LETTER FROM WASHINGTON
SIMON BARBER: Good Republicans tipped for role in Africa
'Rumour has it Pretoria was unenthusiastic about granting agreement to this former Tony Leon speechwriter turned hard-right Trumpian imbongi'
For a while now, I have been itching to write something nonspeculative about what SA and the rest of the continent can expect from US President Donald Trump. But the truth is, two months into the new administration, there is no way of knowing for sure what, or who, this strange crowd has in store for us. Personnel-wise, things are still up in the air. As of Tuesday night, 495 of the 553 key positions requiring Senate confirmation had yet to be nominated by the White House, let alone confirmed. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Centre at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, was supposed to have the inside track for assistant secretary of state for Africa, but has apparently stumbled. Now the pundits are mentioning James Dunlap of The Scowcroft Group, the international advisory firm founded by Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to Gerald Ford and the first George Bush. Scowcroft endorsed Hillary Clinton but perhaps his sin — a mortal one for hopefuls thus fa...
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