US ambassador to Guinea dies

Simon Henshaw, the U.S. ambassador to Guinea, died Tuesday evening, the State Department said.

“The U.S. Embassy Conakry community regrets to inform that Ambassador Simon Henshaw passed away this evening at home,” the U.S. Embassy in Conakry, Guinea, tweeted Tuesday. “We are deeply saddened and express our most heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.”

In a statement to The Hill on Wednesday, the State Department said it has not yet confirmed a final cause of death but that initial indications suggested natural causes.

Henshaw, a career diplomat who joined the State Department in the mid-1980s, was nominated for the ambassador post by President Trump in August 2018 and confirmed in the Senate by voice vote in January 2019.

The U.S. Embassy Conakry community regrets to inform that Ambassador Simon Henshaw passed away this evening at home. We are deeply saddened and express our most heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. pic.twitter.com/8a5wIkHg4Y

— @embassyconakry (@EmbassyConakry) June 9, 2020

The U.S. Embassy in Guinea was one of several in Africa to weigh in on the May 25 killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests.

“As a people, we believe the right to peacefully protest is a universal one. We believe that thorough investigations must be conducted when a someone is injured or killed, and that those who violated the victim’s rights must be held accountable in a court of law,” Henshaw said in a June 2 statement.

“Like many countries, we are still working to achieve a society in which there truly is equality and justice for all under the law and in practice. We are proud, however, of the mechanisms we do have that hold accountable those who are responsible for committing crimes and abuses of public trust,” he added.

Updated: 4:26 p.m.