JAKARTA - The Donald Trump administration has withdrawn nearly 30 career US diplomats from ambassadorial posts and other senior embassy positions, in an effort to reshape the US diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump's "America First" priorities.
Mission heads in at least 29 countries were notified last week their tours of duty would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel movements, Al Arabiya reported from The Associated Press (20/12).
Explaining, those who were removed held their positions during President Joe Biden's administration, but had survived the initial purge in the early months of President Trump's second term which mainly targeted political officials.
That changed last Wednesday, when they began receiving notices from officials in Washington about their imminent departure.
The ambassadors serve at the president's pleasure although they typically stay in their posts for three to four years. Those affected by the shake-up did not lose their foreign service jobs, but would return to Washington for other assignments if they wanted them, the officials said.
The State Department declined to comment on specific numbers or which ambassadors were affected, but defended the changes, calling them "a standard process in any administration."
The department noted that an ambassador is "the president's personal representative and it is the president's prerogative to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the 'America First' agenda."
Politico was the first to report on the ambassadors' recall, which has raised concerns from some lawmakers and labor unions representing American diplomats.
Of the number of those who were removed, 13 of them were serving in Africa, including Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.
Behind Africa, there are diplomats serving in six countries, Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam who were removed.
Next are diplomats in four European countries, Armedia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovakia. There are also Al Jazair, Egypt, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Guatemala and Suriname.
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