NEW YORK: The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced her resignation on Tuesday, but said she would not run for president in the 2020 presidential election and instead would campaign for President Donald Trump.

Sitting beside Mr Trump in the Oval Office, Ms Haley said her 18-month stint at the UN had been an honour of a lifetime.

Mr Trump thanked Ms Haley for her services and said she would stay on until the end of the year.

There was speculation in the local media that Ms Haley might seek office in the 2020 presidential election which she had laid to rest for the time being.

A former governor of South Carolina, Ms Haley had been an early and frequent critic of Mr Trump, so when he named her the envoy to the world body weeks after his election in November 2016, the appointment was seen as an olive branch, New York Times reported.

Ms Haley took the diplomatic job with little experience in foreign policy, but quickly became the full-throated voice at the UN for the often unpopular Trump agenda.

Ms Haley was opposed to the Iran nuclear deal and a staunch supporter of the Trump administration’s decision to cut all funds to the UN Agency for Palestinians refugees. She also led the US in bolting from the UN Human Rights Council, accusing it of bias against Washington and close ally Israel.

The daughter of immigrants from India, Ms Haley favoured free markets and global trade. Her resignation is the latest in a long line of high-profile departures from the Trump administration, such as former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who was fired in March, and Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s chief strategist, who left in August 2017.

Recognising the services of Ms Haley, President Trump said that she had done an incredible job. “She is a fantastic person, very importantly, but she also is somebody that gets it,” he was quoted as saying during his meeting with her on Tuesday.

Ms Haley informed Mr Trump around six months ago that she was thinking of quitting by the end this year.

According to sources, Ms Haley discussed her resignation with Mr Trump last week when she visited him at the White House.

AFP adds: At the recent UN General Assembly session, Ms Haley took the highly unusual step for a senior diplomat of joining street protesters against Venezuelan President Nico­las Maduro, shouting from a megaphone that the leftist leader should leave office.

However, there was embarrassment at the international diplomatic get-together when the audience in the hall burst into laughter during Mr Trump’s keynote speech, where he claimed that his government had achieved more in two years than “almost any other administration in the history of our country”.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2018