UN appoints new envoy for Myanmar

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday announced the appointment of former U.N. undersecretary-general Noeleen Heyzer of Singapore as the new U.N. special envoy for conflict-torn Myanmar, Report informs, referring to Washington Post.

She will succeed Christine Schraner Burgener of Switzerland, whose 3½ years in the post saw moves toward democracy dashed in a military takeover of the Southeast Asian nation last February that led to nationwide protests. Her term ends Sunday.

Heyzer served in 1994-2007 as executive director of UNIFEM, one of the forerunners of the umbrella U.N. organization for women known as UN Women. She was the first woman to serve as executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, in 2007-2014, a post that gave her the rank of an undersecretary-general.