American to head key UN department says judge by actions

JAKARTA, Feb 15 (Reuters) The diplomat due to be the first American in the UN's top political affairs post today shrugged off suggestions his nationality might add to his challenges, saying he hoped to be judged by his performance.

Lynn Pascoe, the US ambassador to Indonesia, was the Bush administration's choice to succeed Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria in political affairs, a post that negotiates in a variety of crisis points around the world.

The man who will be Pascoe's new boss, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, took office only in January but has already found some of his proposed changes in the body running into problems from those who think they lean too far in favour of the United States and other rich countries.

News of Pascoe's likely appointment surfaced in early January, but the announcement was deferred when Ban wanted him to run disarmament affairs also. Developing nations objected to a nuclear power making arms decisions.

Asked about possible challenges stemming from worries about Washington's influence, Pascoe told reporters: ''I think that with the UN, like everything else, people will say things, statements will be made. Politics is that way, but the real question is the results.

Pascoe is regarded as a straight-talker with a little bit of a temper who will argue passionately for a position he has taken only after marshalling his facts, according to a State Department diplomat who has known him for years.

''He'll twist your arm but not until it breaks,'' and is not perceived as operating from political biases, said the diplomat.

In his three decades in the foreign service, Pascoe has held positions on the Soviet and China desks in the State Department and been posted to Moscow, Hong Kong and Bangkok as well as to Beijing twice. He speaks Mandarin Chinese.

His Indonesian assignment was a high-profile one as Washington sought to keep the world's most populous Muslim nation on board as a regional ally in its ''war against terror''.

On that score, Pascoe told reporters, he felt ''they have been making good progress on the counter-terrorism side''.

''There's no question about the political will (and) that the police are capable of doing a good job on this subject.'' REUTERS SP RN1924