Mexico, Nov 18: The Mexican envoy to the United Nations, who has complained that the United States viewed his country as "a backyard," will be removed from his job, foreign minister Luis Ernesto Derbez said. Ambassador Aguilar Zinser will leave his post at the beginning of next year, when Mexico's membership in the UN Security Council ends, Derbez told reporters.

"We have made a decision that he will be relieved of his post on January 1," he added.

Derbez took no questions from reporters and did not mention who might replace Zinser, who was appointed UN ambassador in January 2002. The announcement followed intense, 10-hour consultations at the foreign ministry where Zinser was summoned following a recent speech that drew sharp rebukes from US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Mexican President Vicente Fox.

According to the Mexican news agency Notimex and some newspapers, Zinser told a university audience that the United States wanted a "relationship of convenience and subordination" with Mexico.

The United States does not regard Mexico in the same way it does European nations, he reportedly said, adding, "it sees us as a backyard." Bureau Report