Complaints
that Maged
Helped Keep UN
Africa Post
Empty, Got
It as Reward
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 15 --
Amid a growing
perception
that the UN
under
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon has
snubbed sub
Saharan
Africa, the
African
Group's call
for the
appointment of
a full time
Special
Adviser on
Africa was
repeatedly
rebuffed by
Ban. Assisting
Ban in
this, numerous
African Group
sources
complain, was
Egypt's
Permanent
Representative
Maged
Abdelaziz.
Now,
the
complaint
continues,
Maged
Abdelaziz has
ironically
been rewarded
by
being handed
the Special
Adviser on
Africa post.
"He help Ban
not fill the
post," one
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City
Press on
Thursday,
"then he got
it for
himself."
Even
before March
8 when it was
announced,
Inner City
Press on
February 21
reported that
Ban was
leaning to
giving this
reward to
Egypt's
Mubarak era
ambassador.
(Back when
Maged publicly
criticized Ban
for his canned
statements
about Egypt,
well placed
sources
describe
closed door
communication
far more
embarrassing
for both Maged
and Ban.) But
when the
announcement
was made,
Inner City
Press asked:
Inner
City
Pres: What’s
the
Secretary-General’s
response to
criticism
from the
African Group
that they no
longer have
the Deputy
Secretary-General
and that the
Special
Adviser on
Africa post is
going to a
North African
not
sub-Saharan?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
Africa is a
continent and
Mr. Abdelaziz
is from the
continent of
Africa.
This
answer was
met with much
derision in
the African
Group. Inner
City Press
asked,
at least,
Maged would be
a full time
Special
Adviser. On
March 15,
Nesirky
provided this
response:
I
was asked
earlier about
the posts of
Special
Adviser on
Africa and
High
Representative
for the Least
Developed
Countries,
Landlocked
Developing
Countries and
Small Island
Developing
States. I can
confirm that
these will be
two separate
positions.
Cheick Sidi
Diarra is
still the High
Representative
and, as you
know, the
Secretary-General
appointed
Maged
Abdelaziz as
Special
Adviser on
Africa on 8
March.
Cheick
Sidi
Diarra is said
to be headed
for the UN
Economic
Commission for
Africa
in Ethiopia,
whose
incursion into
Eritrea went
uncommented on
by
Ban's
spokesman
Nesirky on
Thursday
despite a
question, and
Maged is
said to not be
too long for
the Special
Adviser job.
Many are
saying
that sub
Saharan Africa
"at least" has
to be given
the
Department of
Field Support,
which Atul
Khare,
Catherine
Polland and
maybe Tony
Banbury are
vying, or
another of the
remaining open
Under
Secretary
General spots.
But
with Ban, you
never know.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Meanwhile
ASG Jomo Kwame
Sundaram is
said to be
vying for the
top job
in the
International
Labor
Organization,
just as Ban's
adviser
Jeffrey Sachs
is openly
campaigning
for the
presidency of
the World
Bank. Inner
City Press has
asked if this
is a conflict
of interest;
Nesirky has so
far not
answered. Only
in Ban's UN.
, 
