A history of Bill Richardson's diplomatic travels

Sunday, April 8, 2007 · Last updated 11:38 a.m. PT
Bill Richardson's diplomatic missions
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Some of Bill Richardson's diplomatic efforts:

Late 1988: Traveled to Angola to meet with rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, who was fighting against the Marxist government.

August 1993: Traveled to Myanmar and became the first nonfamily member permitted to visit pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi while she was under house arrest.

July 1994: Met with Gen. Raoul Cedras, the head of the Haitian military who ruled the country, to urge him to step aside and allow President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to return to power. Cedras refused to step aside but left the country three months later under pressure from President Clinton.

December 1994: Spent five days in North Korea trying to negotiate the release of two U.S. Army helicopter pilots who had been shot down. Richardson left with the remains of one who died in the crash. The surviving pilot was released eight days after his departure after a Clinton administration official made a separate visit.

July 1995: Flew to Iraq and successfully negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of two U.S. oil workers who wandered over the Iraq-Kuwait border.

January 1996: Visited Cuban leader Fidel Castro to press for the release of political prisoners and improvement of human rights. After a return visit a month later, Castro released three of 10 prisoners Richardson had requested.

March 1996: Met secretly with Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, who gave him a Balkan peace plan to take back to Washington. The Clinton administration found it unacceptable.

July 1996: Richardson brought home an American woman, Eliadah "Lia" McCord, who was being held on a life sentence in Bangladesh for carrying heroin.

November 1996: Richardson made a fourth trip to North Korea and his first as a special U.S. envoy. He successfully negotiated the release of a troubled 26-year-old American named Evan Hunziker who swam across the Yalu River into the country. Hunziker killed himself a month later.

December 1996: Successfully negotiated the release of three Red Cross workers held captive by Sudanese rebels.

April 1997: Richardson goes on his first mission as U.N. ambassador, traveling to Zaire to try to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power from Mobutu Sese Seko to Laurent Kabila. He could not get the two enemies to agree to a meeting place.

April 1998: Became the first Cabinet-rank American to visit Afghanistan in 24 years. Tried to persuade the Taliban to make peace with the Northern Alliance, improve the status of women and expel Osama bin Laden.

September 2006: Successfully negotiated with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for the release of a New Mexico journalist and two aides from Chad who entered the country without a visa to report on atrocities in Darfur.

January 2007: Made a third trip to Sudan, this time to negotiate with al-Bashir and rebel leaders for an end to the fighting in Darfur. Al-Bashir refuses Richardson's request to allow in U.N. peacekeepers. He agreed to a cease-fire, but broke it days later.

April 2007: Made his sixth trip to North Korea to try to recover remains of U.S. servicemen killed in Korean War.
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Source: "Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life" by Bill Richardson.