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By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UN GATE, May 11 – UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay’s efforts to antagonize member states took another dimension over the last two days. For DG Azoulay, ruling with no oversight and accountability the UN agency is a priceless advantage in campaigning for her reelection, just like the fish rot spreading this rot, Antonio Guterres.

   To that end, the efforts by the French to sabotage the Chair of the Executive Board, Mr Agapito Mba Mokuy, reached today another political level. 

As exposed by ICP, here, the showdown at UNESCO is getting nastier every day, and the Director of the Cabinet of Azoulay, Nicolas Kacyanides spent his weekend working to make sure that at least some African states are on the French side for defending the undefendable position of paralyzing the work of the governing body.  

   “We will emasculate him”, reportedly said Kacyanides in essence, speaking about Mr. Agapito Mba Mokuy, in a meeting last week with Sachin Bhatt and few other Cabinet members. And so, the “emasculation” operation was put in motion over the weekend.

Together with the friendly ambassadors of Senegal, Tunisia, Jordan and Ethiopia, and capably assisted by the Director of Legal Affairs, Santiago Villalpando, Kacyanides delineated the plan to ruin once and for all the legitimate endeavor by the African Chair of the Executive Board to organize, as requested by many member states, the holding of a Board meeting later this month.

Today, Monday afternoon Paris time, in a meeting of the African members of the Executive Board, the three countries Senegal, Tunisia and Ethiopia are expected to defend the position of Azoulay and argue that conditions are not met for having a Board meeting convened.  

“The political interference of Kacyanides in this delicate ambassadorial process clearly deserves an immediate dismissal from the organization”, said a diplomatic source close to the negotiations to Inner City Press – “such uncontrollable immersion in the internal affairs of member states is a breach of all rules applicable to international civil servants”.

Obviously, Nicolas Kacyanides never understood what it actually means to be a UN staff and will remain a French national civil servant until moving back to Quai d’Orsay later this year.  Still, by behaving as a representative of France, working on influencing member states hand in hand with the French ambassador Roger-Lacan, Kacyanides is taking a big risk. His constant accumulation of administrative and political errors is one thing, attempting to split the African group and to destabilize the Chair of the Executive Board is a different kettle of fish.

His boss Azoulay, although a compatriot, will have no choice but to sack him some say if member states decide to protest against his severe misconduct over the last few days. Others say there is no corruption too great for the UN.

“This situation in the Cabinet of the DG is by far without any precedent in the history of UNESCO”, said another internal source to Inner City Press. “With Audrey Azoulay and her French team, the organization hit the rock bottom and instead of going back up, started digging its grave”.  The tension will remain palpable between Azoulay and the governing bodies unless she is put rapidly in her place.

“She is freaking out at the idea to have any control enforced over her autocratic management of UNESCO, panicking at the idea that her private shop can be inspected or scrutinized by member states”, underscored a UNESCO staff member close to the Cabinet. “Panicking at the slightest prospect that her total power can be restrained instead of being amplified in order to prepare next year’s reelection in the most non-transparent way possible and by eliminating occasions for criticism and disclosure of major managerial errors, corruption and abuses of power”.  

 The usual sermonizers from the European Union are obviously putting aside they big principles and will gladly keep protecting the French DG of UNESCO despite all the corruption and embezzlement schemes exposed and despite her absurd administrative decisions ruining the UN Agency. EU countries are OK even with the fact that Madam Azoulay never accepted that the Constitution is not allowing for a monarchy-type management of UNESCO.

For two years now she was allowed to run UNESCO as a private shop with all power usurped by her Cabinet. As pointed out by a senior official: “Her dream is to be able to declare “l’UNESCO – c’est moi”, reference made to the famous “l’Etat c’est moi” of the French King Louis XIV, but this only shows her pettiness as a human being, her ignorance of the UN and her pathological obsession aggravated by unhealthy political ambitions at national level in France”.

  The only reason why France and the EU are pushing for such an unprecedented free hand is because Madam Azoulay is French. Period. This is UNESCO today. This is the UN of Antonio Guterres. We will have more on that. Watch this site.

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