The United States drafted a sweeping plan to reduce its diplomatic presence across Africa, while dismantling State Department offices responsible for climate change, democracy, and human rights, as revealed in a classified White House executive order.
According to the order, reviewed by the foreign news ageny, the Trump administration outlined a "full structural reorganization" of the State Department to be completed by October 1.
The draft stated that the primary objective was “to streamline mission delivery, project American strength abroad, cut waste, fraud, abuse, and align the Department with an America First Strategic Doctrine.”
The draft proposed the dissolution of the current Africa Bureau. In its place, the plan called for the establishment of a “Special Envoy Office for African Affairs,” reporting directly to the White House’s National Security Council instead of the State Department.
All non-essential embassies and consulates across Sub-Saharan Africa would be closed. The remaining missions would operate under a special envoy “using targeted, mission-driven deployments.”
The proposal further intended to consolidate US diplomatic efforts globally into four regions: Eurasia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.
Offices dedicated to climate change and human rights would be “eliminated,” as stipulated in the document.
The same document also called for a drastic scale-back of diplomatic personnel in Canada. The US Embassy in Ottawa would “significantly downscale,” while the overall footprint in the country would comprise a “significantly reduced team.”
From Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially rejected the report by The New York Times, which first revealed the existence of the draft order.
Rubio declared directly, “This is fake news,” in a post on X on Sunday.
He added that the newspaper had fallen “victim to another hoax.”
