Reinhard Buchholz

Reinhard Buchholz (born August 16, 1947 in Aalen ) is a former German diplomat . He was ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in eight African countries, most recently in Cameroon . Since July 2012 he has been working as a management consultant (rb Consult for Africa).

resume

After studying social sciences at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and abroad, from which he graduated with the academic degree Diplom-Sozialwirt , he worked from 1974 to 1976 as a researcher at the Institute for Ethno-Sociology at the University of Abidjan ( Ivory Coast ) active.

After joining the Foreign Service in 1977, he was employed at the Foreign Office in Bonn and Berlin and at the German embassies in Indonesia , Yugoslavia and France . In 1994 he became Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Central African Republic . Reinhard Buchholz was then permanent representative of the Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 1997 to 2001 and, until 2003, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Guinea and Sierra Leone . From 2003 to July 2005 he headed Division 407 (International Transport and Tourism Policy) at the Federal Foreign Office.

In 2005 he was appointed ambassador to Kinshasa ( Democratic Republic of the Congo ) with secondary accreditation in the Republic of Congo ( Brazzaville ). On August 21, 2006, he and 14 other ambassadors came under fire from the Presidential Guard of President Joseph Kabila in the private residence of Vice-President and presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba . The diplomats were escorted out of the residence in armored vehicles by MONUC and EUFOR RD Congo troops. At the end of October 2006 he was called to Berlin from the Congo; It is said that Kabila and the international partners were upset about Buchholz's undiplomatic behavior.

Between January and May 2007, he was Charge d'Affaires ai of the Embassy Lilongwe ( Malawi ). From July 2007 to July 2010 he was ambassador to the Republic of Uganda and from August 2010 to June 2012 in Cameroon and a second time in the Central African Republic. Buchholz was described by Spiegel as a "veteran Africa specialist of the Foreign Office", but at the same time criticized his aggressive advocacy for German economic interests, which put him in the twilight when the Ugandan government awarded a major order for biometric passports to a Bavarian company in 2010. His successful support of a German company in placing an order for biometric voter registration in Cameroon was also criticized in the press.

He has been a management consultant since July 2012. His successor as ambassador to Cameroon was then Klaus-Ludwig Keferstein , who was previously the ambassador's permanent representative in Argentina .

Web links

• Curriculum vitae ( memento from May 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the German Embassy in Yaounde
• Georges Alain Boyomo: Interview with Ambassador Buchholz (in French) on Cameroon-info.net from May 25, 2012 (with picture).
• William Chantcho, Walter Böhme: Interview on Neighborhood. International cultural exchange magazine from August 2, 2011 (with picture).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Scheen : German Ambassador to Congo recalled. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of November 5, 2006.
2. ↑ Horand Knaup: At midnight in the palace. In: Der Spiegel from July 26, 2010.
3. ↑ Andreas Müller: Fuss about awarding contracts in Africa. Trouble after visiting Cameroon. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung of October 15, 2012; ders .: Controversial procurement in Cameroon. Berlin charter for ambassadors. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung of December 25, 2012.
4. ^ About his farewell as ambassador: Les adieux de l'ambassadeur d'Allemagne Reinhard Buchholz au chef de l'etat Paul Biya.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Camnews24.com of July 2, 2012.  

predecessor	Office	successor
Wilhelm Späth	Ambassador to the Central African Republic 1994–1997	Closure of the embassy
Pius Fischer	Ambassador to Guinea 2001–2003	Dirk Baumgartner
Pius Fischer	Ambassador to Sierra Leone 2001–2003	?
Doretta Maria Loschelder	Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo 2005–2006	Karl Wokalek
Alexander Mills	Ambassador to Uganda 2007–2010	Klaus Dieter Düxmann
Karin Blumberger sourdough	Ambassador to Cameroon and the Central African Republic 2010–2012	Klaus-Ludwig Keferstein