Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick quits-officials

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will announce his resignation today for a post in the private sector, after focusing on China and Sudan in the No. 2 job at the department, U.S. officials said.

Zoellick, a former U.S. Trade Representative before moving to the State Department in February, had been tipped as a candidate to take over as Treasury Secretary but he did not get the job.

''He is going to announce that he will be stepping down. It's a good time for him to leave as he is into his sixth year in the administration,'' said a senior U.S. official, who declined to be named as he did not want to upstage the official announcement at 0900 hrs.

The official said Zoellick would leave in July for his new position in the private sector. For several months, Zoellick has been speaking to Wall Street firms about moving to a more lucrative position there.

Before joining the State Department in February 2005, Zoellick served as U.S. Trade Representative where he completed negotiations to bring China and Taiwan into the World Trade Organisation.

Several sources said recently it had been hard for Zoellick to accept his second-term appointment to a No. 2 post, even though it was for a State Department job where he had considerable independence.

Last month, he played a pivotal role in getting the main rebel groups in Sudan's western Darfur region to sign a peace agreement after talks had dragged on for years in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make the announcement, but she is not expected to indicate who will replace Zoellick, another U.S. official said.

Reuters SHB DB1834