Ambassador of Liberia William V.S. Bull Liberia Fighting Its Negative Reputation by Larry Luxner Liberiaís flag resembles the Stars and Stripes. Its capital city is named after an American president. Its constitution is patterned after the U.S. constitution, and its official language is English. The Ohio-size African nation even has a Maryland County, named in honor of early 19th-century black settlers from the Baltimore area. With so much history linking the United States and Liberia, why then are bilateral relations on the rocks? The answer, says Ambassador of Liberia William V.S. Bull, is simple: bad press. more... Gareth Evans Ex-Foreign Minister Trying to Bring Conflict Prevention to Center Stage by John Shaw Gareth Evans, a former Australian foreign minister and now the president of the International Crisis Group, has spent much of his professional career trying to prevent armed conflicts from destroying the lives of innocent people. Conflict prevention is an important challenge even if it doesnít garner many headlines, Evans said in an interview at the ICGís Washington office. He believes that the political difficulty surrounding conflict prevention is based on a simple fact: Successful preventive efforts are rarely noticed and seldom appreciated. more... Information Technology Reshaping Method of Diplomatic Relations by Nickolas Theros From e-mail to the Internet, cellular phones to satellite television, instantaneous communication is revolutionizing the way people view the world around them and redefining the way international relations are conducted. In embassies across Washington and around the world, diplomats taking note of the considerable impact that information technology is having on the conduct of diplomacy. One area of immediate impact in some of Washingtonís embassies is the secretarial pool. ìThere are no more secretaries,î Rodney Moore of the Canadian Embassy half-jokingly claimed. ìYou no longer need secretaries taking dictation, typing up a letter and then giving it to the communicator to send off,î he said, recalling the laborious process for communicating between embassies and their respective foreign ministries that has now been replaced by e-mail. more...

Puerto Ricoís New Representative Stays Busy Juggling Several Issues by Larry Luxner Heís not an ambassador because Puerto Rico isnít a country. And heís not a full voting member of Congress because Puerto Rico isnít a state either. Like the tropical Caribbean island he represents, AnÌbal Acevedo Vil· falls somewhere in between. As resident commissioner in Washington, the 40-year-old lawmaker is the sole elected official in Congress who speaks for the 3.8 million inhabitants of Puerto Rico, a U.S. Commonwealth. And these days, heís got plenty of issues to keep him busyófrom fighting layoffs in the islandís once-powerful manufacturing sector to the bitter controversy over the Navyís continued bombing exercises on the offshore Puerto Rican islet of Vieques. more... Tourism Organization Aims To Lure Visitors to 14 African Nations by Larry Luxner JOHANNESBURGóSeveral years ago, tourist officials from throughout southern Africaóeager to lure well-heeled visitors to their countriesólooked to the islands of the Caribbean for inspiration and liked what they saw. The result: Retosa, an acronym for Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa. "As far back as 1992, the region realized it was essential to work together in order to be effective," said executive director Shepherd Nyaruwata. "Retosa itself is similar to what the Caribbean Tourism Organization is doing. In 1993, when the region was beginning to look at the rest of the world, we began exchanging ideas with Caribbean tourist authorities." more... Ecuadorís Ambassador Fights To Preserve Fragile Galapagos Islands by Nickolas Theros On Jan. 16, the oil tanker Jessica, laden with petroleum, ran aground just off Ecuadorís Galapagos Islands. The behemoth spilled more than 150,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the shallow waters, swamping the coastlines with crude and endangering one of the worldís most dramatic and fragile ecosystems. The spill brought together hundreds of international volunteers with the singular purpose of controlling the spill before it permanently destroyed any of the islandsí unique wildlife, two-thirds of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. After weeks of battling the spill, the clean-up efforts were deemed a success. more... Culture Section