Donald Easum

Ambassador Donald B. Easum is a director of Pact and "is a Vice President of Global Business Access, Ltd. and heads the firm's Africa Experts Group.

"Ambassador Easum's distinguished career as an Africa expert extends beyond his 27 years in the U.S. Department of State. Afterward, he spent eight years as President of the African American Institute and most recently has been a consultant and board member of non-profit organizations operating in Africa. Ambassador Easum was Senior Program Consultant and Vice President of the River Blindness Foundation. He is a member of the Boards of the Rothko Chapel, Renewable Energy for African Development, Friends of Boys Town South Africa , WorldSpace Foundation and the American School of Tangier. During his frequent trips to Africa on behalf of these institutions he maintains high level contacts in business and government throughout the continent.

"While in the Foreign Service, Ambassador Easum rose to the position of Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and Burkina Faso and Deputy Ambassador in Niger. He also served in Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea Bissau. Ambassador Easum has received the State Department's Meritorious Service Award and is the author of numerous articles and has lectured widely in the U.S. and Africa.

"Ambassador Easum graduated from the University of Wisconsin ( B.A., History , Phi Beta Kappa ) and Princeton University ( M.P.A. , Ph.D. International Politics ). He is fluent in Spanish and French. Want to know more about Global's people and services. Please fill out our Electronic Information Request Form." 

"Don Easum spent 27 years in the U.S. Foreign Service at posts in Nicaragua, Indonesia, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Upper Volta (Ambassador, 1971-74) and Nigeria (Ambassador, 1975-79)... In April 2003 he was a member of the National Democratic Institute's monitoring team for the Nigerian elections. He is a Board member of the American School of Tangier/Marrakech, Pact (Washington, DC), and the Rothko Chapel (Houston). He was Senior Fellow at Yale University's Stimson Seminar from 1998 to 2004 and has taught at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He has lectured widely in the United States, Europe and Africa on U.S.-African relations. Ambassador Easum holds a B.A. degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Wisconsin as well as M.P.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University. He also studied at London University on a Fulbright scholarship and in Buenos Aires on a Doherty Foundation grant and a Penfield fellowship." 

Nigeria
Easum "was the United States Ambassador to Nigeria at the time of the 1976 assassination." (ambassador to Nigeria, 1975-79)

Time line from (needs confirming) 13 February 1976 -- Assassination of Brig. Muritala Mohammed leads to installation of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo as Nigerian head of state.

18 February 1976 -- Executive Order 11905 signed by President Gerald Ford barring the killing of foreign leaders by U.S. government agencies.

1979-- Obasanjo leaves office after election of Shehu Shagari, and sets himself up as 'consultant' in United States. Shortly after leaving office, Obasanjo is given a directorship at the CIA-founded African-American Institute in New York, where he serves under Donald Easum, the former American Ambassador to Nigeria who recommended ways to contain the African nation's military strength.

1987 -- Obasanjo gives keynote speech at study centre that houses such U.S. policy elites as Henry Kissinger.

1988 -- Obasanjo, with assistance from western corporate interests, inaugurates his New York-based 'Africa Leadership Forum' to influence internal politics in Nigeria. Forum associates include former U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert S. McNamara, widely believed the brains behind the CIA's overthrow of Haiti's democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

1995 -- Obasanjo accused of 'coup plotting' and detained in Nigeria. Forum moves its Africa operation to temporary quarters in Accra, Ghana. 1998 -- Following the death of local favorite Moshood Abiola, Obasanjo declares himself a candidate for president, bringing huge sums of money to support his bid for office.