DC's embassy blight

Posted By Blake Hounshell Monday, June 9, 2008 - 10:38 AM Share

As someone who used to live near the rodent-infested, abandoned embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), I'm glad to see that the Washington Post is finally shining a light on the shameful local practice of countries abandoning parts of their diplomatic missions and allowing them to fester. Aside from the DRC, Pakistan, the Philippines, Malawi, the United Arab Emirates, Liberia, Malaysia, Bosnia, Argentina, Niger, and Togo, are all guilty, according to the Post.

But it doesn't have to be this way:

Developer Jim Abdo bought Ghana's vacant diplomatic residence -- rain was "cascading" through the roof when he visited, he said -- and turned it into his home. He paid a consultant to fly to Nigeria to persuade the country's leaders to sell him their shell of a mansion in Massachusetts Heights.

Abdo paid $3.2 million for the estate, including a family of raccoons scampering about its four floors. After a massive renovation that included a new swimming pool, he is selling the mansion for $6.95 million.

The raccoons have moved out.

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