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At UN on 2d Term for Ban, “No One Else Wants the Job,” a P-5 DPR Tells Press, Asia Group to Prejudge IMF Race?

By Matthew Russell Lee, News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, June 5 -- With Ban Ki-moon 24 hours away from seeking Asian Group backing for a second term as UN Secretary General, already arguments are being made that Ban this year made up for his quiet on human rights by promoting air strikes in Cote d'Ivoire and Libya.

  But the performance of the UN in Cote d'Ivoire under Ban's close ally Choi Young-jin, who acted as Ban's campaign manager to be selected Secretary General on 2006, has come into question explicitly on human rights grounds.

On June 2, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson's office for its response to charges that the UN stood by as Alassane Outtara's forces carried out reprisal killings in Abidjan. Their inaction in Duekoue is already under investigation.

  Ban appears to not even be monitoring the bombing of Libya, even amid reports of collateral damage and the use of mercenaries.

  On Friday June 3 after Inner City Press reported on the Asia Group's breakfast with Ban set for Monday morning -- not listed on Ban's schedule as of the weekend -- other reports followed quoting unnamed UN diplomats supporting and promoting Ban's bid.

  While no one, it seems, wants to speak entirely on the record about Ban, on Friday the Deputy Permanent Representative of a Permanent member of the Security Council told Inner City Press that there are no other alternative candidates to Ban, adding “maybe nobody else wants the job.”

Ban with Zoellick & DSK: successor & musical chairs not shown

  If you use the UN S-G post this way, some wonder, who but a red carpet and travel addict would want it?

  The structural problem is the need to please all of the Permanent Five during a first time, in order to get a second. A solution would be to limit Secretaries General to a single term, perhaps of seven years.

As to the Asia Group casting their lot with a second term by Ban on June 6, to some this seems to preclude the International Monetary Fund post going to an Asian, or perhaps even a developing world candidate. Is this the right move for the Asia Group? What exactly is the rush to act before the IMF decides on June 30, or even before the June 10 court decision on whether a case will proceed against Europe's, or at least France's, IMF candidate to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Christine Lagarde?

   Could it be, some ask, that those who most supported Ban's and his Choi's attack helicopter raids in Cote d'Ivoire feel similarly about this pre-emptive action in the IMF replacement race?

DSK is in court in lower Manhattan on June 6, but no final decision about his future will be made there. Must it be different in Turtle Bay? Watch this site.