At
Global Fund, Helen Clark Drops
Out Along with Anti-Trumpist,
Beasley for WFP, UNICEF Next?
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
February 28 – With the UN
system facing 40% budget cuts
from the US, on January 25 UN
Development Program (UNDP)
chief Helen Clark in January
confirmed she would leave on
April 19. Candidates in the mix
ranging from David Miliband
and Segolene Royal to Stephane
de Mistura and Sigrid Kaag.
In a fast
turn-around, Helen Clark
became a finalist to take over
the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria. Now
she has dropped out, and the
New York Times helpful "reports"
that "Ms. Clark, frustrated
with the process, withdrew
from consideration."
Inner City
Press' sources tell it that
Clark was given a heads-up
that neither she nor the two
other finalists, and including
a confirme anti Trumpist,
would get the post. The
sources say that Clark dropped
out just in advance, to keep
her powder dry.
Meanwhile
as Inner City Press has
reported, the US has nominated
David Beasley to head WFP.
At UNDP, after
Inner City Press asked, on
February 15 it emerged that
there is an application
process, running through March
20, to replace Clark. But will
the applications, at least of
the "short list," be made
public?
Meanwhile,
UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq
on February 15 announced that
"Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, the
former Prime Minister of Togo,
has been appointed as the
sixth President of the
International Fund for
Agricultural Development, or
IFAD." Haq did not mention
that Houngbo was previously at
UNDP. It's a small world --
too small. Watch this site.
Back 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.
***
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