Nairobi-Based Top US Diplomat Resigns Over President Trump's Human Rights Policy

A US diplomat based in Nairobi has quit her job citing President Donald Trump's human rights policy.

In a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and published by Foreign Policy, a Washington-based journal, Elizabeth Shackelford, who has been in the Kenyan capital with the US mission to Somalia decried Trump administration’s military-focused foreign policy in Somalia.

"President Trump’s dismissive attitude toward human rights was no surprise following his campaign, but your May 3rd remarks to Department staff shocked many as you called into question the utility of advancing human rights when it proves inconvenient."

"As a foreign policy professional, I understand better than most that we must balance competing interests, but human rights and democracy are fundamental elements of a safer world for our people."

Trump has preferred military action against Somalia-based terror group, Al-Shabaab, compared to the former President Barack Obama regime’s, which adopted a more diplomacy-oriented approach to Somalia.

“We have ceded to the (military headquarters) Pentagon our authority to drive US foreign policy, at the behest of the White House but to our detriment as a nation,” Ms Elizabeth Shackelford wrote to the State Department.

She adds: “The cost of this is visible every day in Mission Somalia, my current post, where State’s diplomatic influence, on the country and within our own interagency, is waning.”

The envoy said that it was unfortunate that Trump had changed tact at a time when her work in Somalia had began bearing fruits. She made reference to the election of Mohamed Abdullahi “Farmajo” Mohamed as president: “In February this year, in a crowded hangar on the Mogadishu International Airport compound, I watched with pride as the new Somali parliament voted out corruption and bribery and embraced opportunity and change."

“I had witnessed a historic moment that State and my own work had helped deliver through persistent engagement to ensure Somalia’s presidential election process was credible and inclusive.”

On Ms Shackelford’s criticisms, the State Department spokesperson, Ms Heather Nauert, told Foreign Policy : “We are not able to comment on the career choices of each person at the Department.”