By LEWIS SEALE

Globe end Mail Reporter

OTTAWA - Président Hamani Diori ofNiger, one of the three key African statesmen behind. La Francophonie, will probably visit Canada this fall.

An invitation has been issued and talks are under way to set a date and lay out a program.

Mr. Diori will probably visit Québec city and Ottawa for consultations with provincial and fédéral leaders on the développement of La Francophonie, the proposed cultural commonweath of French-language nations.

He is also interested in closer contacts between the English-and French-langage nations of Africa, and he will want to be briefed on Canada’ s bilingualism policiers. This would be Mr. Diori ’ s second official visit to Canada ; he was one of about 60 foreign leaders visiting during the 1967 Centennial celebrations.

The two other leading figures, in the movement toward la francophonie have also visited canada in recent years. President Leopold Senghor of Senegal in 1966 and 1967 and President Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia in 1968.

Ottawa appears to be trying to arrange an official visit by a Francophone African leaderench year as part of its effort to strengthen links with the French-speaking world.

Mr. Diori was host of the Niamey conference inis year when a provisional secretariat headed by Montreal journalist Jea-Marc Leger was set up for La Francophonie.

Mr. Leger is to report to Mr. Diori on a draft constitution for the organization and on arrangements for a founding convention expected some-whre in Africa next year.

Canada has agreed to pay about a third of the costs of Mr, Leger ’ s secretariat and the conférence.

Globe and mail 25/7/69