30804: (news) Chamberlain: New UN envoy for Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Evelyn Leopold

     UNITED NATIONS, July 27 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
appointed a new top envoy for Haiti on Friday in shuffling posts of two
veteran officials in the U.N. peacekeeping department.
     Hedi Annabi, a Tunisian, will go to Haiti to head the U.N. mission
there. Annabi, 63, who joined the world body in 1981, is currently the U.N.
assistant secretary-general in the peacekeeping department in charge of
operations, including the new joint United Nations-African Union force for
Darfur.
     Ban had put Annabi on a list in February of U.N. officials who had
been with the organization for many years and should retire but he did not
name a replacement.
     Jean-Marie Guehenno, the head of peacekeeping, fought to keep Annabi
as long as feasible, U.N. officials said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
     Annabi swaps jobs with Edmond Mulet of Guatemala, who is now head of
the Haiti mission that includes 7,200 troops and 1,500 police to help keep
the peace in the Caribbean nation.
     Mullet, a lawyer and former journalist, was a lawmaker for 12 years in
Guatemala and served as ambassador to the European Union and the United
States.