[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 72 (Friday, May 30, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1070]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO ATIM ENEIDA GEORGE OGUNBA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. SOLOMON P. ORTIZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 30, 1997

  Mr. ORTIZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend a talented and 
committed public servant, Atim Eneida George Ogunba, the principal 
officer of the United States Consulate in Matamoros, Mexico, the sister 
city of Brownsville, TX, on the international border.
  Consul Ogunba was made principal officer in Matamoros in 1994 and has 
proven herself an outstanding diplomat in the south Texas-Northern 
Mexico region. She is a wealth of information to area business people 
and tourists who wish to come to the United States.
  My office has numerous dealings with the consulate on a weekly basis. 
Any time we have asked Consul Ogunba for assistance, she has always 
been willing to go the extra mile and help. She is an eloquent advocate 
for the Consulate and has developed a reputation in the State 
Department, south Texas, and Northern Mexico for fairness, a valuable 
attribute for a diplomat.
  Consul Ogunba was an enormous help to me in 1995, when the U.S. 
Consulate in Matamoros was targeted for closure by the budget cutters 
at the State Department and in Congress. She worked closely with me on 
this issue, and we were ultimately successful in persuading the State 
Department to remove the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros from their list of 
recommended closures.
  Ms. Ogunba joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1982, serving in 
Tijuana, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Washington, DC, Nicaragua, and 
Costa Rica. She is a highly decorated consul officer. She was honored 
with the Harriman Award for her ``extraordinary contributions to the 
practice of diplomacy, intellectual courage and a wazzu zeal for 
creative accomplishment'' in 1994. That same year, she won a State 
Department Meritorious Honor Award for her service in Costa Rica.
  As a result of her efforts to spare the consulate in Matamoros from 
closure, in 1996 she was recognized with the State Department Superior 
Honor Award for ``creative and inspired leadership as Principal Officer 
in Matamoros during a difficult period when post faced prospect of 
closing.''
  Her next posting will be South Africa, an experience which will be 
both challenging and rewarding for her. She studied Africa extensively, 
both in Nairobi, Kenya, and at Rutgers University here in the United 
States. I ask my colleagues to join me in offering her best wishes and 
thanks for outstanding public service.

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