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Bush names Dumas native as Congo ambassador Saturday, May 31, 2008 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - President Bush this week appointed Dumas native Alan Eastham as ambassador to the Republic of the Congo. Eastham, 56, has been ambassador to Malawi since 2005. The Senate must confirm his appointment. He said in an e-mail Friday that he could not discuss the nomination since it has not yet been officially forwarded to the Senate. If confirmed, Eastham would likely preside over the completion of a new U.S. embassy compound in the west African country. The State Department said the United States enjoys a strong relationship with the current government of the country, which became a democracy in 1991. The U.S. embassy was evacuated during a 1997 war but U.S-Congo relations were re-established four years later. The country - which is slightly larger in area than the state of New Mexico - has about 3.8 million people. Eastham entered the foreign service in 1975 and has served stints in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Zaire and Pakistan during his 33-year State Department career. His brother, Craig Eastham, said Friday that Alan Eastham began his foreign service career on a whim. Alan Eastham was manager of a Pine Bluff radio station owned by his father. He learned from a public service announcement played by the station that the State Department was seeking foreign service professionals, his brother said. He took a written test in Little Rock a few days later and was offered a job. "It's funny that he just heard that public service announcement and decided to take that test and that's how he got his start in all this," Craig Eastham said. Alan Eastham is a graduate of Hendrix College in Conway. He holds a law degree from Georgetown University. His wife, Carolyn, is originally from Morrilton. Their two teenage sons are both in college. |
