UN chief appoints former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop as UN special envoy for Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed former Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Friday as his special envoy for Myanmar, a post that has been vacant for 10 months as the country’s conflict escalated into the worst violence since the military takeover in 2021.

Bishop will replace Noeleen Heyzer, a former U.N. undersecretary-general for Singapore who left after 20 months at the end of her contract in June 2023. In a grim assessment to the U.N. General Assembly before leaving, Heyzer said the impact of the military takeover has been “devastating,” with violence continuing “at an alarming scale.”

The nationwide armed conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.

Thousands of young people fled to jungles and mountains in remote border areas as a result of the military’s suppression and made common cause with ethnic guerrilla forces battle-hardened by decades of combat with the army in pursuit of autonomy.

Despite its great advantage in armaments and manpower, the military has been unable to quell the resistance movement. Over the past five months, the army has been routed in northern Shan state, is conceding swaths of territory in Rakhine state in the west, and is under growing attack elsewhere.

Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs Khaled Khiari told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that the intensifying conflict is having a devastating impact on human rights, fundamental freedoms and basic needs of millions of people — as well as “alarming spillover effects” in the region.

“The civilian toll keeps rising” amid reports of indiscriminate bombing by Myanmar’s armed forces and artillery shelling by various parties, Khiari said.

In announcing Bishop’s appointment, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said she “brings extensive political, legal, management and senior leadership experience to the role.”

Bishop served as Australia’s foreign minister from 2013-2018 and previously held other Cabinet positions. She was a member of the Australian Parliament from 1998 to 2019 and is currently chancellor of the Australian National University.

UN chief appoints former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop as UN special envoy for Myanmar

FILE - A resident drives motorbike to Naypyitaw International Airport as security police stand guard, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Myanmar’s main pro-democracy resistance group said Thursday, April 4, 2024, its armed wing launched drone attacks on the airport and a military headquarters in the capital, Naypyitaw, but the country’s ruling military said it destroyed or seized more than a dozen drones used in the attacks. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)

UN chief appoints former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop as UN special envoy for Myanmar

PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors said Monday they will not retry an Arizona rancher whose trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury.

The jurors in the case against George Alan Kelly were unable to reach a unanimous decision on a verdict after more than two days of deliberation. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial on April 22.

After the mistrial, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office had the option to retry Kelly — or to drop the case. Fink dismissed the case as requested by prosecutors.

Kelly could not immediately be reached for comment. His defense attorney Brenna Larkin did not immediately return a request for comment sent by email after Fink ruled.

The 75-year-old Kelly had been on trial for nearly a month in Nogales, which is on the border with Mexico. The rancher had been charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, killing of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea outside Nogales, Arizona.

Cuen-Buitimea had lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. He was in a group of men that Kelly encountered that day on his cattle ranch. His two adult daughters, along with Mexican consular officials, met with prosecutors last week to learn about the implications of a mistrial.

Prosecutors had said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men on his cattle ranch, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but argued he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.

The trial coincided with a presidential election year that has drawn widespread interest in border security. During it, court officials took jurors to Kelly’s ranch as well as a section of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Earlier, Kelly had rejected an agreement with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.

Kelly was also accused of aggravated assault of another person in the group of about eight people.

FILE - George Alan Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court in Nogales, Ariz., Feb. 22, 2023. Prosecutors headed back to court Monday, April 29, 2024, to announce whether they will retry Kelly, an Arizona rancher, after a jury deadlocked in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property near the southern U.S. border. Jurors in the case against Kelly did not reach a unanimous decision on a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial on April 22. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File)