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New USAID Mission Director for Namibia Sworn In

WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov/
Press: (202) 712-4320
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2004-059

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2004

Contact: USAID Press Office

WASHINGTON, DC - Gary W. Newton was sworn in today as Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Namibia. Carol Peasley, the Agency Counselor, presided at the ceremony which took place at USAID's Washington, D.C. headquarters.

Mr. Newton will be responsible for USAID's program of assistance to Namibia which in 2004 amounts to over $18 million. The USAID program doubled in size this year with Namibia's selection as a focus country under President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

At the swearing in, Counselor Peasley stated, "Mr. Newton is well-prepared to lead our Mission in Namibia. He has 24 years of experience in health and development. He knows Africa, having lived there for 13 of his 17 years overseas, where he gained considerable practical experience fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Gary is a positive and diplomatic development professional with strong management and interpersonal skills."

In 1990, after a decades-long struggle, Namibia won its independence. At the fourteen-year mark, the future looks promising. Namibia has increasingly effective democratic institutions, a free press, an open market economy, good infrastructure, and low corruption. Namibia is endowed with stunning landscapes and wildlife, mineral wealth, and unpolluted oceans and skies. Clouding Namibia's future however, is one of the world's worst HIV/AIDS epidemics and one of the world's most inequitable income distributions that leaves many Namibians in poverty.

Since 1991, USAID has provided over $140 million to support Namibia's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, strengthen democracy, conserve natural resources, and redress the inequities of colonialism and apartheid by improving education and employment prospects for historically disadvantaged Namibians. A stable and democratic Namibia can offer a beleaguered continent an encouraging and hopeful example.

Mr. Newton is a graduate of Maine's Colby College and has Master's Degrees in education from Smith College and in public health from Columbia University. He is married to Joan O'Conner and they have a 22-year old son, Cullen.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.

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