By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un2monte010610.html
UNITED NATIONS, January 6, updated Jan. 7 -- As outgoing UN envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide spoke in the Security Council Wednesday morning, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin slumped next to him, non-plussed. Eide fell under fire not only for allegedly covering up President Hamid Karzai's election fraud in 2009, but also from Russia and others for being, in their view, too willing to talk with the Taliban.
The question of who will replace Eide has already been decided by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a senior Ban advisor told Inner City Press on the evening of January 5. Publicly, it's between Staffan de Mistura, favored by the U.S. and Ban, and Jean-Marie Guehenno, favored by France (and pronounced by the Russian mission as "Gavno," or excrement.)
The self-styled Paper of Record slammed both Kai Eide and de Mistura's "low key style" and "bureaucratic instincts." The UN's response, seeming decided on at a meeting Monday morning and crystallized in talking points, was to question why the paper chimed in with an editorial at this time.
As the Security Council's gabfest on Afghanistan came to an end, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon what he made of the New York Times editorial. He said he had read it, but that choosing the replacement of Kai Eide is his "prerogative." But what about Hamid Karzai's veto?
As to the origins of the Gray Lady's editorial, while the U.S. State Department is pushing de Mistura, there are other views in Foggy Bottom, with direct access to Times Square. The finger points at Richard Holbrooke, and as the actual author the retired op-ed writing Robert Unger. Last time, Holbrooke lobbied Ban to get Peter Galbraith appointed. Given how that worked out, the theory goes, Holbrooke couldn't lobby Ban directly, but rather had to work through the Times. But Ban has in essence shot it down.
Left unanswered for a week now are questioned posed to spokesman Martin Nesirky about Ban Ki-moon's son in law Siddarth Chatterjee, hired by de Mistura in Iraq, later promoted by Jan Mattsson at UNOPS in Copenhagen, in both cases reportedly to gain favor with Mr. Ban. On January 6, Nesirky for the first time cut off questions, saying at 12:30 that Ban was about to speak at the Security Council stakeout. But up to 12:50, Ban had still not appeared.
Others muse that Ban Ki-moon's call for NATO to name a civilian / humanitarian czar is a fall back position. If de Mistura is vetoed by Karzai, he could go for the UN-urged NATO position. It would be nice to get more of these questions answered, but at this UN it is not happening. Watch this site.
Footnote: as the Council meeting broke up Mona Juul, Norwegian Deputy Ambassador, and lambaster of Mr. Ban, waited and greeted Kai Eide. In her anti-Ban memo, the only SRSG she praised was... her paisan Kai Eide. Eide will hold a press conference at the UN on January 7. We'll be there.
Update January 7, 8:21 a.m. -- And then it was canceled:
Please note that the press briefing that had been scheduled for 10:00 am on Thursday by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, has been cancelled. Mr. Eide is traveling to Washington, D.C. today and is unavailable for the briefing.
(He later told the Norwegian press he had been summoned to meet iwth Richard Holbrooke.) And so Kai Eide goes out as he came in. Al Kai Eide, we hardly knew ye...
