Nicholas Burns resigns

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 18:16 GMT]
US Undersecretary of Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, U.S.’s third-ranking diplomat and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s right-hand man, is stepping down from his position for personal reasons, according to Washington media.

Ms. Rice is expected to recommend William J. Burns, the United States ambassador to Russia, to replace him as under secretary of state for political affairs, according to administration officials, New York Times said.

As Washington's key diplomat in articulating U.S's policy in Sri Lanka, Burns said in 2006, "We hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun. Now, we understand the Tamil community here has legitimate grievances, and legitimate issues that ought to be addressed by the government. And there out to be a dialogue, a better dialogue, between the government and the Tamil community."

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