ACCESSION NUMBER:281634

FILE ID:AEF101

DATE:05/03/93

TITLE:A SCHOOLHOUSE IN TANZANIA LED TO TOP U.S. AFRICA POST (05/03/93)

TEXT:*93050301.AEF  SUB:MOOSE  CO:SWEAR-IN/BIO/POLICY,#JFT(FR)rlc,HRsp

*AEF101   05/03/93 *



A SCHOOLHOUSE IN TANZANIA LED TO TOP U.S. AFRICA POST

(FR) (Assistant Secretary Moose sworn in)  (610)

By Jim Fisher-Thompson

USIA Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Ambassador George Moose, the career diplomat President Bill

Clinton has named to be assistant secretary of state for African affairs,

has gone from building schools in Tanzania to building bridges of

understanding to Africa, according to Deputy Secretary of State Clifford

Wharton.



Speaking at Moose's oath-taking ceremony in the ornate Benjamin Franklin

Room of the State Department April 27, Wharton described how the

48-year-old diplomat, who succeeded Assistant Secretary Herman Cohen, first

became interested in a career in the foreign service.



"George caught the foreign service bug" early on, Wharton explained, and "we

can credit his entry into public service to a three-room schoolhouse in

Tanzania," which he helped build the summer he spent there in 1965 as a

young college student.



"That did it," Wharton said.  "George was hooked on foreign work" and two

years later he joined the diplomatic corps.  Now, after having served as

American ambassador to Benin, and then to Senegal, he will be based in

1ashington building "bridges of understanding" between America and the

continent.



"George's great experience, knowledge, and interest in Africa," Wharton

added, "will enrich the (Africa) Bureau, our relations with African

governments, and the lives of both Africans and Americans."



Turning toward Moose, who was accompanied by his wife and mother, Wharton

said:  "I'm grateful to the people of Tanzania for bringing you to a career

in the foreign service."



Surrounded by his family, friends, and colleagues, Moose then took the oath

of office, pledging to defend the Constitution as all U.S. civil servants,

including the president, must swear to do.  His hand was on the Bible, held

by his wife Judith.



The dean of the Washington diplomatic corps, Cameroonian Ambassador Paul

Pondi, was in attendance, as well as a number of other African ambassadors.

 Also in the audience were students and faculty from Washington's mainly

black Cardozo High School who are a part of the model United Nations

program, sponsored by the State Department.  Secretary Moose and his wife

help run this program.



In an earlier interview with the U.S. Information Agency, the secretary

noted that his rise in the foreign service was "a dream come true" made

possible by his family and a score of individuals who befriended him and

provided support to his career.



He gave special credit to his mother, Ellen Moose, for inculcating in him

and in his sister, a physician, the spirit of public service.



Moose, who was formerly deputy director of the State Department's Office of

Southern African Affairs and an African affairs analyst in the Bureau of

Intelligence and Research, said he felt a sense of awe "when confronting

the challenges facing the continent of Africa."



He said he understood full well that Africa is facing a "reality of peoples

who despite great difficulties struggle with hope to build lives of

well-being and dignity.



"Given our own country's special historical connection to Africa, the unique

ways Africa has influenced our culture," he continued, "I think we as

Americans are especially well placed to feel and understand" what can be

done to assist in the continents's move toward democratization and economic

prosperity.



Efforts "to construct a society in which it is possible for anyone,

regardless of race, religion, and national origin, to fulfill the full

measure of his or her potential," Secretary Moose said, are the "vision of

America" and the example which will guide his actions toward the continent.



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