Odile Leroux

I remember Odile Leroux as an engaging personality, totally devoted to African affairs.

I knew her in the late 70s when I was on the French desk in London, in charge of the African file in French, and she dealt with African affairs from Paris.

Her articles and her analyses on African events were well-informed and appreciated. But she had her pride and so was very sensitive to the way her articles were edited.

Later, when I was transferred to the Paris bureau, I found her a helpful colleague who was proud of her contacts among African leaders.

She claimed then, as a joke, that she had even once sat on the late Ivory Coast President Houphouet-Boigny’s knees.

Africa was the focus of her working life; her other passion was her native Brittany. ■