American Appointed to Head U.N. Political Affairs

An American was appointed to head U.N. political affairs on Friday after the United States vied for the first time to hold the post that negotiates agreements in a variety of crisis points around the world, the United Nations announced.

B. Lynn Pascoe, the current U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia was the Bush administration's choice to succeed Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria, a post that Britain had occupied for decades before Gambari took over. His name had leaked weeks ago.

The United States usually headed administration and management but decided to seek a political post this year.

Among other appointments, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Kiyotaka Akasaka of Japan as the U.N. undersecretary-general for communications and public information to succeed Shashi Tharoor of India, a veteran U.N. employee and author.