UNITED NATIONS (AP) – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named an American ambassador to the top U.N. political post Friday as part of a long-awaited overhaul of senior U.N. posts to start shaping his new administration.

As part of the shakeup, he also gave key jobs to officials from the United States, China, Japan and Egypt and accepted the resignation of 17 senior staff members.

The secretary-general, who took office on Jan. 1, decided to leave a number of senior U.N. officials in their jobs including Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno of France, Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel of Switzerland, and security chief David Veness of Britain.