First woman US envoy nominated

WASHINGTON — US President George W. Bush has nominated career diplomat Kristie Anne Kenney as Washington’s first woman ambassador to the Philippines to replace Francis Ricciardone Jr., who ended his stint last May and was posted to Egypt.

Kenney, who previously served as ambassador to Ecuador, is also a former senior adviser to the assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement at the State Department.

She has also served as an economics officer at the US embassies in Switzerland and Argentina and as a consular officer in Jamaica.

Kenney’s nomination papers were submitted to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday. If approved she is likely to assume her post early next year.

Her nomination comes at a time when Manila is under pressure from Washington to take vigorous steps to crack down on human trafficking, mostly of women, which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has described as "nothing less than a modern form of slavery."

Press reports from Manila indicate Kenney is Rice’s personal choice to take up the post vacated by Ricciardone.

The US State Department has said the Philippines does not fully comply with minimum standards to combat human trafficking and has failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to fight the problem.

It said women from the Philippines were often lured abroad with false promises of legitimate employment only to be trafficked for sexual exploitation to Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America.

The Philippines is on a US list of countries that bear watching and unless its record on human trafficking improves it could be subject to certain sanctions, notably the withholding of non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance from the United States.

US Embassy Press Attaché Matthew Lussenhop confirmed yesterday Kenney’s nomination.

The White House announced last November that Bush intended to nominate Kenney to succeed Ricciardone.

Last July, diplomatic sources said Washington was reported last July that it was considering appointing a woman as its next ambassador to the Philippines.

A source added that Ricciardone and his predecessor, Thomas Hubbard, spoke highly of Kenney, who had served as executive secretary of the State Department for three years.

Kenney is also the first woman to hold the key position in the State Department, according to her biography posted at the State Department website.

Washington was reported to have nominated Ambassador to South Africa Cameron Hume to replace Ricciardone. But the US government withdrew Hume’s nomination, a conflict resolution expert.

As a former executive secretary of the State Department, Kenney was responsible for inter-agency policy coordination and crisis management. She reported directly to then Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright. She also led the transition team from the Clinton to Bush administration. — With Pia Lee-Brago