U.S. President Barack Obama will nominate career diplomat Charles A. Ray to be the next ambassador to Zimbabwe, succeeding James McGee, who will leave the post early next month, the White House announced Thursday.

Ray served as U.S. ambassador to Cambodia from 2002 to 2005. A member of the State Department Foreign Service since 1983, following his retirement from the U.S. Army a year earlier with the rank of major, he has been posted to China, Thailand and Vietnam.

The African-American diplomat served as deputy chief of mission in Sierra Leone.

Since 2006 Ray has been deputy assistant secretary of defense for prisoners of war and missing personnel affairs.

According to Ray’s Web page on the Helium site for writers, he has published two books: “Things I Learned From My Grandmother About Leadership and Life,” in June 2008, and “Taking Charge: Effective Leadership for the Twenty-First Century,” in March 2009.

More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...