Michael Edward Ranneberger (born 1949) is a former United States Ambassador to Kenya.

Early life

Ranneberger attended Archbishop Curley High School, a Roman Catholic private school in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

, Maryland. After graduating, he obtained a B.A. from Towson State University in

and an M.A. in history from the University of Virginia.

Career

As Angola Desk Officer from 1981 to 1984, he worked as a member of

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs The Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs is the head of the Bureau of African Affairs, within the United States Department of State, who guides operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in the countries of sub-Saharan Afric ...

Chester Crocker Chester Arthur Crocker (born October 29, 1941) is an American diplomat and scholar who served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from June 9, 1981, to April 21, 1989, in the Reagan administration. Crocker, architect of the U.S. p ...

’s team, negotiating independence for Namibia and the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola. Ranneberger was awarded an International Affairs Fellowship from the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

for his work as a Special Assistant to Under Secretary Michael Armacost from 1984 to 1985. He was the Deputy Chief of Mission in Maputo from 1986 to 1989. The Mozambican Civil War was also occurring during the time Ranneberger was in Maputo. From 1989 to 1992, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Asuncion, where he was involved in supporting the post-

Stroessner Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan Officer (armed forces), army officer and politician who served as President of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 to 3 February 1989. Stroessner led a 1954 Paraguay ...

democratic transition. He then became Deputy Director for Central American Affairs from 1992 to 1994, and during that time he helped oversee implementation of the peace accords in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

and made efforts to end the internal conflict in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. In August 1994, he was appointed as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Mogadishu. In July 1995, Ranneberger was appointed as the Coordinator of Cuban Affairs Ranneberger helped lead the Administration’s policy to promote a peaceful democratic transition in Cuba, in part by intensifying support for human rights activists and the development of independent civil society. From 2000 to 2002, he served as the Ambassador to the Republic of Mali. He served as Special Advisor on Sudan from 2002 to 2004. From 2004 to 2005, he was the Africa Bureau’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary. Ranneberger served as the Senior Representative on

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

in the Bureau of African Affairs from January to August 2006. He was confirmed by Congress to be the United States Ambassador to Kenya on June 29, 2006 and began field duties on August 11, 2006. He left his post on May 4, 2011. He was also responsible for U.S. relations with Somalia, though he was not the

United States Ambassador to Somalia The United States ambassador to Somalia is the most senior diplomatic representative of the United States federal government assigned to Somalia. From 2015 to 2018 the U.S. maintained a non-resident diplomatic mission in Nairobi for Somalia and i ...

as that position was vancant from 1991 to 2016. In 2019 Ranneberger's lobbying firm 'Gainful Solutions' was hired by South Sudan’s government to lobby the Trump administration to "delay and ultimately block establishment of the hybrid court", which is part of South Sudan's 2018 peace agreement. He is a member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Career Minister. He is the recipient of seven

Superior Honor Award The Superior Honor Award is an award of the United States Department of State. Similar versions of the same award exist for the former U.S. Information Agency, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and USAID. It is presented to groups or individ ...

s from the United States Department of State and a Presidential Meritorious Service Award.

Personal life

Ranneberger is married to Ruth Konchella, whom he met in 2006 upon his arrival in Kenya. He currently resides in Tampa, Florida, where he is a professor at the University of South Florida, teaching courses involving Human Rights and Africa in World Affairs.

References

External links

United States Department of StateU.S. tells Kibaki,Raila to cease fire
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranneberger, Michael 1949 births Ambassadors of the United States to Kenya Living people People from Baltimore Towson University alumni Ambassadors of the United States to Mali United States Foreign Service personnel