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At UN, Lockheed Lute to Head PBC, Spain Eyed for
Safety, How Will Irish Legal Chief Compare?
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
August 7 -- If at the UN you push
for a $250 million no-bid set-aside for
a
military contractor from your own country, then decline
accountability even
while the
contractor under-performs, what happens? Apparently, you
get a new Assistant
Secretary General job.
On August 7
it was confirmed that Jane Holl Lute, who actively pushed for
Lockheed Martin to be given
$250 million on a "sole source" basis to build peacekeeping camps in
Darfur, will be the new ASG for Peace-building. This should present many opportunities, what
with the Peacebuilding Fund -- coincidentially, a $250 million fund, video here
-- and projects already in Burundi, Sierra Leone,
Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic and Cote d'Ivoire. Lockheed's
Pacific
Architects & Engineers subsidiary, before flaming
out in Darfur, was found by the UN to have over-billed
in the
Congo, and is reputed to have provided services to
Charles Taylor and others of his ilk. In the PBC's portfolio there will
be many
such chances.
It is interesting
to note that those who are usually concerned with mis-management at the
UN have
been strikingly silent on l'affaire Lockheed and Ms. Lute's documented
role in it. It is
perhaps for this reason that statements like "it had to be no-bid
because the
UN only knew in July 2007 it had to take over at the end of the year"
have
not been seen through. But Ms. Lute pushed Lockheed, in writing,
in April 2007, before the
Security Council's July
2007 UNAMID resolution.
Jane Holl Lute and George Clooney, one of them is "not a fan of no-bid
contracts"
Ms.
Lute's insistence on Lockheed's PAE was objected to
by the UN Controller, by the Headquarters
Committee on Contracts, and ultimately by the General
Assembly, which called for an investigation by the Office of
Internal Oversight Services, the results of which have yet to be
released. Throughout all this, Ms. Lute
saw no need to publicly explain her actions until after actor
George Clooney told Inner City Press, in front of Ms. Lute and over
her objection, that "I
am not a fan of no-bid contracts." In other
circumstances there would be a hue and cry.
Here,
there is only surprise that
Lute didn't get a larger promotion,
to Under Secretary General for Safety and Security.
Having another American USG might have been
too much, even for Ban Ki-moon. The DSS post is being held for another
country.
At Thursday noon briefing, beyond asking for a Lockheed Martin pull-out
of
Darfur update that was not given, Inner City Press asked for a second
time
about Ban Ki-moon's meeting in Mexico City earlier this week with
Spain's vice
president. The Spanish media reported that, along with again providing
assurances about a Valencia Peacekeeping base which the General
Assembly has
still not approved, Ban asked Spain's vice president to nominate one of
her
countrymen for the Safety and Security post, "since Spain has been a
victim of terrorism."
Spokesperson Michele Montas replied that Ban has
sought nominations for
the post from many, many countries. But, Inner City Press asked, does
he make
up a "this is why you're being asked" rationale for each country?
And why,
some are wondering, was Ireland given the UN's chief legal job this
week?
Friends of the departed Nicolas Michel say that he grumbled, as he
left, about
being asked to sign off on dubious contracts. Will his replacement be
even more
pliant?
Footnote: in more
transition news, the previous and founding UN
Peacebuilding director Carolyn McAskie, in her farewell press
conference on
July 31, told Inner City Press that Guinea-Bissau is awash in drugs --
soon to
be echoed by drug-fighting contracts, surely -- and that Somalia may
not be
ready. She said that in the future, member states and presumably her
successor should
develop rules and criteria for its agenda. Video here,
at Minute 38:52. We'll
see.
Watch this site.
And
this --
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