Romulo: Cameron Hume is next US ambassador

The United States’ ambassador to South Africa is Washington’s new envoy to the Philippines, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo disclosed yesterday.

Romulo said former US ambassador Francis Ricciardone had informed him that Cameron Hume’s nomination as next US envoy to Manila would be submitted to the US Congress for confirmation.

"Mr. Cameron Hume has yet to be confirmed. That’s what Ambassador Ricciardone informed us. We’re waiting. In fact, Ambassador Ricciardone is also waiting for his nomination and confirmation," Romulo told a press conference at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City.

Romulo had assured Ricciardone before he departed last May 13 after his four-year assignment in the country that Manila had no objection to Hume’s nomination as the new envoy.

"On Cameron Hume, of course I told Ambassador Ricciardone that we have no objections," he said. "He was supposed to be posted for another assignment. Until the official submission of his name, they’ll have to stay on the sidelines in the meantime."

Hume is an expert in conflict resolution and has an extensive background at the US mission at the United Nations, where he served as minister-counselor for political affairs after three years beginning in 1994.

He was also tapped as adviser and then senior adviser on the Middle East in 1990.

Although not familiar with Asia, Hume has links with the United States Institute of Peace, which plays a supporting role in the peace talks between the Philippine government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been fighting for an Islamic homeland in Mindanao.