Mr. Bishow Parajuli

May 25, 2008
UN appoints new head of Myanmar operations
YANGON - THE United Nations announced on Sunday the appointment of diplomat Bishow Parajuli as its country head for Myanmar, replacing Charles Petrie who was abruptly expelled by the junta last year. The newly-appointed representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) will coordinate the work of all UN agencies in Myanmar, spokesman Aye Win told reporters. The appointment of Parajuli, a Nepalese national who previously served as director of the UN's World Food Programme in Egypt, was announced in the junta's daily newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar. 'Mr Bishow Parajuli ... presented his credentials to U Nyan Win, Minister for Foreign Affairs,' the newspaper said. The junta announced in November that it would not renew Petrie's mission, leaving the isolated country without a permanent UN head for six months. Mr Petrie's removal came during international pressure on the junta to reform after it violently crushed mass anti-government protests in late September, killing at least 31 people, the UN has estimated. The junta announced his expulsion after Mr Petrie released a statement warning of a 'deteriorating humanitarian situation' in the country formerly known as Burma. Mr Parajuli, who has 25 years experience managing humanitarian and development programmes, was appointed after long negotiations between the UN and the junta on who would replace Mr Petrie. 'This is somebody that the Burmese military is comfortable with,' said Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo. 'The Burmese military didn't want another Charles Petrie, that's for sure.' The junta was pushing for a non-Western resident representative and the UN wanted a representative with enough experience to fill the job, analysts said. 'On paper, he (Parajuli) sounds pretty good - being Asian and experienced with the World Food Programme,' said Human Rights Watch's Dave Mathieson. 'He's got an enormous challenge ahead of him to coordinate relief efforts after the cyclone, reconstruction and to completely rehabilitate operations of the UN inside Burma and keep good relations' with the junta. UN agencies and about 50 countries opened a donor conference in Yangon on Sunday to raise money for Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis. Delegates were expected to press the junta to make good on a promise to allow in foreign aid workers. The May 2-3 storm left more than 133,000 people dead or missing. The United Nations says less than half of the 2.4 million people needing emergency international aid have received any assistance. -- AFP