THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                           (Dakar, Senegal)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                      April 2, 1998

                          PRESIDENT CLINTON 
                   NAMES NANCY HALLIDAY ELY-RAPHEL
        AS UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

The President today announced his intent to nominate Nancy Halliday Ely-Raphel to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia.

Ms. Nancy Ely-Raphel, of Washington, DC, is a Career Member of the Senior Executive Service. Prior to joining the State Department, she was Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy City Attorney in San Diego, Associate Dean of Boston University School of Law, and senior trial attorney with the Organized Crime Strike Force of the Department of Justice. She served as Assistant Legal Advisor for African Affairs, where she played a critical role in developing a legal assistance program for political detainees inside South Africa and drafted the document which formed the basis for the Constitution adopted by the first democratically elected government in the Republic of Namibia. She was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and has most recently been the Coordinator for the Balkans where she has been a principal player in formulating programs to implement the Dayton Peace Accords. Ms. Ely-Raphel has been the recipient of various awards, including the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service in 1986 and 1994 and her law school's Distinguished Alumni Award. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ms. Ely-Raphel attended the University of Wurzburg and is a graduate of Syracuse University and the University of San Diego School of Law.

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