At
UN,
Malcorra's
Murky
Farewell,
Kane's
Transition to
Takasu,
Judging
Laughingstock
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 23 --
While UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
travels
through Asia
on what some
call his
impunity
roadshow, in
New York
questions
multiply about
his so-called
Five Year
Mobility
reform. Ban
shuffled his
closest allies
like Kim
Won-soo
laterally
within UN
headquarters.
Despite
changes said
to take place
April 1,
Angela Kane
has already
apparently
headed to
Disarmament
and been
replaced by
Warren Sach as
Officer in
Charge of the
Department of
Management,
which Inner
City Press has
reported will
ultimately be
given to
Japanese
former
Ambassador
Yukio Takasu.
This would
mean a country
other than
Japan would
get the
Department of
Public
Information
post
of Kiyo
Akasaka, whose
farewell
reception was
held Thursday
night.
Likewise
the
goodbye to
Susana
Malcorra as
head of the
Department of
Field Support
has already
been done. So
when Spain's
Secretary of
State for
Foreign
Affairs
Gonzalo de
Benito was
assigned to
meet with
Malcorra on
March
22, Inner City
Press asked:
Inner
City
Press: the
Secretary of
State for
Foreign
Affairs of
Spain said he
met with
Ms. Malcorra,
and I wanted
to know
whether this
was in her
capacity
as the head of
he Department
of Field
Support or
whether she is
already now
operating as
the Chief of
Staff of the
Secretary-General.
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: Well,
Ms. Malcorra,
I believe,
begins
as Chief of
Staff of the
Secretary-General
on 1 April, if
I am not
mistaken.
Right now she
is acting in
her capacity
as head of
Field
Services.
Inner
City
Press: So that
meeting, that
meeting was
about field
support or
troops?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I don’t have a
readout on the
meeting, we’ll
try
and find out.
[The
Deputy
Spokesperson
later
confirmed that
the
Under-Secretary-General
for Field
Support met
with the
Spanish
official.]
Inner
City
Press: Can we
get a readout?
Okay, thanks.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Okay, thank
you very much,
ladies and
gentlemen.
Inner
City Press
knew that
Malcorra did
the meeting:
the question
was, in what
capacity.
Twenty hours
after a read
out was
requested,
none was
provided.
At the
beginning of
the week, and
in the context
of mounting
anger in the
UN's African
Group at Ban
switching the
Deputy S-G
post from
Tanzania to
Sweden and
naming as
Special
Adviser on
Africa the
Mubarak era
Egyptian
diplomat Maged
Abdelaziz who
helped keep
the position
empty, Inner
City Press
asked:
Inner
City
Press: when
does Mr. Maged
Abdelaziz
begin as
the Special
Adviser on
Africa?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I’ll have to
check, I don’t
have that date
with
me.
Inner
City
Press: And
given that he
is now a
prospective UN
high official,
what is your
comment to
some who say
that there is
a
conflict of
interest now?
He works for
Ban Ki-moon,
but he is
still
negotiating
budgetary,
i.e., troop
cost issues in
the C-34
[Special
Committee on
Peacekeeping
Operations]
with the
Secretariat
that he
has already
taken a job to
work for? Is
there some
problem with
that?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, he will
begin to work
for the UN
when he begins
to work. Until
then, he is
probably
earning a
living doing
something
else.
Inner
City
Press: do you
see why he is
already
working for
the side he is
supposed to be
negotiating
around
how UN funds
go to
peacekeepers,
but he is
already
working for
the
entity that
actually pays
the money. So,
it’s, there
are no
safeguards
about this?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, there is
no conflict of
interest right
now
because he has
not begun his
job yet.
Inner
City
Press: He has
already been
given the job
though.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
But he hasn’t
begun his
functions yet.
When he
begins his
functions he
will be
expected to
work solely
for the UN.
Inner
City
Press: So at
this point
though, he has
to have zero
loyalty, or
not loyalty,
affiliation to
Ban Ki-moon,
it’s not, the
idea is that
this has no
impact on his
behaviour of
advocacy
status.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, I’d have
to check on
that with the
appropriate
authorities.
Four days
later, no
answer. Nor
after two days
was this
question
answered:
Inner
City
Press: one of
the judges of
the UN appeals
tribunal, Mark
Painter, has
quit, and he’s
called the
whole process
a fraud, he
made some
public
statements
saying that
the UN’s
internal
justice
system is
laughable.
Given this was
supposed to be
a reform done
under the,
under the
Secretary-General,
what is the
response to a
judge saying
the whole
thing is a
laughing
stock?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, we’ve
seen reports
of what the
judge
has said and
we’ll be
commenting on
it when we
have a comment
to
make.
Question:
Okay. I mean,
do you think
that there is
a comment in
the works, or
you’re just
going to let
it
[inaudible]?
Deputy
Spokesperson:
I’ll have to
check and see.
Two
days later,
nothing. And
on March 23
for the first
time, tne UN
noon brieifng
was in advance
limited to at
most 15
minutes, by
scheduling the
next briefing
not as usual
for 12:30, but
for 12:15. And
so it goes in
Ban's UN.
, 
