As
De Mistura Leaves UN in Iraq, Melkert Called Sole Candidate, Baghdad
Given Only One Choice
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 18 -- What does the UN do with a candidate twice passed
over for the top job at one of its funds and programs? Send him to
Iraq, apparently. On June 11
Inner City Press exclusively reported
that Ad Melkert, who lost out to Kemal Dervis and then Helen Clark
for the job as Administrator of the UN Development Program, was
angling to finally head up a part of the UN: its mission in Iraq.
On
June 17 it was confirmed that the current occupant of the position,
Stefan de Mistura, is shifting over to become deputy director of the
World Food Program. At the UN noon briefing of June 18, Inner City
Press asked spokesperson Michele Montas to confirm or deny that
Melkert is the Secretary General's nominee to replace de Mistura. Ms.
Montas declined to confirm, but said that an announcement would be
made shortly.
Inner
City Press asked Iraq's Ambassador to the UN Hamid Al Bayati to
comment on Ad Melkert. "It hasn't been decided," Ambassador
Al Bayati said. "But it looks as if it is going to be." A
well-placed Security Council source told Inner City Press that
Melkert is the only candidate. So it looks like the fix is in.
UN's Ban and Melkert, agreement on public financial
disclosure not shown
Who
then would replace Melkert at UNDP? Some are saying that post will be
used for the lateral move of a current Under Secretary General in
Headquarters who many want out of the slot. If Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon was got ratings from the Economist of three out of ten, and
even two out of ten, and Ban has just been hit with more than 200
staff members at Headquarters casting votes of "No Confidence"
in him on Capital Master Plan and management issues, those
responsible may have to be shaken up, is the word from upstairs.
Watch this site.
Footnote:
Melkert,
it must be said, openly disagreed with Ban's request that top UN
officials make some public financial disclosure, and was central in
UNDP's break-away from the UN's Ethics system, including on
whistleblower protection. Are these among his qualifications for the UN
in Iraq?
* * *
UN
Mulls Sending Melkert to Iraq, Local Staff in Pakistan Shortchanged,
Owondo's Service
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Muse
UNITED
NATIONS, June 11 -- Inside the UN system, staff were angry Thursday
night. First came indications that beyond the international staff
killed in the bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan, at least three national
staff were killed as well. Not only where they barely spoken of, but
the benefits package for them is slated to be a fraction of that
offered to the internationals. Also barely mentioned was the UN's
evacuation of some but not all staff from Peshawar to Islamabad.
The
UN Mission in Iraq, the staffers said, is slated to receive a new
manager from New York. Ad Melkert, the Associate Administrator of
UNDP who twice lost out in races for the top job, is reportedly being
sent to Baghdad. As such, he would be rewarded for publicly
disagreeing with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call for public
financial disclosure, and for breaking away from the UN Secretariat's
Ethics Office and what whistleblower protections exist.
UN staffer Solecki returns home, local staff
and red flag not shown
UNDP's
staff union head Dmitry Samaras was present Thursday in the Church
Center across from the UN, at the funeral for former staff member
Joseph Owondo, who died in the crash of the Air France flight from
Brazil to Paris. Owondo's death is a loss: if the UN had more
whistleblowers like him, it would be a better place. Click here for
Inner City Press' previously story on Owondo.
Speaking at his funeral
were Emmanuel Goued, Regis Onanga Ndiaye and Raphael Mbadinga. Samaras
knows where many UNDP skeletons are buried, but what is the
interest in exposing them? From now on, do it for Owondo. The UN is
full of conflicts.
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