By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 15 --
Hours after
Francois
Hollande took
over from the
deposed
Nicolas
Sarkozy in
Paris, in New
York French
Ambassador to
the UN Gerard
Araud stopped
on his way
into the
Security
Council and
told the
press, "I have
a new prime
minister, for
two minutes."
That
would be
Jean-Marc
Ayrault, the
former mayor
of Nantes.
While
speculation
continues on
Araud's fate,
now under
Ayrault, Inner
City Press was
told by
another
Security
Council member
that the
French
Mission's
political
coordinator
Emmanuel Bonne
will be
leaving. (Mr.
Bonne did
not reply for
five hours to
a request for
confirmation
or denial.)
It's
said that
Araud is
angling to be
given an extra
and final
year; it's not
clear
if he'd get
it. There are
questions of
whether the
new French
government
should replace
Herve Ladsous,
who was a last
minute
Sarkozy
appointment
substituting
for Jerome
Bonnafont who
bragged too
much about
getting the
top UN DPKO
post, and
neglects his
duties to
publicly
explain what
UN
peacekeepers
do and are
facing.
A
well placed
source snarked
that Ladsous
went for the
DPKO post
because he
thought
Sarkozy would
lose and
wanted to
assure himself
job and pay.
But
should it be
that easy,
especially if
not places
like Eastern
Congo
are being
ill-served by
his silence,
but UN
Peacekeepers
too? Watch
this site.
