Ambassador of the United States to Botswana | |
---|---|
Nominator | The President of the United States |
Appointer | The President with Senate advice and consent |
Inaugural holder | Charles H. Pletcher as Chargé d'Affaires |
Formation | September 1966 |
Website | U.S. Embassy - Gaborone |
From 1885 until 1966 the area of Southern Africa that is now Botswana was part of the Bechuanaland Protectorate of Great Britain.
In June 1964, Britain accepted proposals for democratic self-government in Botswana. The seat of government was moved from Mahikeng in South Africa, to newly established in Gaberones (now Gaborone) in 1965. The 1965 constitution led to the first general elections and to independence on September 30, 1966.[ citation needed ]
The United States immediately recognized the new nation and moved to establish diplomatic relations. An embassy in Gaberones was established on September 30, 1966—independence day for Botswana. Charles H. Pletcher was appointed as Chargé d'affaires ad interim pending the appointment of an ambassador. [1] He served June 1970–September 1971.
Name | Title | Appointed | Presented credentials | Terminated mission | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charles J. Nelson – Political appointee [lower-alpha 1] | Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | June 9, 1971 | November 3, 1971 | Left Gaborone, March 2, 1974 | |
David B. Bolen – Career FSO [lower-alpha 1] | February 28, 1974 | April 22, 1974 | Left Gaborone, August 11, 1976 | ||
Donald R. Norland – Career FSO [lower-alpha 2] | November 17, 1976 | February 23, 1978 | Left Gaborone, September 8, 1979 | In 1979 the first ambassador was appointed solely for Botswana. | |
Horace Dawson – Career FSO | October 12, 1979 | November 27, 1979 | August 27, 1982 | ||
Theodore C. Maino – Political appointee | September 30, 1982 | December 2, 1982 | September 6, 1985 | ||
Natale H. Bellocchi – Career FSO | October 28, 1985 | November 19, 1985 | September 16, 1988 | ||
John Florian Kordek – Career FSO | August 11, 1988 | September 29, 1988 | November 1, 1989 | ||
David Passage – Career FSO | June 27, 1990 | August 7, 1990 | April 29, 1993 | ||
Howard Franklin Jeter – Career FSO | July 16, 1993 | September 9, 1993 | June 21, 1996 | ||
Robert Krueger – Political appointee | June 6, 1996 | July 23, 1996 | December 6, 1999 | ||
John E. Lange – Career FSO | November 16, 1999 | December 15, 1999 | August 8, 2002 | ||
Joseph Huggins – Career FSO | November 15, 2002 | January 28, 2003 | July 26, 2005 | ||
Katherine H. P. Canavan – Career FSO | August 2, 2005 | September 27, 2005 | June 27, 2008 [2] | ||
Stephen J. Nolan – Career FSO | June 23, 2008 [3] | October 6, 2008 | June 13, 2011 [4] | ||
Michelle D. Gavin – Political appointee | April 18, 2011 | June 20, 2011 | February 22, 2014 | ||
Earl Robert Miller – Foreign Service Specialist | December 2014 | December 18, 2014 | September 24, 2018 | ||
Craig L. Cloud - Career FSO | January 7, 2019 | April 2, 2019 [5] | May 24, 2022 | ||
Howard Van Vranken - Career FSO | December 21, 2022 | May 24, 2023 | Incumbent |
Botswana has put a premium on economic and political integration in southern Africa. It has sought to make the Southern African Development Community (SADC) a working vehicle for economic development, and it has promoted efforts to make the region self-policing in terms of preventive diplomacy, conflict resolution, and good governance.
Botswana–United States relations are the bilateral relations between Botswana and the United States.
Lesotho–United States relations are bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Lesotho and the United States of America.
The history of Gaborone began with archaeological evidence in the area around Gaborone dating back to 400 BCE, and the first written accounts of Gaborone are from the earliest European settlers in the 19th century. Since the 1960s, when Botswana gained its independence from Britain and Gaborone became the capital, the city has grown from a small village in the Botswana scrubland to a major center in southern Africa.
This is a summary history of diplomatic relations of the United States listed by country. The history of diplomatic relations of the United States began with the appointment of Benjamin Franklin as U.S. Minister to France in 1778, even before the U.S. had won its independence from Great Britain in 1783.
Donald Richard Norland was an American diplomat. He was the United States Ambassador to Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Chad.