GENEVA, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has postponed until April the selection of a new chief after its board failed to reach consensus on a candidate, it said on Thursday. The United Nations-backed fund, one of the main financiers of efforts to fight the killer scourges, had been due at a meeting in Guatemala to choose one of 5 short-listed names to replace outgoing executive director Richard Feachem. The candidates were Jim Kolbe, a Republican congressman from Arizona, French AIDS envoy Michel Kazatchkine, MTV Network International President Bill Roedy, UNAIDS official Michel Sidibe from Mali and Hilda Johnson, Norway's former minister for international development. "It is wide open again," Global Fund spokesman Nicolas Demey said, without elaborating on the differences among board members over the candidates to succeed Feachem, whose term ends in March. AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria kill an estimated 6 million people a year, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. The Global Fund, whose board includes representatives of donor and recipient governments as well as non-governmental groups, has committed $6.4 billion in grants to 135 countries, including $604 million approved so far at this week's meeting.
