By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, August 7 -- One of the few overseers of the UN's murky spending is its Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions or ACABQ. The chairman has been Collen Kelapile of Botswana, often found at seven pm or later in the North Lawn building, well versed in the nitty gritty of the UN's budget.
But now, based on the system of rotation in place at the UN, Kelapile faces replacement, by an Eritrean.
Inner City Press has confirmed with the Eritrean mission that they have the endorsement not only of the African Union or also the "East Africans." Other sources say that Botswana and southern Africa are arguing, why give up seniority and the chairmanship for this mere rotation?
Eritrea replies that it gave up claims on a vice presidency of the General Assembly. Others say Kenya, seeing the split, jumped into the fray, under the theory that a country under sanctions like Eritrea is not well placed to head ACABQ.
This is the way that wheeling and dealing is done at the UN, and why so much escapes oversight. Watch this site.
