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In UN Musical Chairs, Malcorra
Settles In, Downer, Sanino and Japan Are in Line
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, May 29 -- The game of musical chairs in the UN's upper
echelons
has picked up speed. Outgoing head of UN peacekeeping Jean-Marie
Guehenno was
asked on Thursday about who his successor will be, if France is the
only
country being considered, and when it will be announced. He laughed and
said he
will leave "in the course of the month of July." Video here,
from Minute 39:40. Insiders wonder if his
deputy Jane Holl Lute,
passed over to head the Department of Field Support in favor of Susana
Malcorra, will stay at the UN that long.
Meanwhile sources says that Warren Sach, ever a
senior UN official he,
will transition to the Assistant Secretary General post previously held
by
Andrew Toh, and that replacing him as Controller will be a nominee from
Japan.
Germany got Management, with the departure of Alicia Barcena (at whose
farewell
reception Thursday Mr. Kim Won-soo spoke for Ban). So in this scenario,
Japan
would get another ASG job, along with their USG Kiyotaka Akasaka taking
on a
new post of multi-lingualism.
Ms. Lute, Mr. Guehenno, next chair to sit in
not shown
Down at the D-2 level in Procurement, the spot
sought by Paul Buades is
strongly rumored to be slated for an Australian candidate currently at
IAPSO.
The posts are being handed out, overseas as well. Wednesday Inner City
Press
asked Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe to confirm or deny media reports
in
Pristina that Italian diplomat Stefano Sanino, previously an advisor to
the
job-seeking Romano Prodi, will replace Joachim Ruecker at the head of
UNMIK on
June 15. I have no new announcements, Ms. Okabe answered. The same
answer was
been given to Inner City Press about Alexander Downer being named a UN
envoy to
Cyprus. The jobs are being doled out, get 'em while they're hot.
At an even lower level, Inner City Press is told
that posts in UN
peacekeeping missions in Africa are being sold, for cold hard cash.
This is
among the charges to be investigated in the next ten days. Watch this
site.
An official settling into their new post, Ms.
Malcorra at DFS, on
Thursday described herself as "from the South myself," and therefore
interesting in opening up UN contracting to developing countries by
building
their capacity. Because of her predecessor's role in steering through
the UN's
$250 million no-bid contract to Lockheed Martin's PA&E, Inner City
Press
asked Ms. Malcorra for her view of no-bid contracting, and for an
update on how
much Lockheed has been paid to date under the contract, which is
supposedly
under investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, as
demanded
by the General Assembly in December.
Ms. Malcorra said she would get back with an update
of "how much
has been consumed" on the Lockheed contract -- when this happens, as
did
not occur on Thursday despite an e-mail remainder, we will report it --
but
said that rules and regulations should be followed. "We can do things
fast
and right," she said, mentioning as a way to accomplish this having in
place systems contracts. But as Inner City Press has shown, currently
these
systems contracts are dominated by U.S. and Europe-based firms. "We
need
to be more open," Ms. Malcorra said. Here's hoping.
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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