United Nations: Shashi Tharoor,India's nominee in the racefor the top job in the United Nations, has been replaced asUnder-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information by Kiyotaka Akasaka of Japan.

Tharoor's replacement was announced Friday as part of areshuffle "to achieve continuity with change" by the new UNSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He namedfour new senior officials to his cabinet while retaining a dozen others.

Ban who took office on Jan 1, also named a United Statesdiplomat as chief political officer, a Chinese veteran of internationalorganizations to head economic and social affairs, and an Egyptian diplomat tooversee General Assembly management.

"In making these decisions, the Secretary-General hastaken into account various factors, among others the need to apply change withcontinuity, ongoing discussions on restructuring plans and the need to promotemobility at all levels," Ban's Chef de Cabinet, Vijay Nambiar, toldsources..

The Secretary-General "is conscious that he needs totake advantage and in a sense leverage the experience that is there; he is alsoconscious of the need to build new talent and experience," he said inresponse to questions on the selections.

Tharoor's replacement was widely expected following his lossto Ban in the race for the top UN job though the Indian author diplomat hadhimself said that "If he (Ban) feels that there is an honourable role forme, then I will continue for another period. Or if there is no meeting ofminds, I will leave and continue to support UN from outside."

His diplomatic career began in 1978, when he joined thestaff of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Separately, he had a prolificcareer as a writer, turning out nine fiction and non-fiction books. The last ofthese was 'Bookless in Baghdad'

Tharoor was among several top officials whose resignationshave been accepted. Ban had sought resignation from all Under-Secretaries-Generaland Assistant Secretaries-General to give him flexibility in choosing his team.

Tharoor, one of the six contenders in the race to succeedformer secretary general Kofi Annan,stood second in the informal fourth UNstraw poll. He got 10 votes in favour, three against - one of which was aveto-holding member - and two 'no opinions'.

Soon after the results, Tharoor announced his withdrawal andhis support for Ban who got 14 votes, including support from all five PermanentSecurity Council members.

Shashi Tharoor's successor Kiyotaka Akasaka is currentlyDeputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD). He has been closely involved throughout his career with thework of multilateral organisations.

Akasaka was Deputy Director-General in the Japanese ForeignMinistry's Multilateral Cooperation Department from 1997 to 2000, participatingas one of his country's top negotiators in the Kyoto Conference on ClimateChange and various other international conferences. Between 2000 and 2001 hewas Japan'sUN Ambassador.

He has also held posts at the Secretariat of the GeneralAgreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), precursor of the UN World TradeOrganisation (WTO), and at the UN World Health Organization (WHO). He has helda number of positions in the field of communications and public relations,serving in the Japanese Foreign Ministry as Deputy Director of the PressDivision and spokesman on climate change. He has also been deeply involved inOECD public information activities.