Anger
at UN as Ban
Gives Africa
Post to
Egyptian, ECE
to Conflicted
Alkalaj, Kane
Disarmament as
ICP Predicted
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 8 --
After UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
replaced
his Tanzanian
deputy
Asha-Rose
Migiro with a
Swede, Jan
Eliasson, on
Thursday he
filled the
Special
Adviser on
Africa post
with Egypt's
Mubarak era
Ambassador
Maged
Abdelaziz.
Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
to respond to
criticism from
many in the
African Group,
that sub
Saharan Africa
which makes up
so
much of the UN
work and of
the agenda of
the Security
Council now
has
even less in
Ban's UN.
Nesirky said
"Africa is a
continent, and
Mr. Abdelaziz
is from the
continent of
Africa." Video
here, from
Minute 16:14.
Meanwhile
Jeffrey
Sachs, who
appears to be
Ban's real
adviser on
Africa by
"lording
it over
Migiro" as one
insider put
it, on
Thursday
answered
Inner City
Press that
"I have been
nominated by a
number of
governments to
be World Bank
President."
Inner
City Press
then asked UN
spokesman
Nesirky how UN
conflict of
interest rules
apply to a
sitting UN
Special
Adviser, who
also runs
programs and
directs
funding in
particular
countries,
actively
campaigning
and
seeking these
countries'
nominations
for top post
in the World
Bank,
part of the UN
system.
Nesirky
said "I don't
have any
comment on
Professor
Sachs and
whether or not
he is running
for the World
Bank" --
despite Sachs
having said
while right
next to him "I
have been
nominated by a
number of
governments to
be World Bank
President."
In
fact, as Inner
City Press reported
last week,
Maged
Abdelaziz has
also been
charged
with a
conflict of
interest, for
example speaking
in the General
Assembly in
support of
Ban's
position, days
before being
given the
Special
Adviser on
Africa job by
Ban.
How
long ago did
Maged apply?
Another
African
diplomat told
Inner City
Press angrily
that at least
"Maged should
have sent his
deputy to
speak in the
GA... this was
like singing
for his
supper." But
this is how it
works, or
doesn't, in
Ban's UN.
When
Ban last week
announced the
replacement of
Tanzania's
Migiro,
Nesirky took
questions on
other topics
but none
from Inner
City Press. On
March 8, he
tried again to
avoid the
question,
saying "last
question" as
he pointed to
another
journalist. Video
here, from
Minute 15:36.
Then he tried
to limit Inner
City Press to
one question,
despite
allowing
others
repeated
follow ups.
This too is
Ban's UN.
Confirming
something
Inner City
Press reported
last month,
German Angela
Kane was
given the UN
Disarmament
job, over
the Permanent
Representatives
of
Peru and the
Philippines,
who worked
himself hoarse
chairing
another
disarmament
related event.
But as one
insider put
it, "German
had to have a
seat, and
Angela turned
down some
other jobs."
The
post at the UN
Economic
Commission for
Europe went
not to another
German, Franz
Baumann "or
bigger," but
to Bosnian
Sven Alkalaj.
But
there's
a problem,
or more
than one:
"Bosnian
Foreign
Minister Sven
Alkalaj faced
to step down
for breaching
decrees of the
Law of
Conflict of
Interest,
the Election
Commission
said in the
capital
Sarajevo
Thursday. An
investigation
by the
commission
revealed
that...
Alkalaj was a
paid member of
the
supervisory
board of the
VGT insurance
company of
Visoko, which
did
business with
government
bodies."
But
this is Ban's
UN -- perhaps
this formal
investigation
for "breaching
decrees
of the Law of
Conflict of
Interest"
were counted
by Ban as in
Alkala's
favor. But in
light of
Nesirky's
claim that the
due diligence
was
"rigorous,"
beyond the
investigation
for conflict
of interest
how about
this video?
Others say the
the Eastern
European Group
didn't
fully sign off
on this
appointment.
So Ban has
rebuffed the
African
Group, and the
Eastern
European
Group. Who's
next?
A
well placed
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press,
shaking his
head,
that Ban's
belated "fix"
will be to
"name a black
African to
DFS," the
Department of
Field Support
post being
vacated by
Susana
Malcorra. Too
little, too
late, said
another. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
as
Inner City
Press reported
yesterday, to
replace Kane
at the
Department of
Management,
Yukio Takasu
is the
Japanese
candidate.
In
this game of
musical chairs
of Ban
Ki-moon, it's
better to not
like
Africa get
left without a
chair....
One
of the UN
Secretariat's
better
officials,
Fink Haysom,
is as Inner
City Press
first reported
going to
Afghanistan as
the Deputy.
He
stood up for
things he
believed in,
and cared
about them,
increasingly
rare in the
North Lawn
building where
he will be
missed.
We wish him
well: the UN
needs more
people like
him.
, 
