By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 25 -- In
an otherwise
empty room on
Wednesday, the
UN
confirmed to
Inner City
Press two of
the top-job
exclusives it
had
reported:
former
Japanese
Ambassador
Yukio Takasu
to head
Management,
and Ameera Haq
as head of the
Department of
Field
Services.
On
March
21, Inner
City Press
reported that
Bangladesh's
Haq had a
better chance
than
India's Atul
Khare to
replace Susana
Malcorra at
DFS, click
here.
Even
before that
on March
7, Inner
City Press reported that
Takasu was the
man for
Management
- and that
Khare was
losing favor,
click
here.
It
is indicative
of the slow
death of the
UN under Ban
Ki-moon that
the noon
briefing
at which these
two Under
Secretary
General posts
were announced
had
only one
journalist
present.
Even so, Ban's
Deputy
spokesman
Eduardo
Del Buey
refused to
answer most of
Inner City
Press'
questions, on
questions
ranging from
Syria to
Security
Council reform
even to Ban's
Five Year
Rule.
Inner
City Press
asked for the
third day in a
row if
Norway's
Robert Mood is
being
paid by the UN
or is already
affiliated
with Ban's
Secretariat,
since
as US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
confirmed to
Inner City
Press on
Tuesday
evening, Mood
was in the
Security
Council
consultations
room that
day. Del Buey
has refused to
answer for two
days, and now
said he may
have something
later.
Inner
City Press
asked about
the seemingly
high reported
compensation
of UNDP's
Helen
Clark
($450,000) and
even Assistant
Rebecca
Grynspan
($393,000),
and
if Ban's Five
Year Mobility
Rule applied
to UNDP
deputies like
Grynspan.
Del
Buey said he
would not
answer about
anybody's
compensation
-- strangely
when
public money
is being spent
-- and did not
have an answer
about Ban's
Five Year
Rule.
Inner
City Press
has heard from
sources that
Colombia's
Foreign
Minister
Holguín
may be "in
the mix" for a
UN system USG
job, perhaps
at UNDP. Her
most
recent quote,
after Obama's
Secret Service
imbrolio in
Cartagena? Where
there is a
man, there is
prostitution.
Look for the
UN
tweak on this
- watch this
site.
