List of ambassadors of the United States to Guinea-Bissau

The United States ambassador to Guinea-Bissau is the official representative of the president of the United States to the head of state of Guinea-Bissau. The U.S. ambassador to Senegal is concurrently commissioned to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.

Ambassador of the United States to Guinea-Bissau
Seal of the United States Department of State
Incumbent
Michael A. Raynor
since April 20, 2022
NominatorThe President of the United States
AppointerThe President
with Senate advice and consent
Inaugural holderDean Curran
as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim
FormationJune 30, 1976
WebsiteU.S. Embassy - Dakar

Until 1974, Guinea-Bissau had been a colony of the Portuguese Empire as Portuguese Guinea. After a period of revolutionary warfare, Guinea-Bissau unilaterally declared its independence on September 24, 1973. Following the April 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal, it granted independence to Guinea-Bissau on September 10, 1974. The United States recognized the Republic of Guinea-Bissau on the same day. The U.S. Embassy Bissau was established on June 30, 1976, with Dean Curran as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim.[1]

The first three ambassadors to Guinea-Bissau were concurrently commissioned to Cape Verde while resident in Bissau. From 1983 until 1998, U.S. ambassadors were solely commissioned to Guinea-Bissau.[2] In 1998 the U.S. embassy in Bissau was closed,[3] and there has been no U.S. embassy in Bissau since then. Since 2002, the U.S. ambassador to Senegal has also been commissioned as the ambassador to Guinea-Bissau, while resident in Dakar.

Ambassadors and chiefs of mission

U.S. diplomatic terms

Career FSO
After 1915, The United States Department of State began classifying ambassadors as career Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) for those who have served in the Foreign Service for a specified amount of time.

Political appointee
A person who is not a career foreign service officer, but is appointed by the president (often as a reward to political friends).

Appointed
The date that the ambassador took the oath of office; also known as "commissioning". It follows confirmation of a presidential appointment by the Senate, or a Congressional recess appointment by the president. In the case of a recess appointment, the ambassador requires subsequent confirmation by the Senate to remain in office.

Presented credentials
The date that the ambassador presented his letter of credence to the head of state or appropriate authority of the receiving nation. At this time the ambassador officially becomes the representative of his country. This would normally occur a short time after the ambassador's arrival on station. The host nation may reject the ambassador by not receiving the ambassador's letter, but this occurs only rarely.

Terminated mission
Usually the date that the ambassador left the country. In some cases a letter of recall is presented, ending the ambassador's commission, either as a means of diplomatic protest or because the diplomat is being reassigned elsewhere and replaced by another envoy.

Chargé d'affaires
The person in charge of the business of the embassy when there is no ambassador commissioned to the host country.

Ad interim
Latin phrase meaning "for the time being", "in the meantime".
Name Title Appointed Presented credentials Terminated mission
Melissa F. Wells[4] - Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary September 16, 1976 November 29, 1976 March 29, 1977
Edward Marks[4] - Career FSO September 16, 1977 October 31, 1977 July 11, 1980
Peter Jon de Vos[4] - Career FSO August 27, 1980 September 22, 1980 March 30, 1983
Wesley Egan - Career FSO March 18, 1983 May 12, 1983 January 7, 1985
Barbara C. Maslak Chargé d'Affaires ad interim January 1985 Unknown August 1986
John Dale Blacken - Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary June 16, 1986 August 27, 1986 September 29, 1989
William Ludwig Jacobsen - Career FSO October 10, 1989 November 13, 1989 August 25, 1992
Roger A. McGuire - Career FSO June 15, 1992 October 14, 1992 August 28, 1995
Peggy Blackford - Career FSO October 3, 1995 November 4, 1995 June 14, 1998
Embassy suspended operations from 1998 to 2002.
Richard Allan Roth[5] - Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary November 15, 2002 February 13, 2004 Left Dakar, August 4, 2005
Janice L. Jacobs[5] - Career FSO February 21, 2006 May 9, 2006 Left Dakar, July 15, 2007.
Marcia Bernicat[5] - Career FSO June 16, 2008 November 6, 2008 July 15, 2011
Robert T. Yamate Chargé d'Affaires ad interim July 15, 2011 Unknown August 2011
Lewis A. Lukens[5] – Career FSO Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary July 11, 2011 October 19, 2011 June 4, 2014
James P. Zumwalt – Career FSO February 3, 2015 March 10, 2015 January 19, 2017
Tulinabo S. Mushingi – Career FSO May 19, 2017 August 4, 2017 February 1, 2022
Michael A. Raynor – Career FSO December 18, 2021 April 20, 2022 Incumbent

Notes
  1. "Guinea-Bissau". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
  2. "Chiefs of Mission for Guinea-Bissau". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
  3. "Peggy Blackford". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
  4. Also accredited to Cape Verde; resident at Bissau.
  5. Also accredited to Senegal; resident at Dakar.

See also

References
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