First woman to head World Scout Movement

Marie-Louise Correa, a medical doctor from Senegal, has been elected chairman of the World Scout Committee.

Dr Correa's election marks the first time in the Scout Movement's 95-year history that a woman, and a black African, heads the worldwide organisation of 28 million boys and girls.

She has served on the World Committee for three years, and was previously chairman of the Africa Scout Region. Dr Correa is also a former government minister.

She was elected during the 36th World Scout Conference which met in Thessaloniki, Greece, earlier this month. It was attended by 1,225 participants. Delegates from 126 out of 154 member countries attended, and all 147 countries with voting rights were represented.

Malta was represented by Vincent Cassar, Chief Scout of the Scout Association.

During the conference, three countries became new members of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement: Cape Verde, Ethiopia, and the Seychelles. Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation, which became members in 2000, were welcomed to their first World Scout Conference.

The World Scout Conference, which is held every three years, is the "general assembly" of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) and the next meeting of the Conference will be held in Tunisia in 2005.