Expert On Wild Tribes

It's interesting that Robert Frasure, the US ambassador to the Contact group, spent most of his career in Africa

He spent a number of years as the main Africa expert in the National Security Council. He was engaged in Angola, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. Western diplomatic sources describe him as "a top expert for wild tribal conflicts".

The fall of communism saw Frasure as one of the most important non-partisan officials in the State Department, which VREME sources said he never stopped being even during his short stay in Estonia where, as US ambassador, (he convinced the local authorities to start a dialogue with their Russian national minority) nor in his present post with the Contact Group.

Frasure's old friend, who insisted on anonymity, described him as a man whose political convictions make him "liberal but headstrong". That source said Frasure "has a fine sense of humor with a strong dose of skepticism". In his current mission those qualities will be of great help.