The UCLA African Studies Center presents an informal discussion with Louis Mazel on Regional Security Issues in Africa, US Policy in the Horn of Africa, AFRICOM and Chinese Economic Expansion in Africa. Mr. Mazel is the Director, Office of African Regional and Security Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs, US Department of State.

Monday, February 9, 2009
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
10383 Bunche Hall (10th floor)
UCLA campus
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Event will begin promptly at 2:05 PM since we only have the room from 2 - 3:30 PM (events are scheduled in the room immediately before and right after this talk).  Seating might be limited.

About Louis Mazel:
Louis Mazel, a career Foreign Service Officer, joined the State Department in 1984.  He has spent most of his career in Africa having served in Mali, Togo, Namibia, Ethiopia, South Africa and most recently as Deputy Chief of Mission in Monrovia, Liberia.  He has also served tours in Martinique, in the French West Indies, and in Malaysia.
 
In his current position as Director of the Office of African Regional and Security Affairs, Mr. Mazel oversees State Department-funded programs in Africa in the areas of peacekeeping training and support, and security sector reform.  His office also deals with the U.S. Mission to the African Union and regional issues in the areas of human rights, democratization, trafficking in persons, and counter-piracy off the coast of Somalia.
 
Louis Mazel graduated from Stony Brook University with a BA in Political Science and holds a Master’s in Communications from Boston University’s School of Communications.  He attended the Master’s Program at the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy majoring in Developmental Economics and International Relations.
 
Prior to joining the Foreign Service he was an administrative aide to Congressmen Michael Harrington (D-MA), and the President of Mazel Political Communications, a Boston-based consulting firm, where he consulted on 43 election campaigns.
 
He is the recipient of the State Department’s first-ever Worldwide Award for Human Rights for programs he initiated in Namibia to curb sexual violence against women and children.  He has spoken widely in Africa on U.S. foreign policy on the continent, U.S. assistance in areas of health and education and the 2004 U.S. presidential elections.  Prior to national elections in Liberia in 2005, Lou addressed numerous youth organizations urging them to support Liberia’s democratic transition and to accept the results of the nation’s first-ever competitive multi-party elections.
 
Mr. Mazel’s interests include travel, reading, politics, baseball, and Olympic sports.  He has attended six Olympic Games and numerous regional games and was an announcer on Namibian television during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Cost : Free and open to the public. Pay-by-space and all-day ($9) parking is available in lot 3.

www.international.ucla.edu/africa

Download file: Louis Mazel Informal Discussion 2-9-09 (2).pdf

Sponsor(s): African Studies Center