Torsella
Claims Reforms
Doubted at UN,
Preaches Open
Slates While
US Controls
DPA
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 20 --
When the US
Mission to the
UN's
ambassador on
management Joe
Torsella chose
to speak
publicly about
UN reform, he
did it in
Washington,
taking only
six questions
including from
lobbying law
firm Akin
Gump.
The Council on
Foreign
Relations had
a
listen-only
telephone
line, but
questions from
the press
which
actually
covers the UN
were not
taken.
In
Torsella's
speech and the
six questions,
while the UN's
"credibility"
was mentioned,
there was no
discussion of
UN
mis-performance
which
destroys its
credibility,
such as
alleged sexual
abuse and in
the
introduction
of cholera
into Haiti,
or this month
failure
to protect
civilians in
South Sudan
due to lack of
planning after
the UN was
told in mid
November it
had no more
helicopters.
Torsella
made much
of his claimed
$100 million
in savings in
the UN budget
negotiations
in December.
But he could
not address how this
compares with
the $100
million the US
gave back to
the UN, in an
untransparent
manner, the
so called "Tax
Equalization
Fund."
Inner City
Press
submitted a
Freedom of
Information
Act request to
the State
Department
about TEF more
than 10 months
ago, without
yet getting
any
documents.
What was that
about
transparency?
In
his speech and
in response to
a question,
Torsella
attacked so
called "clean
slates" in
elections to
UN system
posts. But he
did not
explain,
and was not
asked, why it
is OK for the
US to control
posts like the
World
Food Program
(where an
Obama selected
American
replaced
Bush's
Josette
Sheeran),
UNICEF (and
the World
Bank) and even
the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs.
Or,
in an example
related to the
mis-performance
in South Sudan
and Haiti
listed above,
why it is OK
for France to
be given
ownership of
the top post
in UN
Peacekeeping:
four Frenchmen
in a row,
culminating in
the least
qualified,
Herve Ladsous?
In
fairness,
Torsella made
some good
points, for
example that
it is
ridiculous
that
December's
budget
negotiations
devolved into
micro
management of
the grade of
particular
posts.
Inner
City Press
was
there covering
the
negotiations,
saw and later
learned more
about
how extra
posts were
given to for
example
Swahili Radio,
while the
UN's radio
programs for
the Arab world
saw no
increase.
An African
official well
placed in the
negotiations
laughed and
said, Kenya
advocated
well, even
overestimating
the number of
people who
speak
Swahili.
This
official, in
an interview
with Inner
City Press,
ridiculed
Torsella's
claim that
the
International
Civil Service
Commissioner
has been
tasked with
coming up with
ways to match
the US salary
increase
freeze. That
wasn't agreed
to, the
official said,
noting that a
letter to that
effect has
already gone
to the ICSC.
Torsella
criticized
overspending
in the UN's
technology
"upgrade,"
named UMOJA
by the UN, and
mentioned some
"bureaucrats"
that hold on.
In charge of
UMOJA, until
removed, was
current Under
Secretary
General for
Management
Angela Kane.
Is
the US trying
to recapture
the Department
of Management,
which it
controlled
under
Bush appointee
Chris Burnham?
Or will it
allow Germany
to appoint a
successor to
Kane (who is
being urged to
shift to
Disarmament,
Inner
City Press is
told), or let
Japan have the
post?
(c) MRLee
Torsella
preached
reform at USUN
October 12, no
real Q&A
at UN since
For
all the talk
of reform, the
US is happy to
control the
Department of
Political
Affairs, and
as Inner City
Press has
exclusively
reported
nominated
Jane
Hall Lute of
the Department
of Homeland
Security (who
while at the
UN pushed a
$100 million
set-aside
contract in
Darfur for
Lockheed
Martin: wonder
what
Torsella'll
say about that)
and Alejandro
Wolff,
Ambassador to
Chile, as
successors to
Lynn Pascoe.
This
undercuts
Torsella's
claimed
opposition to
clean slated
and "owned"
positions. He
said watch his
twitter feed
in October and
November.
But he should
answer
questions from
the press at
the UN well
before
then. Watch
this site.
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