William Roebuck has arrived in Tripoli to take up his position as the US Chargé d’ Affaires to Libya. He will continue the work of Laurence Pope, who has served in that capacity since October 2011 following the death during an assault on the US Consulate in Benghazi, of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Mr. Roebuck said he looks forward to working with the Libyan government and the Libyan people as the US continues to build the relationship between the two countries during what it has been described as a historic time.

Mr. Roebuck has been in the foreign service in the US since 1992, and has held a wide variety of positions both in Washington and in the Middle East. He also served as Political Officer in the US Consulate in Jerusalem (1995-1997), Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs (1997-1998), Political Officer in the US Embassy in Tel Aviv (2000-2003), Political Counsellor and acting Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Damascus (2004-2007).

For two years, between 2007 and 2009, Mr Roebuck also served as Deputy Office Director for Arabian Peninsula Affairs, and then for a year as Deputy Political Counsellor at the US Embassy in Baghdad. Most recently, Mr. Roebuck served as Director for the Office of Maghreb Affairs.

Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Roebuck served as a volunteer in the Peace Corps, teaching English in the Ivory Coast from 1978-1981, and also worked as an English teacher and school administrator at a Saudi military school in Taif, Saudi Arabia from 1982-1987.

A graduate of Wake Forest University, Mr. Roebuck, who can also speak Arabic and French, also holds a law degree from the University of Georgia. He is married with one son.