Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is still considering the appointment of a full-time replacement for the UN’s special envoy to Burma, his spokesperson said in New York on Thursday. The role is currently held on an interim basis by Ban’s chief of staff, the former Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar, who took over the role more than a year ago.

The Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was quoted earlier this month saying that she wanted an envoy to be appointed as soon as possible. 

She told Radio Free Asia on March 4: ‘I think that if a responsible person is appointed full time to properly monitor Burma in depth, then the secretary-general will be apprised of the exact situation in Burma.  That is why I am hoping that such a full-time person will be appointed as soon as possible.”

The UN spokesperson responded to a question about Suu Kyi’s desire for a new Burma envoy saying that both Suu Kyi and various UN- member states who are part of the Friends of Myanmar group have called for a full-time envoy. 

‘The secretary-general has said he has taken note of these ideas, and he will reflect on them and take them into account’, said the spokesperson.

Three months ago both the British and Mexican ambassadors to the UN told Inner City Press reporter Matthew Russell Lee that they wanted the secretary-general to quickly find a replacement for Nambiar.

Suu Kyi’s reference to wanting a ‘responsible person’ in the role of Burma envoy may have been a reference to her refusal to meet Nambiar’s Nigerian predecessor Ibharim Gambari on at least one occasion.  Gambari, who served as Ban’s special envoy to Burma while Suu Kyi was under house arrest, previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the UN during the rule of military dictator Sani Abacha.