UNITED
NATIONS, April
24, updated --
While Romano
Prodi was
campaigning
for the
Italian
presidency
while the full
time UN envoy
on the Sahel,
Inner
City Press on
April
18 asked Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
if this was
against the
rules, a
conflict of
interest.
Ban's
spokesman Martin
Nesirky
said he wasn't
aware of it.
But
now it's clear
and admitted
that
Prodi
was running.
He issued a
statement,
after a vote,
that “the
result of the
vote and the
way
that it came
about lead me
to believe
there are no
longer the
necessary
conditions to
continue.”
If
he could no
longer
“continue,” he
has admitted
that he was
running. (We
note this
because some
say that in
Italy all he
could
do, but
didn't, was to
say not to
include his
name for
votes. But he
ran.)
So
on April 24,
Inner City
Press asked
again: what
rules applied?
Ban's
spokesman Nesirky
now said it's
now moot, and
that Prodi is
back at work
on the Sahel.
But
that's not the
point - what
rules prohibit
a UN official,
in this
case an Under
Secretary
General, from
actively
seeking a
political
post in his or
her country?
That
Prodi failed
does not
answer the
question. Can
any USG run
for
office? What
is the UN
becoming?
Update:
Article
100 of the UN
Charter
provides that
all UN staff
must "refrain
from any
action which
might reflect
on their
position as
international
officials
responsible
only to the
Organization."
Can or will
Prodi remain
as Sahel envoy?
(There
is another
exclusive
Inner City
Press published
on April 3
that is not
unrelated to
this - click
here.)Watch
this site.
, 
