Press Releases

03/06/2008

Alfred de Montesquiou appointed Associated Press chief correspondent in North Africa

NEW YORK (AP) -- Alfred de Montesquiou, a correspondent for The Associated Press in Cairo and Khartoum, Sudan, has been appointed the news organization's chief North Africa correspondent.

The announcement was made Thursday by John Daniszewski, AP's managing editor for international news operations.

In his new role, de Montesquiou will lead coverage in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The position was previously based in Morocco.

The 29-year-old de Montesquiou joined the AP in 2004 at the Europe/Africa regional editing desk in London. Since 2005, he has covered a variety of breaking stories and produced in-depth features in text, photographs and video.

As a Mideast correspondent starting in April 2006, he reported primarily from Sudan about the Darfur conflict. He also has covered major breaking stories in Chad and Lebanon. Earlier, he was posted as a correspondent in Haiti.

"Alfred has shown personal courage to bring searing images of Darfur to the world, including being the only reporter on the scene after a dramatic attack by rebels against U.N. peacekeepers last year," said Daniszewski. "In North Africa, he will cover an area of vital interest to Africa, the Arab-speaking world and Europe, including questions of immigration, militancy and terrorism."

He holds three masters degrees: in philosophy from the Sorbonne, in political science from Sciences-Po, both in Paris, and in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York.