NATIONAL NEWS

UN envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer to leave post in June

May 31, 2023, 11:44 AM

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang at right meets with...

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang at right meets with Noeleen Heyzer, special envoy of the secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) for Myanmar, in Beijing on Monday, May 1, 2023. Qin called for stability and a crackdown on cross-border criminal activity along the country's border with Myanmar, during an unusual visit to the volatile region on Tuesday. (Pang Xinglei/Xinhua via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Pang Xinglei/Xinhua via AP)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Noeleen Heyzer, the U.N. special envoy for conflict-torn Myanmar, will be leaving the job in June, the United Nations announced Wednesday.

She took on the job in October 2021 following the military coup in February of that year that ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and has led to widespread armed resistance.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Heyzer, a former U.N. undersecretary-general, will leave on June 12 at the end of her contract. Her nearly 20 months in the post is less than half the time of her predecessor, Christine Schraner Burgener.

On her first trip to Myanmar last August, Heyzer met the head of the military-installed government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and called on him to urgently halt all violence, support a political path back to civilian rule and democracy, and allow the imprisoned Suu Kyi to return home and to meet with her.

But the military took no action, and in a grim assessment Heyzer told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on March 16 that the impact of the military takeover has been “devastating,” with violence continuing “at an alarming scale.”

Widespread popular resistance to brutal repression by the military shows no sign of abating across much of the country, Heyzer said, and with both sides intent on winning by force “there is no prospect for a negotiated settlement.”

Dujarric said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is thankful to Heyzer “for her tireless efforts on behalf of peace and the people of Myanmar.” He said the secretary-general will appoint a new special envoy.

Heyzer, a Singaporean, served from 1994 to 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, from 2007 to 2014, a post that gave her the rank of an undersecretary-general.

National News

Associated Press

Georgia joins states seeking parental permission before children join social media

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia could join other states in requiring children younger than 16 to have their parents’ explicit permission to create social media accounts. Lawmakers on Friday gave final approval to Senate Bill 351, which also would ban social media use on school devices and internet services, require porn sites to verify users are […]

6 hours ago

Associated Press

Cranes arriving to start removing wreckage from deadly Baltimore bridge collapse

BALTIMORE (AP) — The largest crane on the Eastern Seaboard was being transported to Baltimore so crews on Friday can begin removing the wreckage of a collapsed highway bridge that has halted a search for four workers still missing days after the disaster and blocked the city’s vital port from operating. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore […]

7 hours ago

Associated Press

Georgia House approves new election rules that could impact 2024 presidential contest

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia House of Representatives on Thursday approved new rules for challenging voters and qualifying for the state’s presidential ballot that could impact the 2024 presidential race in the battleground state. The House passed Senate Bill 189 by a vote of 101 to 73. It now goes to the state Senate for […]

7 hours ago

Associated Press

Ex-Caltrain employee and contractor charged with building secret homes with public funds

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former employee of Caltrain, a mass transit system that connects Silicon Valley with San Francisco, and a former contractor for the transit agency allegedly used public funds to build two small apartments for themselves inside two train stations, authorities said Thursday. San Mateo County prosecutors charged Joseph Vincent Navarro, a […]

8 hours ago

Associated Press

Oregon city can’t limit church’s homeless meal services, federal judge rules

BROOKINGS, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that a southern Oregon city can’t limit a local church’s homeless meal services. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke found that an ordinance passed by the small city of Brookings, on the southern Oregon coast, violated the religious freedom rights of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, KGW reported. […]

8 hours ago

Associated Press

Baltimore bridge collapse puts the highly specialized role of ship’s pilot under the spotlight

The expert pilots who navigate massive ships in and out of Baltimore’s port must often maneuver with just 2 feet (0.6 meter) of clearance from the channel floor and memorize charts, currents and every other possible maritime variable. The highly specialized role — in which a pilot temporarily takes control of a ship from its […]

11 hours ago

UN envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer to leave post in June