As
Ban
Confirms
Ousting His
Deputy,
Sources Slam
UN Musical
Chairs
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 26,
updated below
-- Amid calls
for and claims
of UN reform,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
Wednesday
belatedly
confirmed he
is ousting his
Tanzanian
Deputy
Asha-Rose
Migiro, Angela
Kane of
Germany as his
head of
Management,
and Vijay
Nambiar of
India as his
chief of
staff.
Inner
City Press had
previously
reported each
of these, most recently
identifying
Susana
Malcorra of
Argentina as
Migiro's
replacement.
When Inner
City Press
asked on
January 23,
Ban's
spokesman Martin
Nesirky said
he had not
seen the
Tanzanian
newspaper
which picked
up Inner City
Press' story.
Now
a range of
well-placed
sources have
painted for
Inner City
Press Ban
Ki-moon's next
steps. Rather
than the top
UN Disarmament
post, for
which there is
better
qualified
outside
interest,
Angela Kane is
said to be
destined for
the UN
Economic
Commission for
Europe post
vacated by Jan
Kubis.
A
third American
name has
surfaced for
the Department
of Management
post Kane is
losing. As a
savvy Deputy
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press,
Patrick
"Kennedy is
the one,
leaving as
you've
reported
the contest
for [the]
D[epartment
of]
P[olitical]
A[ffairs]
between
Jane Holl Lute
and Alejandro
Wolff."
Other
sources say
that Wolff's
so far short
service as US
Ambassador in
Chile is an
issue. Within
DPA,
transition
projects
initially
premised on
American B.
Lynn Pascoe
leaving at the
end of
February have
now been
delayed to the
end of May.
The
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
continued,
"the UK is
getting frozen
out. They
can't get back
DPA. So they
want for
Nambiar's
chief of staff
post their
Perm Rep here,
Mark Lyall
Grant."
For
the record,
when ICP was
previously
told by
another well
placed
Secretariat
source, "Mark
Lyall Grant
for chef
de cabinet"
or Chief of
Staff, Inner
City Press
inquired and
got a denial
of Lyall Grant
as an Under
Secretary
General, now
included here.
(Some wonder,
could the UK
be gunning for
Deputy
Secretary
General - that
is, not
a USG post?)
Under
the USG
theory, the UK
getting the
Chief of Staff
post would
mean Valerie
Amos would
vacate the USG
post at the UN
Office for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs. Japan
could
retake OCHA,
as it is
losing Kiyo
Akasaka atop
the Department
of Public
Information.
(c) UN Photo
Ban
& Nesirky:
won't confirm
or deny or even take
questions on
the simplest
of facts
On
December 5
without taking
any questions,
Vijay Nambiar
announced that
Sha Zukang of
the Department
of Social and
Economic
Affairs and
Shabaan
Shabaan of the
Department of
General
Assembly and
Conference
Affairs would
leave after
Rio + 20.
Sources say
Sha would like
to stay - but
that a direct
pull back from
Nambiar's
December 5
announcement
"wouldn't look
right." They
say, why not
Sha laterally,
a la
Nambiar and
Kane, to
DGACM, with
"the other
Egyptian,
Maged
Abdelaziz,
taking over
DESA?"
Maged
Abdelaziz is a
big player for
the Group of
77 and the Non
Aligned
Movement, now
on Rio + 20
and in
December on
the UN budget.
Exemplifying
how countries
use "their" UN
Secretariat
officials,
sources say
that in
December with
Argentina
still chairing
G-77, the
Argentine
mission asked
the Argentine
head of the
Department of
Field Support
Susana
Malcorra to
"get
involved," for
G-77.
To
replace
Malcorra at
DFS, rather
than moving as
many think Ban
should
to a national
of a major
Troop
Contributing
Country,
sources point
to a candidate
they call
"homegrown" -
that is,
already in the
UN and DFS.
But the
candidate they
name is
another
American: Tony
Banbury.
When
Ban gave his
reform speech
on January 25,
which many
Permanent
Representatives
panned to ICP,
US ambassador
for Management
Joseph
Torsella
tweeted
excitedly
about it. Some
link this to
the number of
USG posts that
the US is
seeking, in
seeming
contradiction
to Torsella's
criticism in
other contexts
of "closed"
slates,
positions
pre-dedicated
to particular
countries.
Ban
himself is
said by
sources close
to him to be
particularly
concerned with
South Koreans.
How and where
to keep
Information
Technology
chief Choi,
and "another
Choi"?
A close source
self described
as "outraged"
at Ban
Ki-moon's
personnel
practices told
Inner City
Press
disgustedly,
"Ban's staffer
Isabel is a
relative of
his wife,"
amid much head
shaking.
Unlike the
denial of
"Mark Lyall
Grant as USG"
stated above,
we have no
denial or
confirmation
of this last
from Ban or
his
spokesperson's
office, which
has refused to
confirm or
deny or even
take questions
on the
simplest of
facts,
even after answers have
on camera been
promised.
This
is Ban's UN -
watch this
site.
Update
of January 31,
10:40 am:
we have just
received from
Ban Ki-moon's
Office of the
Spokesperson
the following
denial of the
paragraph
above, and
immediately
publish it:
"This
assertion
about a member
of the
Secretary-General's
staff is
totally
baseless and
untrue."
Simultaneous,
repeated
requests for
example for
the date on
which Ban
Ki-moon was
notified that
the UN in
South Sudan
had no
helicopters
and the date
on which he
started
"begging" for
them, as well
as the date
promised by
Ban's envoy
Hilde Johnson
in response to
Inner City
Press' request
in her January
23 video
briefing, have
still not been
provided. When
they are, they
too will be
published.
, 
