Ambassador's Speeches

Dedication of the New American Embassy Chancery

American Embassy, Freetown

Remarks by Ambassador Thomas N. Hull 
at the Dedication of the New American Embassy Chancery

November 16, 2006

Your Excellency the Honorable Vice President, My Lord Chief Justice, Your Worship the Mayor, Honorable Ministers, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Other Distinguished Guests, All Protocols Observed.

The day has at last arrived that we have been waiting for with eager anticipation:  the dedication of a magnificent new Chancery for the Embassy of the United States of America in Freetown.  For the past two and a half years, since the groundbreaking in 2004 by President Kabbah, Ambassador Chaveas and General Williams, we have watched the construction of this impressive edifice with fascination.

I would like to thank all of you, our distinguished guests and most especially Vice President Berewa who is acting in President Kabbah’s absence overseas, for honoring us with your presence, on this special occasion that is a historic moment in the relationship between the United States and Sierra Leone.  This building symbolizes not only America’s commitment to, but also our confidence in, the Government and people of Sierra Leone as you strive for a more peaceful and prosperous future.

The American Embassy will relocate to this chancery over the next few weeks, and will operate from here in early December.  We will leave our current chancery in the heart of the city in the shade of the Cotton Tree with regret after nearly 40 years, but this new chancery in the shadow of Leceister Peak will enable us to expand services for Sierra Leoneans, most notably the provision of non-immigrant visa services by early next year.

We are grateful to those who have brought us to this point today.  I want to acknowledge the advocacy for this new embassy complex by my predecessor, Ambassador Peter Chaveas, and his deputy chief of mission, Mr. Larry Andre.  Their pleas resonated with the Department of State’s Director of Overseas Building Operations, General Charles E. Williams, who accelerated funding for Freetown.  I am delighted that General Williams, who was present at the creation, is with us today.  General, thank you for your support.

I want to praise Mr. Brian McKenna, the OBO project supervisor, his deputy Mr. Armando Binsol, and all of the OBO professionals, both here and in Washington, who contributed to this project under General Williams’ direction.  I likewise want to congratulate the principal contractor, Caddell Construction, represented today by their project director Mr. Jay Batlle.  Caddell has built this new embassy compound with significant assistance from their Turkish subcontractor and hundreds of Sierra Leonean workers.  I am pleased that this project not only generated employment for Sierra Leoneans, but also transferred construction skills and provided experience that can benefit this country.  Fifty years from now, the young Sierra Leoneans who helped raise this solid edifice will be able to look back with pride on this accomplishment.

The shared vision of Sierra Leone’s leaders has made this new embassy possible.  I want to thank President Kabbah, Vice Present Berewa, and officials at every level of the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone, especially at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Revenue Authority, for your cooperation.  There are many people in the local private sector, as well, lawyers, vendors and subcontractors, who have made major contributions and have our gratitude.

Finally, I want to thank our good neighbors at IMATT for tolerating our brilliant illumination at night and the incessant noise of construction by day, and for your assistance with our water requirements.

Although we are dedicating the chancery today, more work remains.  The separate warehouse and workshops building is nearly complete, and I look forward to having all of the embassy’s operations consolidated in one location.  Caddell Construction will repair the scars to the adjoining hillside in an environmentally responsible manner.   We need to develop a more sustainable water supply, and we will look to the Government of Sierra Leone to improve the road past the embassy consistent with our lease.

Although the American Embassy looms large because of its isolation and location, I think it is evident from the building boom in the neighborhood that this is a rapidly developing area.  I look ahead, for example, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation becoming our embassy’s new neighbor.  There must be limits to Freetown’s expansion, however, and the American Embassy is working with Sierra Leone through the United States Forest Service to help preserve the Western Area forest reserve not only for its beauty, but also for the life support that its water gives to the city.

Before concluding, I want to acknowledge the presence of Mr. Phillip Carter, Director of the State Department’s Office of West African Affairs, who is here representing the Bureau of Africa Affairs.  With the support of Mr. Carter’s office and the resources of General Williams, many new American embassies have recently opened or are under construction in West Africa: in Conakry, Abidjan, Accra, Lome, Abuja, and Yaounde.  Tomorrow the ribbon will be cut at a new embassy in Bamako, and another new embassy is being planned for Monrovia.  However, none of these embassies is more modern than our embassy in Freetown, and certainly none is more spectacularly situated.

Those of us who will occupy this building are honored to be the first to do so.  We will respect this stewardship and convey it with dignity to the generations that follow us.  As diplomats and government leaders come and go, this chancery will be a point of continuity in our relations.  I thank you again for joining us today, and I encourage you to return in the coming months and years to reinforce the bonds of friendship that exist between us.