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Another top Rice aide quits
01/05/2007 16:32 - (SA)
Washington - A top human rights adviser to secretary of state Condoleezza Rice announced his resignation on Monday, the latest in a string of senior state department officials to quit as the administration of President George W Bush winds to a close.
Barry Lowenkron, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, will leave within weeks to become a vice-president with the MacArthur Foundation, a private grant-making enterprise, said state department spokesperson Sean McCormack.
The departure of Lowenkron, who notably oversaw the state department's annual human rights report, was announced just three days after the surprise resignation of one of Rice's two deputies, foreign aid director Randall Tobias.
Tobias quit on Friday after being named in the media as a client of a Washington DC call-girl ring.
Rice has lost a string of senior aides in recent months, beginning with her former top deputy, Robert Zoellick, who left last year to work for a Wall Street investment bank.
Her counsellor, Philip Zelikow, resigned in January to return to teaching and the state department's planning director, Stephen Krasner, quit in March.
'Resignations could continue'
The state department's two highest profile hawks, former UN ambassador John Bolton and non-proliferation chief Bob Joseph, also left earlier this year and have since sniped at Rice's willingness to negotiate a disarmament deal with North Korea.
A senior state department official indicated that the spate of resignations could continue as Bush nears the end of his mandate in January 2009.
"It's only natural as you get towards the end of the second term that people are going to be moving on," he said. "The secretary understands."
- AFP
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