United Nations, June 08: Haya Rashed al-Khalifa, a
former ambassador to France and one of the first women to
practice law in Bahrain, will be elected president of the UN
General Assembly today, a spokeswoman for the assembly has
said.
Khalifa is to succeed Jan Eliasson, who is also
Sweden's Foreign Minister. She will become the third woman to
preside over the 191-member assembly after Vijaya Lakshmi
Pandit of India in 1953 and Angie E Brooks of Liberia in
1969.
Her choice was approved by the assembly's Asian bloc,
which under a regional rotation system, is tasked with
choosing the next president, spokeswoman Pragato Pascale said.
A lawyer by training, Khalifa, 53, was one of the
first two women to practice law in Bahrain and she defended
women before Islamic Sharia courts.
She is currently legal adviser to the royal court in
Bahrain, the spokeswoman said yesterday.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, June 08, 2006, 00:00