Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

In Haiti to Replace Mulet, UN Asks Taranco, Rejected for Bahrain, So Who?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 -- With the UN's report on cholera in(to) Haiti still not released, Inner City Press this week inquired into who UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will send to replace envoy Edmond Mulet in June, and how.

  On Monday, a Haitian diplomat complained to Inner City Press that there had been an able Trinidadian candidate to replace Mulet, but that he was been marginalized in the selection process in favor of others.

  Further reporting my Inner City Press found that the UN Secretariat at the highest levels had asked current Department of Political Affairs official Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of Argentina to go to Haiti, reportedly due to less than perfect fit in his current Middle East role, including being rejected by Saudi Arabia as a Ban emissary to Bahrain, as exclusively reported by Inner City Press.

  Taranco seems a genial man, but in his current stint as Assistant Secretary General on such topics as the Middle East and Palestine, he has almost never spoken to the media, or left much of a mark.

One well placed UN source said this was “typical Ban Ki-moon,” to “dump” such an official in a ravaged place like Haiti.

Ban swears in Taranco, Bahrain not gone to, Haiti not shown

But it appears that Taranco, too, won't be going to Haiti. A person involved in the selection process told Inner City Press that Taranco doesn't want to go, and this is being respected because “he has too many kids.”

Taranco's UN biography lists two children. Is that too many to go to Haiti? Or is there some other reason?

On April 27 Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: In Haiti, there is this delay in the release of some of the election results. I wanted to know, has the UN said that this is a good thing? What’s the UN’s role in sort of the review of overturned parts of that election? And also, in choosing the replacement of Mr. [ Edmond] Mulet, I wanted to know if you can describe the status? I spoke to the Haitian Permanent Representative; he said that there was a Trinidadian candidate who has been put out, that there is a lot of things going on. Is there a final list for that position, and is there a Trinidadian candidate among them?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, on the second, we don’t comment on recruitment processes. Once the Secretary-General has reached a decision, then we will let you know. On the first question, the international community, meaning the Organization of American States and the United Nations, said already that there was some concern about some of the results and, therefore, it’s obviously for the Election Commission itself to take action, as it has done, and we’ll see what the outcome of that is. But the international community had before that point expressed some disquiet about some of the results.

Question: And just one follow [up,] when you say the Secretary-General makes a decision, does he confer in this case like with the host country? Is that part of the process generally for candidates?

Spokesperson Nesirky: I don’t think we need to get into the selection process. I think you could assume that he consults widely on appointments. But once a decision is made, then we’ll let you know.

  Mulet has always said he wants to return to New York, to “his” Peacekeeping deputy post currently filled by Atul Khare. This is slated to happen in June. If not Taranco or the Trinidadian, who? Watch this site.

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