Matthew Bryza becomes US ambassador to Azerbaijan

US President Barack Obama has appointed Matthew Bryza as the US
Ambassador to Azerbaijan, the White House press-secretariat says, RIA
Novosti reports.

The president’s decision allows the ambassador to start work
immediately. The president’s decision will be annulled unless senators
approve Bryza before the next last session (in November-December 2011).

The US committee on foreign policy approved Bryza on September 22. He
has been working as the deputy assistant of the US Secretary of State
for Europe and Eurasia. He was responsible for links with the South
Caucasus and South European countries. Bryza was supervising US
efforts to resolve the conflicts of Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and
South Ossetia. He was coordinating US energy policy in the Black Sea
and Caspian Sea regions. In 1995-1997 Bryza was the US ambassador to
Russia, working on issues related to the Russian State Duma, the
Communist Party and Dagestan.

Ambassadors to Syria, the Czech Republic and Turkey have also been
appointed. Robert Steven Ford, a former US State Department inspector,
has become the US ambassador to Syria. Francis Richardson, deputy
ambassador in Kabul, has become the US ambassador to Turkey. Norm
Eisen, former consul for ethnic issues, has become US ambassador to
the Czech Republic.

CNN says that Obama’s decision to avoid waiting for the senate’s
approval is due to the Republicans dragging the process out. Bryza was
proposed to the post in May.