Annan intends to appoint senior relief official head of UN mission in Burundi

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today proposed appointing the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Carolyn McAskie, as his Special Representative for Burundi and head of the UN operation in that country when it is launched on 1 June.

The Secretary-General stated his intention to name Ms. McAskie to the post in a letter to the President of the Security Council, who then forwarded the nomination to the rest of the 15 members under the "no-objection" rule.

Ms. McAskie, a national of Canada, has also served since January 2003 as the Secretary-General's Humanitarian Envoy for the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire. She was previously involved in Burundi as a member of the Burundi Peace Process, serving under the late ex-President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere.

Before joining the UN in 1999, Ms. McAskie spent most of her 32 years in the Canadian Government with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), becoming Assistant Deputy Minister.

In her first 15 months with the UN, she served as interim Emergency Relief Coordinator and is now deputy head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).