LITTLE ROCK—An Arkansan has been named by President Bush to serve as ambassador to the African nation of Congo.

Alan Eastham, 56, has been ambassador to Malawi since 2005 and has worked for the State Department since 1975. Bush chose Eastham for the new post last week, and the Senate must confirm the appointment.

The African nation became a democracy in 1991. Currently, millions of people have been displaced by fighting in eastern Congo. This week, the U.N. Security Council will be in the African nation to encourage the fragile democracy as the country heads toward next year’s local elections.

Eastham said in an e-mail Friday to the Arkansas News Bureau in Washington that he could not discuss the nomination because it had not been officially forwarded yet to the Senate. If confirmed, he likely would preside over the completion of a new U.S. embassy compound in Congo.

The U.S. embassy was evacuated during a 1997 war but U.S-Congo relations were re-established four years later.

Eastham, a native of Dumas, graduated from Hendrix College in Conway and holds a law degree from Georgetown University. His wife Carolyn is from Morrilton. He has served stints in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Zaire and Pakistan.

Eastham began his foreign service career on a whim, according to his brother Craig Eastham.

Alan Eastham was manager of a Pine Bluff radio station owned by his father. He learned from a public service announcement played by the station that the State Department was seeking foreign service professionals, his brother said. He took a written test in Little Rock a few days later and was offered a job.