A U.S. State Department official was named on Tuesday to head the management of the United Nations as part of efforts to improve efficiency at the 60-year-old organization, reported the dpa. Christopher Bancroft Burnham will become U.N. undersecretary-general for management, succeeding Catherine Bertini, who also was a former U.S. official. The top manager post has been occupied by Americans as the U.S. is the largest financial contributor to U.N. programmes and budgets. Burnham is currently the acting Under Secretary of State for Management at the State Department, which includes overseeing diplomatic security, human resources and overseas building operations and consular affairs. He was selected by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the announcement was made by Annan's deputy, Louise Frechette. Frechette also made public a package of reform of U.N. management, which she said was the result of negative perception of the organization concerning its integrity and leadership in past year. The U.N. has been criticized for mismanagement and corruption in the oil-for-food programme and for its peacekeepers sexually exploiting female refugees under their care in Africa. --More 2337 Local Time 2037 GMT
