The new head of the United Nations picked the Tanzanian Foreign Minister as the first woman deputy yesterday, an appointment widely regarded as a blow to flagging hopes for reform of the organisation.

Asha-Rose Migiro will become deputy secretary-general, a post previously occupied by Sir Mark Malloch Brown, who was knighted in the New Year Honours.

The appointment follows heavy pressure from African nations, led by South Africa, to put a black African in the post.

Taina Bien-Aimé, of Equality Now!, a women’s group that lobbied for a woman secretary-general, praised the choice. She said: “We are absolutely thrilled. This is excellent news and very promising for the new administration at the UN. We hope these appointments will continue and the SecretaryGeneral will reach gender parity at the UN.”

The group has complained that only 17 per cent of senior posts are held by women.

Ms Migiro was appointed Foreign Minister of Tanzania a year ago when Jakaya Kikwete, the holder of the office, was elected President. She had served six years as the Minister of Community Development and Children’s Affairs.

UN sources said that Ban Ki Moon, the new UN chief, met her when he visited Tanzania, then on the 15-nation UN Security Council, during his campaign for the top UN job last year. She will be responsible for managing the unwieldy UN bureaucracy that has been plagued by corruption and sexual abuse scandals in recent years.

Mr Ban, a former South Korean Foreign Minister who began his five-year term at the United Nations this week, has promised “bold steps” to reform the organisation but his early appointments have disappointed UN staff.

They had called on him to bring about a “fundamental change in the mindset of senior management . . . from a relationship based on dominance, disregard and fear to a real partnership.” Instead, Mr Ban named two insiders from the scandal-scarred administration of Kofi Annan, his predecessor, to key internal posts.

Alicia Bárcena, who was Mr Annan’s chief of staff, is to be under-secretary-general for management. The Mexican environmentalist is a protégée of Maurice Strong, the Canadian “Mr UN” who was forced to step down as envoy to North Korea after coming under investigation in the Oil-for-Food scandal. Ms Bárcena’s old job as chief of staff has gone to another Annan aide, Vijay Nambiar, of India.

Aid groups were also surprised by Mr Ban’s decision to appoint Sir John Holmes, the British Ambassador to France, to the UN’s top humanitarian job. Sir John is Mr Blair’s former private secretary and has twice been holiday host to the Prime Minister’s family, but has little obvious experience in emergency relief work. His appointment was seen as an effort by Mr Ban to appease Mr Blair as British influence at the UN is cut back from the Annan era.

First lady

She was born in 1956, is married and has two children

Source: Danish and Tanzanian governments

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Rio Tinto four held as China prepares case
• Diplomats must keep heads down and trousers up
• When in Rome should one make like Berlusconi?