As
Brahimi Plays
Nobel Lotto,
Questions of
Algeria
Bombing, Annan
Holdovers
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 17 --
With 78 year
told Lakhdar
Brahimi
gearing up to
replace Kofi
Annan as Syria
envoy or
Representative
on September
1,
there are
obvious
questions
about whether
he will keep
in place the
team of "Seven
Million Dollar
Man" Annan.
As
Inner City
Press exclusively
reported,
Annan brought
on people
associated
with his Kofi
Annan
Foundation
such as Alan
Doss, who was
then described
by Annan
spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi as
being in his
"toolbox" of
consultants,
and Martin
Griffiths,
under whose
leadership the
Center for
Humanitarian
Dialogue in
Geneva
suffered a
financial
scandal.
As
well placed UN
sources
pointed out to
Inner City
Press,
Griffiths
could not have
been hired by
the UN, but
received a
UN-funded six
month contract
for Kofi
Annan's term.
And now?
Brahimi
on
Friday gave
what was
described as
his first
interview as
Joint
Special
Representative
(designate) to
French state
media France
24,
seemingly not
calculated to
bridge the gap
with Russia
and China on a
day that
another French
(largely)
state media
characterized
the
Western P3
members of the
Security
Council and at
least three of
our
Arab invitees
as
"boycotting" Russia's
hastily
scheduled
Action Group
meeting at the
UN.
Another
lens
through which
to view or
review Lakhdar
Brahimi was
his 2008
mandate to
investigate
the killing of
UN staff in
Algiers.
On
February
28, 2008
Brahimi told
Inner City
Press, "the UN
doesn't
have to be in
every single
place."
Inner
City Press had
asked UN
Development
Program's
Administrator
Kemal
Dervis about
UNDP's Mark de
Bernis'
failure to get
action on
security
threats that
mounts
throughout
2007. Dervis
defended UNDP
by saying
that it asked
Algeria for
help in
blocking off
the street,
but that
there was no
response. So
Inner City
Press asked
Brahimi,
former
Algerian
foreign
minister,
about this. "I
have heard
that,"
he said. "We
will look into
that...
whether
Algerians were
over-confident,
or UNDP."
But
the question
was never
answered. Now
Brahimi
plays Nobel
Peace Prize
lotto with
Syria.
Will there be
more follow
through this
time?
Timing is
everything.
Watch this
site.
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