Nicholas Paul Astbury

The next ambassador of Great Britain to Eritrea, Nicholas Paul Astbury, is a young 34 year old diplomat. He will replace Michael Murray in February 2006. Astbury is currently on post in Kabul, where he is the number two in the anti-drug team at the British embassy in Afghanistan. In fact, this is only the second post Astbury has held abroad and he is devoid of any professional experience on the continent of Africa. A diplomat since 1994, Astbury first worked for a year as desk officer at the European Union department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London before being sent on post to Colombo (Sri Lanka) as second secretary (1995-99). On returning to London, he headed a section of the EU department at the FCO (1999-2000) and was later appointed spokesman on EU issues at the FCO Information Department. In 2001-2002, Astbury was private secretary to the office of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of FCO, Baronness Valerie Amos (2001-02), before becoming number two at the FCO visa department in London.