The government of Mali honored its Atlanta-based honorary consul, Vincent Farley, at a ceremony in Washington D.C. Aug. 9 after the Africa Summit, which earlier in the week brought almost all of the African heads of state to the capital.
Mr. Farley, a former U.S. foreign service officer and director of the State Department’s Office of Research and Analysis for Africa, received the “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mali,” from the northwestern African nation’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, in a formal ceremony at the Westin Hotel in Georgetown.
Other officials attending the ceremony included Abdoulaye Diop, Mali’s foreign minister who previously served as ambassador to the U.S.
Mr. Farley, who was appointed honorary consul in 2006, told Global Atlanta that he was surprised by the invitation although he had been forewarned some months ago, “but then didn’t hear anything about it until shortly beforehand.”
The University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences has had projects in Mali to improve the country’s poultry stock and otherwise strengthen its ag sector.
Most recently in January, Malian agriculture and economic development officials returned to the UGA campus to meet with university scientists and specialists. The visit, which was arranged by Mr. Farley, was the first its officials since the country re-established a democratically elected government in 2013.
Representatives of Mali’s government including 2014 delegation members Ousmane Coulibaly of the Malian Ministry of Rural Development and Mamadou Dougakoro Coulibaly, project coordinator for the Ministry for Livestock, Fisheries and Food Security were touring UGA when a military coup took place in March 2012 and extended their stay in Athens before returning home.
Scott Angle, dean of the agriculture college, has been involved in Malian agricultural projects since 2006 at the urging of Mr. Farley, who cited the relations between the university and Mali during his remarks upon receiving the medal.
Mr. Farley also cited the work of Medshare, the local non-profit which collects essential medical supplies and equipment, and delivers them directly to underserved populations worldwide.
Over the years, he has introduced Malian officials to the facility, which he helped start 15 years ago.
He joined the foreign service in the mid-1960s and was an early member of the department’s Open Forum Panel to encourage creative thinking on vital policy issues, including presentations of differing viewpoints.
While in the foreign service, he was deputy ambassador in the Ivory Coast and Mauritania and also served in Niger, South Korea and then-Yugoslavia.
He also was a diplomat in residence at the Carter Center from 1994-97 as an adviser on African affairs to former President Jimmy Carter.
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