Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1chairs091808.html
UNITED NATIONS, September 18 -- Former chief UN Peacekeeper Jean-Marie Guehenno has returned to the UN as a Special Advisor on regional cooperation, it was confirmed to Inner City Press on Thursday. The UN has yet to formally announce Guehenno's new post. On September 17, the UN did annouce that the former head of the UN's Office of Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel is returning as the UN's envoy to the Gabon - Equatorial Guinea territorial dispute. And on September 18 Srgjan Kerim, only two days after stepping down as General Assembly President, was named a "Climate Change Envoy" of the UN system.
Inner City Press is told that these returns are becoming a matter of concern to the new Under Secretaries-General appointed by Ban Ki-moon. Their predecessor just don't leave, but rather remain as possible back seat drivers. In some cases, the return is so that exemption from taxes and other perks of being an international diplomat, such a the G-4 visa, can be maintained.
When Guehenno was feted by the General Assembly's committee on peacekeeping, Inner City Press asked him what he would be doing next. He said it wasn't clear, maybe an institute, maybe writing a book. Then on September 18, Inner City Press was told by a well-placed source of the new post. It was subsequently confirmed, albeit off the record. Why not just announce it?
These sources describe a process whereby some UN officials, even if no longer effective, stay on. The example given was Terje Roed-Larsen, who has clearly worn out his welcome in parts of the Middle East. When Ban Ki-moon came in, however, Shimon Peres told him to keep Roed-Larsen around. The Hariris, too, took a liking to Roed-Larsen, and hooked him -- and apparently some of the institutes that he works for, according to the course -- up with the Saudis. Ah, public policy...
Incoming chief UN legal officer Patricia O'Brien held her first press conference on September 18, but the questions were kept limited to next week's treaty-signing events. Inner City Press asked that she return for a wider-ranging briefing, and she said that she would. Afterwards, another Office of Legal Affairs staffer said that Ms. O'Brien, like her predecessor Nicolas
Michel, will try to keep questions limited to a single topic: the Hariri tribunals. What about the Thomas Lubanga case frozen by the International Criminal Court judges, and the thorny issue of when and who UN Peacekeeping should share information with the ICC Prosecutor? On September 17, Inner City Press asked incoming chief Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy for his view on sharing evidence, specifically in Sudan. "I'll have to ask OLA," he said. But then the head of OLA could not take any questions about the matter. Next time, then.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1chairs091808.html
