To Head
UNDP, Sources Tell ICP Dutch
Koenders After Electoral Loss
Is In the Mix, Changes
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive series
UNITED NATIONS,
March 24 – With Albert
Koenders listed as UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres'
4:30 pm appointment on March
24, as Dutch foreign minister,
Guterres staffers assembled in
the conference room as they do
for meetings with foreign
ministers. But Koenders can in
alone and after a perfunctory
handshake for the camera, Guterres
told his staff it would be
only a tete-a-tete and that
they had the 30 minutes
allocated for the meeting
free. It seems the UN didn't
know how Koenders would be
arriving - nor, perhaps, his
goal and agenda.
When an
elected official's party loses
out, particularly in favor of
a so-called populist, where to
look for a job? For now one
answer is the United Nations,
where sources exclusively tell
Inner City Press that Dutch
Burt Koenders, whose Labor
Party lost badly while Geert
Wilders' PVV picked up five
seats, is now vying to head
the UN Development Program.
Koenders was previously UN
envoy in Cote d'Ivoire and
Mali, on both of which Inner
City Press has questioned him.
He is not un-open. But there
may be changed afoot at UNDP.
Inner City Press asked
Guterres' holdover Deputy Spokesman
Farhan Haq about Koenders, and
the changes, on March 24
without substantive answer,
and was then not allowed to
ask a question to Koenders'
old "boss," Herve Ladsous.
We'll have more on this.
The race
to replace Irina Bokova atop
UNESCO, the UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural
Organization, has candidates
from Qatar and Egypt facing
off, with the former procuring
it seems more support. The
full list of nine candidates
is here.
The UNESCO circus
has had another Clinton
connection: the announced
candidacy of Lebanese
expatriate Vera El Khoury
Lacoeuilhe, affiliated with
St. Lucia and, it's reported,
Gilbert Chagoury, the
Lebanese-Nigerian businessman
whose Clinton ties emerged in
emails released by the US
State Department.
How is St.
Lucia's representative to
UNESCO chosen?
How does
Dominica choose to whom to
give passports, including for
example Macau-based
businessman Ng Lap Seng,
facing trial for UN bribery,
accorded no due diligence by
the UN communications chief
Cristina Gallach? A phrase
that in telling Inner City
Press about these processes
diplomats keep using is "For
Sale." We'll have more on this
- and on the future of UNESCO
and other UN system agencies.
With the
UN system facing 40% budget
cuts from the US, on January
25 UN Development Program
chief Helen Clark confirmed
she will leave on April 19. On
January 26, UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric refused to
disclose when Inner City Press
asked the process to pick a
replacement.
The
unwritten process for UNICEF,
the UN children's agency, and
the World Food Program is
better known. The current
Democrat Party appointees,
Anthony Lake and Ertharin
Cousin respectively, are
expected to resign and
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres will ask the US,
presumably through Nikki
Haley, for three American
names.
Will it go that
way this time? Will Trump
accept the decision being made
between three names? If France
was able to impose the
incompetent Herve Ladsous on
the UN, and Spain the
censor Cristina Gallach,
will even the three-name game
now stand?
Beginning
on the day Nikki Haley arrived
at the UN, and Inner City
Press exposed the extension of
the contract of
Clinton-aligned Jeffrey
Feltman so that his UN pension
could vest, this will be an
Inner City Press series.
Even
further back than the US has
controlled the UN Department
of Political Affairs (through
Lynn Pascoe and Jeffrey
Feltman, to whom we have
questions pending), it has
held WFP: Catherine Bertini,
James Morris, Josette Sheeran,
Etharin Cousin.
And UNICEF, under
both political parties (see,
Veneman): Bellamy, Veneman,
Anthony Lake.
So on
January 27, Inner City Press
asked the UN's holdover
spokesman Stephane Dujarric,
after he called Inner City
Press' questioning on the use
of taxpayers' funds
"despicable," this, from
the UN Transcript:
Inner City
Press: this is on the
theme of transition, because I
wanted to know, as you may
know, Nikki Haley, in written
responses to the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee,
talked about working early… in
early days on WFP (World Food
Programme) and UNICEF (United
Nations Children’s
Fund). And, although
yesterday you’d said that
there’s a well-established
procedure as to UNFP… UNDP, I
wanted to know, what is the
procedure for this
administration of the UN, in
terms of replacing the heads
of WFP and UNICEF? It…
are you saying that it’s… it’s
open to all countries as… as I
guess it’s stated, but it
seems… my understanding…
[inaudible]
Spokesman Dujarric:
There are stated rules.
And those will be followed.
Inner City Press: Then
why is it that some countries
have controlled these posts
five and… four and five times
in a row? And, if
so… [inaudible]
Spokesman: That’s not a
question… that’s not a
question I’m able to answer.
Inner City Press: It is
a question…
Spokesman: It’s not a
question… I’m not saying it’s
not a question. I’m
saying it’s a question I’m not
able to answer.
Inner City Press: Have
you seen letters of
resignation from Ertharin
Cousins or Anthony Lake?
Spokesman: Not that I’m
aware of. Good
day. Thank you.
As to
UNDP, while Inner City Press
first reported the interest of
France's Segolene Royal in
replacing Clark, and the UK's
David Miliband has also been
mentioned (but see below).
On January
26, Inner City Press asked UN
spokesman Stephane Dujarric
what the process will be, and
about (UN) transparency. Video
here, from the UN
transcript:
Inner City Press:
now that Helen Clark has said
that she'll be leaving by 19
April, can you describe what
the process will be that
António Guterres will use to
choose a new administrator of
UNDP (United Nations
Development Program)?
Has he received nominations,
for example… [Inner City Press
said Miliband and Segelone
Royal, the UN did not
transcribe.]
Spokesman: No, we was…
he was… He was informed
by Helen Clark of her desire
to step down at the end of
her… of her term. There
is a well-determined process
of consultations between the
Secretary-General and the
Executive Board of UNDP on
finding a successor, and that
process will be followed.
Inner City Press:
Yesterday, he met with the
French Minister of Development
and Francophonie. I was
kind of expecting some kind of
a readout. Did I miss
one? Was one put out?
Spokesman: No, there was
no readout that I know of.
Inner City Press: And I
wanted to ask, I guess,
related to that, there are
some in the South Korean media
asking to know where it's
available to find the daily
schedules that are put up
every day. Are they just
thrown out, or is there some
repository of who met with the
Secretary-General…?
Spokesman: Well, I'm
glad you're… you've asserted a
role as the Spokesman for the
South Korean media but they
can look on the website, and
everything should be archived.
Where?
On January
26 Inner City Press asked UK
Ambassador to the UN Matthew
Rycroft, video
here, UK transcript:
Inner City Press:
Does the UK support David
Miliband to head UNDP?
Amb Rycroft: We look forward
to working with Helen Clark in
her final months in office and
with her successor, and no
further comment. [end]
Some UN
sources have told Inner City
Press this post, "like UNICEF
and WFP, may go to an
American." We'll see.
Of the
candidates to replace the
increasingly discredited Ban
Ki-moon as UN Secretary
General, Clark was the most
active on social media.
She also, as
Inner City Press exposed,
had UNDP go after a UNDP
staff who dared tweet
criticism of her.
She was once
getting a tobacco award but
when exposed
by Inner City Press,
turned it down. There's more
to be said but the news of the
day is the impending budget
cuts.
And why WAS
France minister for
development meeting
with and lobbying
Antonio Guterres on January
25? We'll have more on this.
***
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-303,
UN, NY 10017 USA
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in
the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-2015 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
for
|
,
