Former US President Bill Clinton has been chosen as a special UN envoy to ensure the reconstruction effort for the Asian tsunami victims remains a high-profile operation, UN diplomats said on Tuesday. "The secretary-general (Kofi Annan) wants to make sure that once the television cameras leave the world will not forget the victims," said one envoy. UN spokesman Fred Eckhard refused to confirm or deny the appointment but said an announcement "on the subject" would be made later in the day.

Clinton is currently raising money for victims of the December 26 disaster that killed nearly 300,000 people and left many more homeless when a quake and deadly waves struck the shores of Indian Ocean nations.

President George W. Bush chose Clinton and his father, former President George Bush, to head a non-governmental fund-raising effort in the United States that has included travelling around the country.

Copyright Reuters, 2005