As
UN
Aid Chief Amos
Leaves, Is
Post UK's Like
France &
Peacekeeping?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 26 --
When the UN
announced on
the Wednesday
before
Thanksgiving
the departure
of
Humanitarian
Affairs chief
Baroness
Valerie Amos,
Inner City
Press asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan
Haq if the
vacancy will
be advertised
for candidates
from all
countries, or
if it is set
aside for
Amos' United
Kingdom.
Amos'
predecessor
was UK Sir
John Holmes,
just as
current UN
Department of
Political
Affairs chief
Jeffrey
Feltman's
predecessor
was American
B.
Lynn Pascoe,
now back at
the UN on the
UN
Peacekeeping
Operations
review panel.
UN
Peacekeeping
is even more
closely held,
with France
controlling it
four times in
a row, now at
a nadir with Herve
Ladsous.
Haq
insisted that
the
Humanitarian
Affairs
vacancy will
be open to
candidates
from all
regions. But
when Inner
City Press
asked if it
will be
advertised for
example in The
Economist, Haq
did not
answer.
There
have been
rumblings,
noted by Inner
City Press, of
DPA chief
Jeffrey
Feltman
leaving -- and
of the US
perhaps
trading
Political
Affairs
for
Peacekeeping.
But that
theory seems
to have been
that US State
Department
Number Three
Wendy Sherman
would move up
to William
Burns'
deputy spot,
opening her
position for
the return of
Feltman.
Now
that the Obama
administration
has put Tony
Blinken into
the State
Department
Deputy post,
as one insider
told ICP,
“Feltman stays
at
the UN.”
Even
without any
double switch,
Ladsous is
under fire
atop DPKO, not
only
for refusal
to answer
questions,
back to rapes
in Minova in
DR Congo,
but now in
Tabit in
Darfur as
well.
Haq,
like lead UN
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric on
November 26,
would not when
Inner City
Press
asked confirm
receipt of a letter,
critical of
Ladsous' DPKO,
from
Darfuri
groups, here.
Outgoing
UN Security
Council
president Gary
Quinlan of
Australia not
only confirmed
receipt of the
letter -
he circulated
it to the
other Council
members. A
press officer
of UK mission
to the UN
tells Inner
City Press, "I
can confirm
that we
received the
letter
indirectly."
We'll have more
on this, and
on Amos' work
while at the
UN, and
perhaps reason(s)
for leaving.
On
November 25,
it was Quinlan
and not Amos
who took
question after
Amos' briefing
on Syria. How
much will Amos
speak,
publicly,
before
her departure
at the end of
March? Much,
is the hope
and goal of
the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access.
Watch this
site.
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