MTV executive among finalists for Global Fund chief

GENEVA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - A Republican congressman, France's AIDS ambassador and a music video executive were among those shortlisted today to lead the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a well-placed source said.

Created in 2002 at the urging of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Geneva-based Fund is one of the principal financiers for fighting the killer scourges. It has so far committed .5 billion across 132 countries.

Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe, French AIDS envoy and former Global Fund vice-chairman Michel Kazatchkine and MTV Network International president Bill Roedy were amongst finalists whose names were distributed to board members ahead of an October 31 meeting in Guatemala, the source told Reuters.

The other two candidates to replace British outgoing executive director Richard Feachem, who is retiring, are UNAIDS official Michel Sidibe from Mali and Hilda Johnson, Norway's former minister for international development.

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