By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- How will the UN play musical chairs in the Middle East?
Amid the UN's search for a new envoy to Syria to replace Lakhdar Brahimi, Inner City Press on June 25 asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric if it is true that the mandate of Robert Serry as Middle East Coordinators expires at the end of 2014.
Dujarric said he didn't know. When Inner City Press asked if we can find out, Dujarric said flippantly if he finds out, he'll say. Or course he could find out.
One reason Inner City Press is asking is that the Permanent Representative of a P5 member of the Security Council told Inner City Press that while current Syria chemical weapons envoy Sigrid Kaag would be a good replacement for Brahimi, she wants another post in the Middle East?
Which one? At Kaag's last stakeout, Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq did not allow any Inner City Press question,going “all Western” (or another observer noted, “All UNCA,” the United Nations Correspondents Association a/k/a the UN's Censorship Alliance).
A good UN source exclusively told Inner City Press that Kaag “wants Lebanon,” seeming to mean the post currently held by Derek Plumley. But he's been in place for a shorter time than Serry. Is that the post?
Inner City Press is also told there are some “visa issues” that make Kaag moving to New York or the US difficult. Again, banning Press questions to Kaag does not make resolution of these questions easier.
In terms of who might replace Brahimi, here is what good UN sources are exclusively telling Inner City Press: current Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson may be interested in keeping that post and taking on the Syria envoy assignment, explaining the delay in selection.
And could he be the next Secretary General as well, instead of Helen Clark of whom only nine percent of UNDP staff have confidence (another question not answered by Dujarric, and not allowed by UNDP on June 24), former PGAs Kerim or Jeremic, or one of the two Bulgarian women candidates? More on all this to follow. Watch this site.
