Bill Clinton named UN special envoy for tsunami relief

Bill Clinton named UN special envoy for tsunami relief

Agence France-Presse United Nations

The United Nations confirmed on Tuesday it had offered former U.S. president Bill Clinton the job of UN special envoy for tsunami relief, and that Clinton had accepted.

"The Secretary General has indeed offered to former U.S. president Bill Clinton the position of his Special Envoy for Tsunami-affected Countries and president Clinton has accepted," a spokesman for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a brief statement.

"The Secretary General is confident that president Clinton will bring energy, dynamism and focus to the task of sustaining world interest in the vital recovery and reconstruction phase following the tsunami disaster that hit South Asia on Dec. 26 2004," the statement said.

"He (Annan) believes that no one could possibly be better qualified for this task," it added.

Annan and Clinton will make a joint appearance later this month to provide more details on Clinton's appointment when the former U.S. leader returns from a visit to the region with former U.S. president George Bush.

Clinton and his predecessor Bush have already been asked by current U.S. President George W. Bush to lead private U.S. fundraising efforts for the victims of the Dec. 26 killer waves, which left more than 289,000 people dead.

Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard said Annan wanted to name a special envoy "to keep world attention focused on the clean up and the reconstruction."

Earlier on Tuesday, Eckhard said the United Nations also wanted to "capitalize on the openings that it has afforded both Indonesia and Sri Lanka to make political advances with the rebel movements in those two countries." --AFP