As
Ban
Names Kubis
Afghan Envoy,
Of Kyrgyz
Accountability
&
Maxwell's
Murder
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 23 --
With Staffan
de Mistura
leaving his
post as
UN envoy to
Afghanistan,
there's been
speculation
about who
would
replace him.
On November 22
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
to confirm
what Hamid
Karzai's
office said,
that Ban had
called and
notified
Karzai of the
identify
of de
Mistura's
successor.
Nesirky
replied, "
I can confirm
there was a
phone call,
but I can’t
tell you
anything
about the
nature of the
phone call. If
I have any
more details,
for
example, on
any
announcement
on staffing,
then I’ll let
you know."
On
November 23,
the day before
US
Thanksgiving,
past 5 pm
Nesirky's
office told
the
dwindling
press corps
over the UN's
intercom
system that de
Mistura's
successor had
just been
named. It is
Jan Kubis, who
among other
things became
involved in
Kyrgystan
after the the
political and
ethnic chaos.
(Click
here for
Inner City
Press' November
22 interview
with outgoing
Kyrgyz
president Roza
Otunbayeva.)
Kubis has
previously
served, among
other posts,
as Slovak
foreign
minister and
as head of the
UN Economic
Commission for
Europe.
When de
Mistura after
bragging to
Richard
Holbrooke that
he had the
Afghan job
then
temporarily
said he
wouldn't take
it, along with
Jean-Marie
Guehenno and
Ian Martin
(now in
Libya), Jan
Kubis was in
mix, reported
at the time by
Inner City
Press, for the
Kabul job. And
now he has it.
It's a small
world or at
least, for the
UN, a small
bench.
There
are several
accountability
issues that
come to mind.
It is not
clear if Kubis'
involvement
in Kyrgyzstan
had any impact
on the lack of
accountability
to date for
violence,
mostly against
Uzbeks, in mid
2010.
(c) UN Photo
Ban &
Kubis,
accountability
for Uzbeks and
Maxwell not
shown
While
de Mistura
repeatedly
told
Inner City
Press he was pushing for
accountability
for the
murder, by
Afghan
national
forces, of UN
staffer Louis
Maxwell,
now de Mistura
is leaving and
nothing has
been done.
Will
it, under
Kubis? Watch
this site.
, 
