UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "is confident that President Clinton will bring energy, dynamism and focus to the task of sustaining world interest in the vital recovery and reconstruction phase" following the December 26 disaster, a statement issued by the world body said.

"He (Annan) believes that no one could possibly be better qualified for this task."

Clinton, in a statement said he looked forward to serving in the post and would have more to say after visiting the tsunami-hit Indian Ocean rim nations later this month.

Meanwhile the number of people presumed dead in last month's Asian tsunamis rose to more than 289,000 on Tuesday, with Indone-sian authorities announcing a further increase in the number of dead and missing.

Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis, with a total 236,012 people listed as dead or missing, the health ministry said.

A health ministry official said the missing would only be confirmed dead after one year.

Thailand's toll remained at 5,393 confirmed dead. A further 3,071 people were listed as missing, more than 1,000 of them foreigners.

The toll in Sri Lanka, which was second hardest hit by the catastrophe, stood at 30,957, according to the Centre for National Operations.

The number of people listed as missing was 5,637, but many were expected to be among those never formally identified, hurriedly buried and included in the confirmed death toll.

Myanmar has said 61 people were killed in the tsunami, against an estimated 90 deaths according to the United Nations.

At least 82 people were killed and another 26 were missing in the Maldives.

Sixty-eight people were dead in Malaysia, most of them in Penang, according to police, while Bangladesh reported two deaths.

Fatalities also occurred on the east coast of Africa, where 298 people were declared dead in Somalia, 10 in Tanzania and one in Kenya.