Mr Charles Twining, has begun a six-week tour of duty in Ghana as Charge d'Affaires ad interim at the United States Embassy.

The Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy said Ambassador Twining entered the Foreign Service in 1964 and has served most recently in Washington as Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific at the Department of State.

His overseas tours of duty have included service in Madagascar, Vietnam, Cote d'Ivoire, and Thailand. He has served as country officer for Cote d'Ivoire, Upper Volta, Niger, Australia/New Zealand.

He reopened the United States Mission in Cambodia in 1991 as Chief of Mission and was subsequently appointed Ambassador there in 1994.

He served as Ambassador to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea from 1996 to 1998 before becoming Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Command in Honolulu.

Ambassador Twining earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia and his Master's degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, with specialization in African studies. He also did specialized Southeast Asian studies at Cornell University.

He is married with two sons.