Archibald Gardner Dunn

Archibald Gardner Dunn (born January 29, 1919 in Camperdown , South Africa , † October 8, 1980 in San Salvador ) was a South African ambassador .

Life

Archibald Gardner Dunn was the son of Elsie Jane MacKenzie and Archibald Gardner Dunn Sr., a magistrate and farmer from Natal . He first grew up in Australia and then attended Maritzburg College in Pietermaritzburg . He then studied at the University of Natal , where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1939. In 1947 he obtained an LLB at the University of South Africa . He had been married to Daphne Rosemarie Young from India since 1943 and they had three children.

In 1946 Archibald Gardner Dunn began working for the South Africa Department of Foreign Affairs. Two years later he went to Buenos Aires as the third secretary . In 1952 he was secretary of legation second class in Santiago de Chile and in the absence of Eugene Kevin Scallan d'affaires . In 1956 he was ordered back to Pretoria .

From 1960 to 1961 he was secretary of legation first class in Washington, DC , and in the absence of Willem Christiaan Naude, charge d'affaires . On July 20, 1960, in a letter to Matthys Izak Botha, he conveyed his assessment of the behavior of the Eisenhower cabinet with regard to the sale of uranium to Israel . On March 15, 1961, he visited with Willem Christiaan Naude, James Kedzie Penfield (April 9, 1908, † September 11, 2004) Executive Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and told him they would like to talk to Dean Rusk .

On February 26, 1965 he was the representative of the South African government at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and signed a Safeguards .

From August 1, 1967 to December 5, 1973 he headed the South African diplomatic mission in Helsinki . On March 23, 1968 he was appointed ambassador.

From December 5, 1973 he was ambassador to San Salvador. On November 28, 1979 he was kidnapped by the Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Martí with fatal consequences. Foreign Minister Héctor Miguel Antonio Dada Hirezi stated that Dunn's diplomatic privileges would be retained, but his government would carry out its plan to break diplomatic relations with the government in South Africa in protest against apartheid . A tape interview was made during the kidnapping. In a photograph he is holding a newspaper with a headline dated July 13, 1980. The kidnappers came into contact with Dunn's family after the South African government refused to negotiate with terrorists. A letter to his wife was published in the Diario Co Latino . Christiaan Barnard offered to practice in El Salvador in exchange for his release. Óscar Romero († March 24, 1980) wrote a letter to the kidnappers on March 15, 1980. A fund was set up to finance the ransom. Jaime Hill Argüello was released in the same period by the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo after fulfilling a ransom demand. On October 8, 1980, the FPL announced that Archibald Gardner Dunn had been judged and claimed that this form of judging was for sale.

In November 1981, Archibald Gardner Dunn was officially pronounced dead by the Pretoria Supreme Court. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Good Hope.

See also

• List of killed ambassadors

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Dunn, Archibald Gardner (Eddie) In: Dictionary of South African Biography. Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria 1968-1987. Retrieved from the African Biographical Archive, Volume 1, p. 23.
2. ↑ Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , Letter from South African Ambassador AG Dunn to South African Department for Foreign Affairs Official MI Botha on the Sale of Uranium to Israel
3. ^ Office of the Historian , March 15, 1961 Visit of the South African Ambassador
4. ↑ Lakeland (Florida) The Ledger , November 30, 1979, Police locate truck used to kidnap S. African diplomat
5. ^ El País , March 16, 1980, La guerrilla salvadoreña libera a un industrial
6. ↑ Santa Tecla la historia , historia de un secuestro ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

predecessor	Office	successor
Eugene Kevin Scallan	South African Chargé d'Affaires in Santiago de Chile in 1952	Eugene Kevin Scallan
Willem Christiaan Naude	Chargé d'affaires in Washington DC 1960 to 1961	Willem Christiaan Naude
Cornelis Hendrik Taljaard	South African envoy in Helsinki August 1, 1967 to December 5, 1973	Wouter de Vos Malan
Ernesto Rivas Gallont	South African Ambassador to San Salvador December 5, 1973 to October 8, 1980	Ernesto Rivas Gallont