Howard Franklin Jeter, Ambassador to Nigeria

Ambassador Howard Jeter

Howard F. Jeter served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs from June 1999 until July 2000. Previously, Ambassador Jeter was Director of West African Affairs from September 1997 until June 1999, and also served as the President’s Special Envoy for Liberia.

Recently, Ambassador Jeter has focused on promoting peace and reconciliation in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He has also been intimately involved in developing U.S. policy toward Nigeria, with special emphasis on supporting an enduring transition to democracy and prosperity. Prior to becoming the Special Presidential Envoy for Liberia in July 1996, he served with distinction as the U.S. Ambassador to Botswana from 1993 to 1996.

Ambassador Jeter, a career diplomat, was Deputy Chief of Mission in Namibia from September 1990 to July 1993. During that period, he also served as Charge d'Affaires, following the departure of the incumbent Ambassador in September 1992. Before going to Namibia, he was Deputy Chief of Mission and later Charge d'Affaires in Lesotho. He also held various political, economic, commercial, and consular positions in U.S. Embassies in Mozambique, Tanzania, and in the Temporary Liaison Office in Windhoek, Namibia.

In the Department of State, Ambassador Jeter served in the Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, where he specialized on issues dealing with the Law of the Sea. He is the recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Service Award, State Department Superior Honor Awards and Senior Foreign Service Performance Awards. Outside, he has received the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Charles Diggs Award for the Promotion of U.S.-Africa Policy and the prestigious Bennie Trailblazer Award from Morehouse College. Ambassador Jeter's languages include Portuguese, Swahili and French.

Ambassador Jeter holds a BA Degree in Political Science from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, a MA in International Relations and Comparative Politics from Columbia University, and a MA in African Area Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. Ambassador Jeter is a former Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellow, International Fellow at Columbia University, Merrill Overseas Study-Travel Scholar, Legislative Intern in the Georgia House of Representatives and a participant in Operation Crossroads Africa. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Foreign Service Association and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ambassador Jeter was born in South Carolina on March 6, 1947. He and his wife, Donice, have two children, Malaika and Jason.

• Op-Ed for Martin Luther King Day: "The Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr." (January 15, 2003)
• Ambassador Howard F. Jeter's Remarks On The Occasion Of Martin Luther King Day (January 15, 2003)
• Opening Remarks by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter Kano Forum (January 27, 2003)
• Ambassador Jeter's Speech for Judicial Independence Workshop (January 29, 2003)
• America and Iraq: What the Conflict is About (March 22, 2003)
• Ambassador Howard F. Jeter's Remarks on The 2003 Elections -- Nigeria Comes Face To Face With History (March 24, 2003)
• jetAmbassador Howard F. Jeter's Remarks on the occasion of The Transfer of Electoral Items to INEC, INEC Headquarters, Abuja (March 26, 2003)
• Ambassador Howard F. Jeter's Remarks on West Africa for the Occasion of Chief Opral Benson's Biography Book Presentation (April 1, 2003)
• Statement By U.S. Ambassador Howard F. Jeter On The Occasion Of Adams Oshiomhole's 50th Birthday (April 4, 2003)
• Remarks by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter Launch of the National Election Information System for Domestic Election Observers (April 7, 2003)
• "Reflections On The 2003 Elections: A Historic Moment" Op-Ed By Howard F. Jeter (April 11, 2003)
• Ambassador Howard F. Jeter's Remarks on the occasion of Earth Day (April 29, 2003)
• Ambassador Howard F. Jeter's Remarks For U.S.-Nigeria Chamber Of Commerce Luncheon (April 15, 2003)
• Remarks of the Ambassador Howard F. Jeter The American Embassy Abuja at the Inauguration of the Professor Ya' Abubakar Community Resource Center for the North-East Zone Bauchi (June 2, 2003)
• Welcome Remarks by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter National Council on Privatization, Workshop on Gas Contract Negotiations (June 9, 2003)
• Ambassador Howard F. Jeter's Remarks America: Engaging the World and Helping to Solve the World's Problems (July 4, 2003)
• Remarks Ambassador's Girls' Scholarship Program (July 23, 2003)