NEWS RELEASES
November 8, 2004 (3:00 p.m. EDT) No. 128
DIPLOMATIC APPOINTMENT
Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Pettigrew today announced the appointment of
Ambassador Anne Leahy as Ambassador for the Great Lakes Region in Africa.
Ms. Leahy, who will reside in Canada, will succeed Marc-André Brault, Special Envoy
for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes, who is retiring.
Canada is playing a leadership role in supporting the United Nations and the African
Union, sponsors of the International Conference on Peace, Security, Democracy and
Development in the Great Lakes Region. Canada has created and is co-chairing the
Group of Friends of the Great Lakes Region, composed of 29 member-states and
10 international organizations with a mandate to provide political, technical and financial
support to the members and the Secretariat of the Conference.
The first Summit of Heads of State of the Conference will be held in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania, in November 2004, and a second Summit is planned for the summer
of 2005.
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A biographical note on the appointee is attached.
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Sébastien Théberge
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
(613) 995-1851
Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs Canada and International Trade Canada
(613) 995-1874
http://www.international.gc.ca
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Anne Leahy (BA, Economics, Queen’s University; MA, Economics, University of
Toronto) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1973. She served in Brussels,
Moscow and Paris, and as Ambassador to Cameroon, Chad and the Central African
Republic from 1989 to 1992, Ambassador to Poland from 1993 to 1996 and
Ambassador to Russia from 1996 to 1999. In Ottawa, she served in a variety of
positions. From 1992 to 1993, she was Director General, Policy Planning Bureau, and
in 2001 she was named Co-ordinator, World Youth Day 2002. Ms. Leahy succeeds
Marc-André Brault.
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