The U.S. Institute of Peace mourns the passing of Robert B. Oakley, a distinguished diplomat who was instrumental in policy thinking on Somalia in the early 1990s, including during two tours at the Institute.

Robert B. Oakley

Ambassador Oakley’s eminent career included leading U.S. diplomatic missions in Zaire, Somalia and Pakistan, as well as serving as director of the State Department’s Office of Combatting Terrorism and then as assistant to the president for the Middle East and South Asia at the National Security Council. In December 1992, President George H.W. Bush named Ambassador Oakley to be special envoy for Somalia with Operation Restore Hope until March 1993. In October 1993, President Bill Clinton asked Ambassador Oakley to return to that role, a position he held until March 1994.

At USIP, Ambassador Oakley participated in a study group with Somali professionals in November 1992 that contributed to the Institute’s first Special Report in January 1993, “Relief, Reconciliation, and Reconstruction in Somalia: Views of Prominent Somalis.” He also published a book, co-authored by J. Lewis Rasmussen, Conflict Resolution in the Middle East: Simulating a Diplomatic Negotiation Between Israel and Syria. Following his second term as a special envoy, he returned to USIP and published a book drawing on that experience, Somalia and Operation Restore Hope: Reflections on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping, co-written with John L. Hirsch. Both volumes were published by the U.S. Institute of Peace Press.

“I was privileged to work with and learn from Bob, who will be remembered as one of the most consequential American diplomats of our time,” said former Ambassador George Moose, the Institute’s vice chairman. “He was a consummate practitioner who applied his talents to some of our most difficult problems, and in the most challenging places. He was also an intellectual giant whose work at USIP and elsewhere contributed importantly to our understanding of the role of diplomacy.”

Ambassador Oakley is survived by his wife, Phyllis E. Oakley, a former assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research who also served as a USIP board member (ex officio) when she was at the State Department.

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