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US President Donald Trump’s top Africa diplomat, Troy Fitrell, has told colleagues he will leave the State Department in mid-July, three people familiar with the matter told Semafor.
Fitrell, a 30-year career diplomat who has worked across the African continent, is temporarily heading up the department’s Bureau of African Affairs, and has been the most public proponent of the new administration’s Africa policy, briefing both the media and Congress on Washington’s priorities.
He spearheaded the department’s commercial diplomacy push with Africa, arguing that the continent should become one of America’s biggest trading partners.
Fitrell was seen as the most experienced Africa hand in the administration, and even more so after the White House’s top Africa official, Major General Jami Shawley, was removed from her position and the National Security Council’s Africa team was merged with the Middle East office.
Fitrell’s departure raises greater uncertainty about Washington’s foreign policy direction: Two of the people Semafor spoke to said Fitrell’s pending retirement casts doubt on whether the administration will be able to successfully host a planned Africa Leaders summit on the sidelines of the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York in September.
A State Department official told Semafor that Fitrell is retiring as planned “after a long and distinguished career,” and that Deputy Assistant Secretary Jonathan Pratt is set to lead the African Affairs Bureau after his departure.
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While experts in Washington were initially optimistic that the second Trump administration would move quickly to bring in Africa expertise, tough vetting by MAGA loyalists and typical turnover has left the administration with few experienced policy hands.
With Fitrell’s exit, Massad Boulos — the father-in-law of one of Trump’s daughters — is now set to be Washington’s most senior Africa official. Boulos has led the administration’s talks to bring an end to the conflict in eastern Congo and secure critical minerals.
While Africa has hardly been a priority for the administration, the relationship between Washington and the continent has made unexpected appearances in the headlines.
Most notably, Trump has clashed with South Africa over false claims that white South African farmers are being regularly killed by Black locals, leading Washington to cut all US aid to the country and extend some white Afrikaners refugee status.
Fitrell at a Congressional hearing last week also floated the prospect of Washington getting more involved in negotiations over the brutal Sudanese civil war.