The Burlington Free Press gave a front-page story to the successful SMC 'Dear Hillary' campaign which is likely to have influenced the U.S. State Department to appoint a Special Representative to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Ambassador Barrie Walkley. The Ambassador spoke on campus about U.S. Policy in Post-Election Congo on March 21st.
“When students at St. Michael’s College mounted a campaign two years ago urging an end to the humanitarian crisis in Central Africa, one of their demands was that the U.S. State Department appoint a special envoy to that conflicted region.
In December, a special adviser for the Great Lakes Region of Africa was named, apparently signaling a stepped-up U.S. interest in resolving a conflict that has dragged on for years in Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in countless rapes, mutilations and an estimated death toll of 5 million people.
Now the students have scored another coup. The special adviser, seasoned diplomat Barrie Walkley, is coming to St. Michael’s to talk to them Wednesday about U.S. policy in the Congo.”
Wrote Burlington Free Press reporter in an excellent article about the Ambassador’s visit to Saint Michael’s and the Dear Hillary campaign. See the BFP preview analysis.
Ambassador Barrie Walkley’s full speech can be accessed here.