UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed on Friday diplomats
from China, the United States, Japan and Egypt as new
under-secretaries-general, and accepted meanwhile resignations of
17 senior officials as a step forward for his long-waited
administration.
Sha Zukang, permanent representative of China to the UN office
at Geneva, was named as under-secretary-general for the UN
Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Over his 37 years of
diplomatic career, his portfolios cover a wide range of fields
including security, economy, social affairs, human rights and
humanitarian affairs.
Sha Zukang (file
photo)
B. Lynn Pascoe, US ambassador to Indonesia since November 2004,
was appointed as under-secretary-general for the UN Department of
Political Affairs. Pascoe, 64, previously served as US ambassador
to Malaysia before he took up duties as deputy assistant secretary
for European and Eurasian affairs at the US State Department. He
has also been posted to Moscow, Hong Kong, and Bangkok, as well as
to Beijing twice.
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Meantime, Ban named Kiyotaka Akasaka of Japan, currently deputy
secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, as undersecretary-general for public information, and
Egyptian Ambassador Muhammad Shaaban, a personal assistant to
Egypt's foreign minister, as undersecretary general for General
Assembly and conference management.
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Vijay Nambiar, Ban's chief of staff who announced Friday's
appointments, said "in making these decisions, the
secretary-general has taken into account various factors, among
others the need to apply change with continuity, ongoing
discussions on restructuring plans and the need to promote mobility
at all levels."
He said the secretary-general "is conscious that he needs to
take advantage and in a sense leverage the experience that is
there; he is also conscious of the need to build new talent and
experience," adding that there will be other appointments for
senior officials in the near future through a consultative
process.
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Nambiar also informed the reporters that Ban accepted
resignations of several under-secretaries-general, including Chen
Jian of China, who are now in charge of General Assembly and
conference management, Shashi Tharoor of India for public
information, Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria for political affairs,
Nobuaki Tanaka of Japan for disarmament, and Jose Antonio Ocampo of
Colombia for economic and social affairs.
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However, Ban decided to leave some senior UN officials in their
jobs, including Jean-Marie Guehenno of France as head of
peacekeeping, David Veness of Britain as head of safety and
security, and Nicholas Michel of Switzerland as legal counsel.
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Ban required all the senior UN officials to voluntarily offer
their resignation days after he took the office on Jan. 1 so as to
pave the way for his own team.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)
