JEDDAH, 21 March 2007 — The UK’s Consul General in Jeddah is to leave the Kingdom today. Appointed just five months ago, the brevity of Gerard Russell’s stay and his sudden departure has surprised many in the British community. He has been appointed as political counselor — the No. 3 spot in the embassy in Kabul — where he will act in a supportive and advisory role to the new ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles who left the Riyadh embassy on March 6.
“It does seem like a bit of a shock,” said Russell. “It’s an honor, of course; it’s a very challenging post and a very important one.”
Russell’s replacement, a senior official who is familiar with the region and has, he said, “a solid background” is expected in about a month. Until then Cecille El Beleidi, deputy consul general and head of the Trade and Investment Mission, will stand in.
He reflected that it seemed a coincidence that about the time he arrived, he began reading books about the history of the British involvement in Afghanistan. “I had little premonitions but I definitely did not think I was going out there so soon, if at all. I was hoping to be here for at least three years.”
The Kabul embassy is being hugely reinforced with an injection of staff.
“We have had an anti-narcotics team there for some time,” he said, “and now we want to develop the political side.”
He said that this would involve looking at and engaging in tribal politics, liaising with the Afghan government and the British presence in Helmand province in the south of the country in terms of policies and operations. “It is a wider brief than I had even in Iraq,” he said, which was his last posting. “I see it as upping our ability to analyze and interact with Afghan politics,” he said.
Reflecting on his time here, Russell said that he was very pleased to have been able to concentrate — for the first time in his career — on consular work. The bus crash that killed and injured British pilgrims in December was a real test of his and the consulate’s ability to function rapidly and efficiently.
“A sad and painful event,” he said, but “it gave us all as a team an opportunity to achieve something. I am very proud of the way we handled things as a consulate. I feel glad to have been part of that.”
His impression of the Kingdom has changed greatly since he arrived. Partly due to “getting out and meeting people” and partly due to traveling to the south of the Kingdom, he leaves with fond memories. “Before you know the place and if you have never been here, one tends to think of it as rather grim and unfriendly. I would say now that it is rather the opposite; it’s one of the most friendly countries I have ever been in.”
He recalled how his Saudi bodyguards provided him with insights into rural culture. After a visit to Khamis Mushayt, one of them presented Russell with a jar of wild mountain-honey from his village in the area. “It’s such human touches that one remembers, and which reveal Saudis as such a kind and charming people.”
