Kuwait: US envoy to Kuwait submits credentials

The first female American ambassador to this conservative Gulf Arab nation presented her credentials Sunday.

Deborah K. Jones assumes her post only days before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives here to attend a meeting on Iraq and ahead of parliamentary elections slated for May 17. The US Embassy said in a statement that career diplomat Jones, who is not the first female US ambassador to be posted in an Arab nation, presented her diplomatic credentials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She will present them to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jabar Al-Sabah, at an unspecified future date.“I don’t think her gender will be an issue ..., but she will face some kind of a culture shock,” said Abdullah Al-Shayji, a political-science lecturer at Kuwait University. He said while Kuwaiti women will see her presence in the country as a “good omen,” it will remain to be seen how she would be received in the traditional, men-only gatherings called diwaniyas.

American ambassadors here routinely visit diwaniyas, which are key to election campaigning. They also are often invited to wedding parties, which are held separately for men and women. Women in this male-dominated society won their political-rights in 2005, but failed to win a parliament seat in elections held a year later.

However, two women have served as members of the Cabinet since. Ambassador Jones is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, having been with the Department of State since 1982.

Prior to her new assignment as Ambassador, she served as Principal Officer at the US Consulate General in Istanbul, Turkey. Her previous overseas assignments include: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Baghdad, Iraq; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Damascus, Syria. Her service in Washington, DC includes two years as Country Director of the Office of Arabian Peninsula and Iran Affairs in addition to assignments as Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Near East and South Asia Affairs, Acting Public Affairs Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, Desk Officer for Jordan, and duty in the Department’s Operations Center. Jones has also served on the Board of Examiners for the Foreign Service.Ambassador Jones is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a BS in history (magna cum laude) and a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College of the National Defense University with an MS in national security strategy. She speaks Arabic, Spanish and French. The Ambassador is married to US Foreign Service Officer Richard G. Olson, who is currently serving as the Deputy Permanent Representative to US Mission NATO. They have two daughters.