On
Syria,
as Annan
Deputy
Guehenno Takes
French Post,
Replacement
Doubts
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 15 -- As
envoy to
Syria, Kofi
Annan selected
as his
deputy
Jean-Marie
Guehenno, who
until then was
serving as
France's
representative
on the UN
Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
Once
Guehenno
accepted the
post as
Annan's
deputy, he
gave up his
post for
France's
governement on
the SAG, where
as
reported
by Inner City
Press
he was
replaced by
Nicolas de la
Riviere.
On
July
13 French
president Francois
Holland named
Guehenno to
another
post in his
government,
to chair a
committee to
write a white
paper
on defense and
security.
It seems clear
Guehenno will
have to leave
his post with
Annan, for
which he had
been given a
six month
contract. (How
many of the
money has been
and will be
paid or
returned
remains to be
seen.)
What
does
this mean for
Annan's
mission? His
other,
subsequently
named
co-deputy Al
Kidwa has
never been
allowed into
Syria by the
Assad
government, as
he was
nominated by
the Arab
League.
While
Annan
spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi
resisted Inner
City Press'
questions
about who was
being employed
-- among them
disgraced
former Congo
envoy Alan
Doss, exposed
for asking
UNDP to break
its rules and
give
a job to his
daughter and
then allowing
the person
whose job was
taken to be
prosecuted --
is seems
impossible
that an
announcement
about Guehenno
and any
replacement
will be be
made public.
Whistleblowing
sources
have raised to
Inner City
Press that
another
controversial
member of
Annan's team,
one who left a
Geneva based
NGO after
millions went
missing, has a
close family
member
employed in
the Kofi
Annan
Foundation,
about which
Fawzi has
refused to
answer
questions,
and which
itself does
not answer.
On Ban
Ki-moon's and
Guehenno's
successor
twice removed
Herve Ladsous'
Senior
Advisory Group
on Pecekeeping
Operations,
Guehenno
served
alongside
alleged war
criminal Sri
Lankan general
Shavendra
Silva, who is
depicted in
Ban's own
Experts'
report as
engaged in
shelling
hospitals.
Guehenno never
spoke out
about it, and
Ladsous has
refused to
answer Press
questions
about this and
other topics.
Watch this
site.
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