STORY
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has announced the appointment of Helena Owen as His Majesty’s next Ambassador to the Republic of Chad. Ms Owen will succeed Ross Matthews and is due to take up her post in N’Djamena in August 2025, where she will lead the UK’s diplomatic mission during a pivotal period for regional stability and development.
A career diplomat with over 20 years’ service, Ms Owen most recently served as Deputy Head of Unit for Sudan in the Sahel, Sudan and South Sudan Department at the FCDO. In that role she coordinated complex humanitarian and development programmes across some of Africa’s most challenging environments. Before that, she was Development Counsellor in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where she drove initiatives to strengthen UK–West African trade and investment ties.