UN undersecretary-general Ameerah Haq resigns

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Ameerah Haq is stepping down as the UN undersecretary-general in charge of providing logistics and support for the more than 100,000 UN peacekeeping troops deployed around the world. Ban Ki-moon expressed ‘tremendous gratitude’ to Haq on Tuesday ‘for her outstanding service’ during a 38-year UN career which has included a wide range of development, humanitarian and peacekeeping roles from East Timor to Sudan, Afghanistan, Malaysia and Laos. Ban did not name a replacement, and neither he nor his UN spokesman gave a reason for Haq’s sudden departure. Haq, who is from Bangladesh, was the top UN envoy in East Timor until she replaced Susana Malcorra a year ago as undersecretary-general for field support. Haq visited her native Bangladesh last month and said that US will recruit 4,000 for peacekeepers for South Sudan. She said although Bangladesh has contributed most of the troops for peacekeeping activities in South Sudan, this time all the 4000 troops will be recruited from African countries, including Kenya, according to a news agency.