In Europe, Powell was widely seen as an ally and proponent of a multilateral approach to international issues. His resignation brought expressions of regret from some capitals, where officials were hoping the second Bush administration would take steps to enhance international cooperation.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it had been "a joy" to work with Powell, whom he called "a man of utmost integrity" and "huge fun," wire services reported.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who was widely admired in Africa, visited a refugee camp in Sudan in June.
(State Department Via AP)
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In Germany, Defense Minister Peter Struck described Powell as "pleasant to talk to and a reliable partner in conversation in the area of defense policy."
In France, there was no immediate official reaction. Powell had clashed with the former foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, over the Iraq war and was widely seen as having lost influence in battles with others in the Bush administration.
News reports of the resignation highlighted Powell's Feb. 5, 2003, speech to the United Nations on Iraq's weapons capability. The testimony turned out to be inaccurate, damaging Powell's credibility among the French.
The left-leaning newspaper Liberation said the choice of a successor would indicate whether Bush intends to "pursue further the policy advocated by the neoconservatives, or favor a return to a foreign policy of an outstretched hand."
In Africa, officials and observers said many people had been elated to see an African American rise to the highest ranks of the U.S. government but were later disappointed that Powell failed to show the deep concern for Africa that they expected of him.
At first, "Africa perceived him as one of its own sons in high office, but he's been almost aloof," said Richard Kaavuma, a reporter at the Observer, a weekly newspaper in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Brig. Gen. Festus Okonkwo, a Nigerian who heads the African Union mission in the war-ravaged Darfur region of western Sudan, keeps a framed photograph of Powell inside his trailer. He said he flinched as he heard the news on satellite television.
"I felt he really was someone who cared about Africa," Okonkwo said. In September, Powell visited Darfur and declared that the violence there constituted genocide. Okonkwo said the visit "sent a very important message to African leaders. . . . We wouldn't even have furniture without Powell's demand that we be funded."
Mohamed Abdel Gaffer, a top official in Sudan's Foreign Ministry, said that he disagreed with Powell's assessment of the war in Darfur as genocide but that he respected him for visiting Darfur and for pushing the peace process in a separate civil war.
"Despite our differences, we all thought he was a good man to have in power," Gaffer said.
Correspondents Molly Moore in Jerusalem, Emily Wax in Nyala, Sudan, and Keith Richburg in Paris contributed to this report.
