US Secretary of State Colin Powell has resigned and the White House is due to make announcement about this matter on Monday, government officials said.
"The secretary announced to his staff this morning that he had submitted his resignation on Friday," said a State Department official, adding that Powell would stay on "until such a time as a replacement is named."
Powell, 67, becomes the latest high-level member of President George W. Bush's cabinet to announce plans to leave following the election.
Powell was often seen representing more moderate views on foreign policy in the Bush administration.
Powell is expected to go about his usual schedule, a senior administration official said. Powell was scheduled to meet later Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and was to attend a meeting of Asian officials in Chile Wednesday and a multinational conference on Iraq next week.
President Bush has chosen Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser, to be Powell's successor, a senior official said Monday.
The official announcement of the appointment will be made on Tuesday, said the official who asked not to be identified.
Stephen Hadley, deputy national security adviser, will succeed Rice in her current post.
Following the report of the resignation of Powell, the White House said that it will announce the resignations of three other members of President Bush's Cabinet on Monday.
Agriculture Secretary Ann Venneman, Education Secretary Rod Paige and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham have all submitted their resignations, a senior administration official says.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that the officials would not necessarily be leaving immediately and that their replacements would not be announced on Monday.
Together with the resignations earlier this month of Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Attorney General John Ashcroft, six of Bush's 15 Cabinet members will not be part of Bush's second term, which will begin with his inauguration Jan. 20.
(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2004)
