still in graduate school at CITES [ph]. And I had to take a trip. I haven't repeated this story very often, but I had to take a trip to Africa, and I was invited, while I was in Africa, to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as I recall, and I couldn't do it, and I did something a little unusual. I asked a student, Kate, graduate student, to testify for me, and representing the World Vision international partnership.
She was ten years younger than she is now, and she went in, and I wasn't nervous, but some people said, Don't you think it's a little unusual to have, you know, one of the largest faith-based NGOs in the world represented at this very important hearing on Sudan by a graduate student? I said no. And when I heard the reports of the hearing, someone said, So where did you find Kate Almquist? They said she did a better job than you would have done, if you had been there. So that's the last time you're going to a hearing.
MS. ALMQUIST: [Off-mike]
MR. NATSIOS: Well, that was a long time ago and a lot of things have happened. She has certainly changed and I've certainly changed, in many ways, since those days.
In those days, no one could spell Sudan in most small towns in the United States. Now everybody not only spells Sudan but it's probably the only African country people in small town America and in the cities of America, the neighborhoods, that have no contact with foreign policy normally, they know where it is, they know how to spell it and they know what's going on.
And this is an issue that's not going to go away, I think everybody here knows that, because it is something that is important, not just to policy makers in the Beltway but to the American people, in a way that we probably haven't seen even since the apartheid movement in South Africa, the movement to abolish apartheid.
And the reason I say that is apartheid was divisive politically within the United States. This issue is not divisive in the United States. We had our first meeting. I remember, Kate and Roger Winter and I went to the first meeting in this agency, and we had people in the room from the left and the right, from people in the church community who had never sat in the same room together in the United States.
But because the issue was so emotional and so important, we had people from all parts of the American civil society in that room saying exactly the same thing, and I thought it was remarkable and I said this is something that I have never seen before, actually, in a foreign policy issue like this.
And so I think, not to put the burden on you Kate, this is a very important, a very important assignment.
There are three characteristics I think of that I've watched with Kate, over the years. She is a technical expert in Sudan. She knows the ethnic groups, the tribes, she knows the religious traditions, she knows the history, she knows the leaders in all regions of the country, many of them on a first name basis.
They know who she is. She knows the development challenges of the country. She understands, internally, how AID works.
The reason that I was willing to begin the process of this discussion was--now some political appointees don't get how the agency works, and which means they can't manage it, even if they were in office, and other people learn how the system works.
Kate has not only learned it, she's mastered it, and the career people come up to me and say thank you for sending Kate to the Africa bureau, which I think is a compliment to her.
She's also a woman of remarkable intellect and rigor, and she does not suffer fools gladly, which is something that I've always respected about her, and she has a determination and a stubbornness and a resolve. She's very patient but she won't give up. She will not give up.
And that's a very important characteristic, because sometimes it takes time to get things done in some countries in the world, and Sudan is one of them. It is a very complex place, and unless you understand the complexity, you can't get stuff done.
This is not going to be an easy assignment but I think it was the right choice for America, it's the right choice for the Sudanese people, and I think ultimately, even though we have two steps forward and one step back in Sudan, we are making gradual if fitful progress in many areas, and I do want to commend Bob Zoellick, publicly here, I understand the media's here, and let me say I don't think we could have chosen a better senior diplomat, and we've had a lot of very able ones in American history, to at this point in American history to be leading the American charge, because he's also a man--and that's why I think he and Kate get along so much. He does not suffer fools gladly, doesn't tolerate baloney from people, and he has understood the complexities of the country and he himself has mastered the system, which I think is why we're making some progress.
I do want to commend to all of you Kate's family, who I've listened to stories of for the last thirteen--all good stories, by the way--for the last 13 years. But having their support for her going to Khartoum makes a lot of difference to her, and I'm sure it is to all of you as well.
I want to tell a final story. I always like to tell stories because the only thing you're going to remember from this is probably this story.
Last fall, before I announced I was leaving, I was on some trip to give a speech and the staff put a young lady, who I think is here, I don't want to embarrass her by mentioning her by name, with me in the car. I had seen her before at meetings on Sudan.
And she got to sit with me in the car, and we were going to this meeting and she was briefing me, and she said--and Kate was not in the car. She said Kate is my role model. I said really. I haven't heard that before, because usually, you have to have gray hair, or no hair to be a role model, at least if you're a male role model, and I know Connie Newman, for example, has always been, since Kate knew her, a role model.
And I said tell me why. She said Kate dominates the rooms in which she's in. In fact we've noticed even in meetings that you're in, she dominates--
[Laughter]
MR. NATSIOS: I said I've noticed that too, which is why we're sending her to Khartoum.
No; no; that's not true.
I said tell me what you've noticed. She said she uses a series of very subtle techniques. One, she's mastered the material so much, that she knows about as much as the people who are in the meeting. So they can't play games with numbers and they can't avoid difficult questions, and she, in an orderly fashion, goes through the agenda she wants to get through.
