Reuters hires Zavis as Africa bureau chief

Reuters announced Wednesday that Alexandra Zavis has been hired as Africa bureau chief.

Zavis will lead an African news gathering team, which has been expanding in the last 18 months.

She joins Reuters from the Los Angeles Times, where she has reported from five continents since 2006, from Canada and Mexico to Syria and the Philippines.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining Reuters in Africa,” said Zavis in a statement. “This will be a return to my journalistic roots, and I look forward to working with the talented team there to expand coverage of this complex and dynamic continent.”

Her career began at a South African newspaper in South Africa in 1994, the year the country held its first all-race election. After joining the Associated Press she reported on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the drafting of its new constitution before serving a stint at home in the United States, first as a reporter in Illinois and then as an editor on the International Desk in New York.

In 1999 she moved to West Africa to cover war and peace making, politics, economics and culture. She also served as the AP’s news editor in Johannesburg and covered the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In addition to the creation of new Pan-African roles in business and mining and additional reporters in Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi, Reuters has added an African columnist to its financial commentary service Breakingviews.