Addis Ababa, 14,2022 (Walta) – The impending resignation of David Satterfield, the US envoy to the Horn of Africa, comes just three months after he took the post according to The National, UAE-based English newspaper.
A US official confirmed to The National yesterday that Satterfield will be leaving his position. His deputy, Payton Knopf, a long-time diplomat on the file, will take over the post in an acting capacity.
Disagreements within the State Department are understood to have hindered David Satterfield, making him the second ambassador to leave the position since the Joe Biden administration took office.
The exit, the second for an envoy to the Horn of Africa after Jeff Feltman’s departure in January, is being blamed on internal failings and frustrations within the State Department, added the newspaper.
US sources told The National that divisions within the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department and disagreements between the envoy desk and Assistant Secretary Molly Phee were behind the resignations.
Other frustrations sources cited for Satterfield included a lack of progress, insufficient White House attention to the region, and a weakened US hand in the Horn of Africa.
Satterfield and Knopf arrived in Ethiopia yesterday according to the State Department. The two US officials are expected to meet Ethiopian government officials, representatives of humanitarian organizations, and diplomatic partners.