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Chaos in UN Budget and Chain of Command, Valencia and Computers, Jobs for Prodi and Ross? Tales of ACABQ

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, September 10, updated Sept. 12 -- The state of UN management was reflected this week by a turf war in the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. The head of information technology for the UN, Mr. Choi Soon-Hong, who most people have assumed was securely situated, in fact is not. Since his office and mandate have not been approved, his pay is cobbled together from a hodgepodge of sources, and he complains of not having enough staff. The only way to get approval is to pass through ACABQ, and then to the General Assembly's Fifth (Budget) Committee, which resumes meeting on October 3.

  But when ACABQ took up the matter, a fight broke out between new Department of Management chief Angela Kane and the proponents of the written proposal, which would have Mr. Choi reporting directly to the Secretary General's office. No, Ms. Kane reportedly said, Choi will report to me. This then was disagreed with, and the written proposal was cited. Go get your stories straight, Ms. Kane was told.

  This can't sit well with Ban Ki-moon and his senior advisor, particularly in light of Ban's recent speech in Turin in which he complained about turf wars at the UN. In this case, Ban is not seen as the referee, but as a participant. And while his senior advisor asked Inner City Press to write positively about Angela Kane, it is not easy. She refused to answer simple emailed questions, and has yet to hold a press conference, as even her predecessor Alicia Barcena did.  Are things getting better or worse at the UN?

Ban Ki-moon and ACABQ chair McLurg: who's on first?

  This is also relevant to the claims that the proposed UN Peacekeeping telecommunications "hub" which Ban has promised to the Government of Spain is slated for easy approval as soon as the Fifth Committee meets. The proposal got linked to the larger ICT / Choi budget item, some disarray in which was evidence before the ACABQ this week. While Spain's Ambassador told Inner City Press that all this is lack is the final "blessing," from this week it is difficult to say that approval will be automatic or fast.

Footnote: with Mark Gilpin out as Executive Secretary of the ACABQ, filling in at the post is Rada Hastings, an American at the P-5 level. It is rumored that Donna Maxfield, who figures prominently in the recent open letter to Ban Ki-moon, is under consideration for the ACABQ post. Alon with putting "red flags" on personnel files, in her dealings with the Budget Committee for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, she is said to have been adept at inducements, sometimes called jobs for delegates for votes.

Update of Sept. 12 -- DPKO's spokesman writes that "We deny categorically that Ms. Maxfield has ever provided 'jobs for votes.'" And so we include that denial, and have asked, "please state, in the past three years, any and all individuals hired by DPKO after having served on the GA's Fifth Committee."

In higher-profile UN job search news, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson at Wednesday's noon briefing if Romano Prodi is under consideration for any UN-affiliated gig in Africa. The spokesperson, referring to press reports, said there is a joint African Union-UN posting coming up, its occupant to be announced on Friday. She emphasized, though, that it is a temporary job, of only three weeks. Inner City Press opines that Prodi would or will want more than that. He was seen, during the last General Debate, meeting with such African titans as Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo.  Watch this space.

  The spokesperson also, in response to reports that the Western Sahara posting may go to American Christopher Ross rather than older American Warren Christopher, said that the selection process is nearing its conclusion. We'll be here.

Watch this site, and this (UN) debate.

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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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