Mark Fritz, who covered West Africa from 1993 to 1994, was named AP national writer based in New York in May, 1994.

As a correspondent in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, he has traveled extensively in Africa and covered the U.S. mission in Somalia and the ethnic massacre in Rwanda.

Fritz, 39, joined the AP in Detroit in 1984, then became correspondent in Grand Rapids, Michigan, before transferring to the International Desk in New York. In 1990, he went to East Berlin, where he covered the fall of Communism and the reunification of Germany.

He and his wife, Karyn, live in Norwalk, Connecticut.