US diplomat Feltman named new UN political chief
Jun 11, 2012, 5:01 PM
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Jeffrey Feltman, who just stepped down as the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, as the new U.N. political chief.
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky on Monday announced the appointment of Feltman, who joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1986 and rose to be Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
Feltman will replace another American diplomat, B. Lynn Pascoe, who has been the U.N.’s undersecretary-general for political affairs for more than five years.
Feltman, who speaks Arabic, French and Hungarian, guided U.S. policy through the tumult of the Arab uprisings in his most recent post.
He previously served as ambassador to Lebanon and in diplomatic posts in Iraq, Israel, Tunisia, Hungary and Haiti.
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