'India to name Shashi Tharoor as Annan's successor'

Singapore, June 15 : India is set to nominate U.N. Undersecretary-General Shashi Tharoor to succeed Kofi Annan when the U.N. chief's second five-year term expires at the end of this year, Singapore's Straits Times newspaper reported today.

''An announcement is imminent,'' the daily quoted a senior source in New Delhi as saying.

Tharoor, 50 this year, began his U.N. career in 1978 and currently heads the UN's Department of Public Information. Born in London, and educated in India and the United States, he is the author of several books.

China, which took the presidency of the U.N. Security Council in April, insists the next U.N. chief should come from Asia.

Others Asians in the running for the post of U.N.

secretary-general include South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Sri Lankan diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala.

The last Asian secretary-general was U Thant of Burma, now called Myanmar, who served from 1961 to 1971.

Tharoor won support for his bid from the government after meetings in April with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi and National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, high level-sources in India told The Straits Times.

Reuters