UN
Confirms ICP's
Feb 25 Scoop,
Mr. Kim To
Head UN
Disarmament
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
confirmed
UNITED
NATIONS, Marhc
24 -- On
February 25
Inner City Press
exclusively
reported that
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
senior adviser
and right hand
man Kim
Won-soo was in
line to
replace Angela
Kane atop UN
Disarmament.
Inner City
Press
published the
story, and
asked the UN
Spokesman, in
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
to confirm it.
Inner
City Press'
scoop was
credited, for
example here.
Now
on March 24
the UN has
done just
that -
Kane is out,
and Mister Kim
is in, as
"acting" head
of Disarmament,
including with
its North
Korean
portfolio.
On
February
25, Inner
City Press
asked UN
Spokesman
Dujarric:
Inner
City Press: I
did want to
ask you. We
did it on
Kubiš. So now
I
want to ask
you this one.
Whether you
can confirm
that Mr. Kim,
Kim
Won-soo, is a
candidate to
replace Angela
Kane at the
top UN
disarmament?
Spokesman:
I will not.
Because I do
not know.
Thank you very
much. Have a
great day.
On
March
6 Inner
City Press
asked
Dujarric:
Inner
City Press:
now that
Angela Kane
has confirmed
that she's
leaving the
disarmament
post publicly,
I wanted to
ask… I'd asked
whether Mr.
Kim is in fact
a candidate.
Are there
women
candidates in
that and
what's the
process?
Spokesman:
As you know,
the process
will be open,
and when the
selection
process is
made, it will
be announced.
Inner
City Press: Is
it a policy to
have a woman
candidate in
the final
three in each
of these?
Spokesman:
When the
candidate is
announced, we
will announce
it
As Inner City
Press first
reported, Kim
had applied
for an
Assistant
Secretary
General
position in
the Department
of Political
Affairs. But,
sources tell
Inner City
Press, Under
Secretary
General of DPA
Jeffrey
Feltman put
the kibosh on
that. Kim
would report
directly to
Ban Ki-moon,
whose campaign
for election
and
re-election as
Secretary
General Kim
essentially
ran.
Inner City
Press
previously
reported on
January 30
that along
with Kim,
another
candidate for
the DPA
Assistant
Secretary
General post
-- whose
interim holder
spoke with
week, for
example, with
the foreign
minister of
the Maldives
after the
jailing of
former
president
Nasheed -- was
Dmitry Titov.
It is again
confirmed that
this was plan
- but we're
told it is no
longer.
Miroslav Jenca
got the post,
and Bulgaria's
Dragonov took
over Jenca's
Central Asia
post. So who
will be the
next SG?
Some question
Kim Won-soo of
South Korea
holding the
UN's
Disarmament
post, given
the nuclear
standoff with
the Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea or North
Korea.
Kane has had a
long tenure in
the UN, in
such duty
stations as
Eritrea and,
before
Disarmament,
in the
Department of
Management. As
recently of February 23,
Inner City
Press asked
UN Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
about a
controversy in
UMOJA during
Kane's tenure
as Under
Secretary
General for
Management, on
which Inner
City Press has
also
exclusively
reported:
Inner
City Press:
you may
remember a
Paul van
Essche was an
UMOJA official
that ended up
leaving his
job due to
irregularities
in his CV,
etc. He
recently then
was rehired by
UNICEF as the
head of
information
technology and
it’s my
understanding
that he quit
once the
connection was
made to the
prior problem
on this side
of the
street.
I wanted to
ask you
whether the
Secretary-General
called Anthony
Lake about
this and
whether it’s
true that Mr.
van Essche,
despite
leaving the
job after 10
days, is
receiving six
months’ salary
for his
troubles.
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I think that’s
a question
you’d need to
address to
UNICEF.
Inner
City
Press:
The reason I’m
asking here
[cut off by
Spokesman]
Spokesman
Dujarric:
I’m not aware
of any contact
between the
Secretary-General
and Mr. Lake
on this issue.
Kane leaving
the
Disarmament
post would
seem to
increase the
odds of her
fellow German
Martin Kobler
getting the
Under
Secretary
General for
Humanitarian
Affairs post
which the UK
has held twice
in a row.
(Inner City
Press' exclusive
reporting on
the OCHA race
has been
credited by,
for example,
UK Channel 4,
here.)
Kobler has
not, however,
fulfilled his
vow that the
Mission in the
Congo under
his command
would
neutralize the
Hutu FDLR
militia as it
did the
largely Tutsi
M23 group.
There is also
an unresolved
scandal, first
exposed by
Inner City
Press,
in that
mission and
the one in
Haiti, both
run by Herve
Ladsous, in
which UN
Police
position were
sold for money
by an Ivorian
diplomat who
Inner City
Press
continues to
see inside the
UN.
Inner City
Press was
first to
report that
Nickolay
Mladenov would
replace Robert
Serry as UN
Middle East
envoy, that
that Jan Kubis
would replace
Mladenov in
Iraq,
confirmed on
February 24,
nine days
after Inner
City Press
reported it.
Now that.
Watch this
site.
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