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Jacques Diouf, a Senegalese diplomat, is the surprise choice to succeed
Edouard Saouma as director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
He was elected by FAO member states in Rome last week.

An agricultural economist, Diouf was Senegal’s UN delegate, and led
a controversial rice-growing programme in West Africa (‘Will rice turn the
Sahel to salt?’, New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ, 9 October). He says his chief aims are
to combat food shortages in Africa, and make food distribution fairer worldwide,
but he has made no promises about reforming the FAO’s huge bureaucracy.

Diouf’s election is a surprise because the favourites to win the post
had been Australia’s Geoff Miller, or Rafael Moreno of Chile. But the rich
countries opposed Moreno, as he was the much criticised Saouma’s chosen
successor.

Third World delegates, who make up the majority at the FAO, backed
Diouf as a compromise Third World candidate.