The News
Businessman Massad Boulos has been appointed senior adviser for Africa at the State Department and is heading to the continent this week, the department said Tuesday.
Boulos also serves as senior adviser to the president on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, focusing on Lebanon, the country he migrated from as a teenager. His son Michael Boulos is married to President Donald Trump’s younger daughter, Tiffany Trump.
Boulos is set to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda starting Thursday with the aim of advancing peace talks in the eastern DR Congo and promoting US investments in the region.
Know More
Semafor previously reported that Boulos was likely to get a position focusing on the Great Lakes region, where the conflict in eastern DR Congo and the prospects of a critical minerals deal with Kinshasa are high on the agenda. The region is likely to remain his key priority in this role, a US official told Semafor. Boulos has already held meetings with officials from both DR Congo and Rwanda last month, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.
The White House has so far failed in three attempts to appoint anyone for its top Africa job, Semafor previously reported — making Boulos the State Department’s most senior official appointed by the Trump administration focused on the continent.
Boulos spent a large part of his professional life in Nigeria, where he has been involved in several businesses, including a trucking and heavy machinery company. He also played an active role as an emissary to Arab American votes, pitching Trump as a candidate who would bring peace to the Middle East.