THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                            (McAllen, Texas)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   February 9, 2000

     PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES MICHAEL J. SENKO AS U.S. AMBASSADOR TO 
                   THE MARSHALL ISLANDS AND KIRIBATI

     The President announced today his intent to nominate Michael J.

Senko to be U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands and to the Republic of Kiribati.

Mr. Michael J. Senko, of Washington, D.C., is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor. He joined the Foreign Service in l977 and has served in a variety of overseas assignments, including the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mongolia, Belize and most recently Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he served as Deputy Chief of Mission. Mr. Senko also served in the Marshall Islands from l984 to l986 as the nation made the transition from its status as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands to Free Association with the United States.

Mr. Senko is a graduate of Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and has studied Japanese, Spanish and Russian. A Vietnam veteran, he served as a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps l969-l972.

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