She said I have been watching her, hoping that I can get to a place in my career, in ten or fifteen years, where she is, where I can dominate a meeting.
And I thought that was a great compliment to Kate, and it said something to me, which is she was ready to take a very tough assignment in the field and I think she's going to do a remarkable job. She's a remarkable lady and I think America will be proud of her. Thank you.
AMBASSADOR TOBIAS: Andrew, thank you very much and let me just say that certainly for so long as I am here, you are welcome back here any time you want to come.
Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the main reason for being here today and that is the swearing in of our new mission director in Sudan, Kate Almquist, and I would like to ask Kate to come forward, along with her mother, Janelle Almquist, who will be holding the family bible.
Raise your right hand up and your left hand [inaudible].
I, Katherine Almquist, do solemnly swear, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.
Congratulations.
MS. ALMQUIST: Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for being here. It's really a very humbling experience to sit here and listen to Ambassador Tobias, Deputy Secretary Zoellick, Professor Natsios, and have so many other distinguished guests here, Jendayi, Mike, Ezekiel, Ambassador Khidir, Connie, for coming. Roger Winter, unfortunately, isn't here, and he's been such a big part of my growth and understanding of Sudan, and as a person and a human being. In fact Bob White had our consul general here as well.
And I have to point out Tom Gitman [ph], who's my very first boss, ever, practically, even before Andrew, for those of you who've known me and Andrew for a long time, from World Vision, for giving me the opportunity and opening the very first door in fact.
And it was both Tom and Andrew that gave me my first assignment on Sudan about 11 years ago, at World Vision, and what can I say? It's something that really grabs hold, and it doesn't let you go, once you've been there, once you've met the people, when you've seen the opportunity and the hope and the possibility of this country. You've heard a lot already about some of the challenges in Sudan and some of the things that we've been able to do already these last five years, getting to this point of opening a mission, and what we need to do, going forward, in terms of continuing to help with reconstruction of the south, and the three areas, and uniting the country together with the north, establishing a government of national unity, and then working with the situation in Darfur, to bring that conflict to an end.
Here, at USAID, we provide an incredible amount of humanitarian assistance to Sudan and to Darfur, and we're looking forward to the day where we can provide recovery and reconstruction assistance there as well.
This country, what I've learned over these last years is that it's incredibly complex, it's a very challenging place, it's so diverse, there's an awful lot going on, and I learn more and more every time I go out there and I'm looking forward to living there and being with the Sudanese people, really doing what we can to bring the United States Government alongside of Sudan who's, you know, real responsibility and opportunity it is at this moment in time to take the country to a whole new level, and leave behind its history of civil war and conflict, and all of the tragedy that we've seen for so many years.
So my family is here, and virtually all of them, a few sisters-in-law didn't make it today, and a couple nieces and nephews, but otherwise they're out in full force, and so many friends from high school and college, and you can imagine, which is how I have the confidence and the ability to go out and do what I do, and, you know, what can I say? Andrew, working for him for the last--I know people are already shocked when I say it--but 13 years, or something like that? And for all of the opportunities, not just here at USAID, but in Massachusetts, where some of you know we were in state government, and before that at World Vision.
It's been an incredible journey to this point, and I'm looking forward to what comes ahead, to living in Africa, in Sudan, and carrying this on.
And I have to say that, you know, I look around the room, and there are so many people who are a part of this effort, as the deputy secretary acknowledged, and I really do want to recognize that we have a team here on Sudan, and it takes all of us to make this happen in terms of our responsibilities with U.S. taxpayer money for what we do in Sudan, and we have so many colleagues already out in the field, in Khartoum and Darfur, in Juba in the south, and in Nairobi, and we have a challenge to unite them all into one organizational structure and hopefully I've learned a few lessons about doing that.
We'll see, but more importantly, to continue our partnership with Sudan and the Sudanese people.
So thank you all for being here today. It really means a tremendous amount to me, and for the opportunity to continue to serve in this way.
I invite you to [inaudible]--
[laughter and applause]
AMBASSADOR TOBIAS: I think you have just seen the personification of what it means to dominate a room, and I think that's why we all go forth from this day with so much confidence about what Kate will do.
These are the kinds of occasions that I think bring out the best in America. These are the days that demonstrate family support and family commitment and the commitment of individual Americans like Kate to represent the people of the United States in trying to help people in another part of the world have a better life and realize their full human potential, and it is a day that we should all remember as the beginning of what I'm sure will be the next phase of a great deal of progress in this effort.
I invite you all to come up front here. Kate will be here and you can congratulate her personally. There are refreshments in the back of the room, which I think is what you perhaps were about to say, and we're very, very pleased that all of you are here today to celebrate this extraordinary occasion.
Thank you very much.
[Applause]
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