By Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up to Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, July 15 -- On April 14, Inner City Press exclusively reported that the head of the UN Department of Field Service Ameerah Haq would leave her Peacekeeping job in October, citing well-placed sources, here.
Inner City Press went to that day's UN noon briefing and asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:
Inner City Press: on the Department of Field Service, I heard that the Under-Secretary-General Ameerah Haq has informed the Secretary-General that she will leave in October and that a recruitment process involving Ms. [Catherine] Pollard and Jane Holl Lute has begun. Are you aware of that? Can you confirm that?
Spokesman Dujarric: No.
Well, on July 15 Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq read out a statement that, yes, Haq is leaving. When asked about her successor (on which Inner City Press reported on April 14, below), Haq said since he just read out the statement, he just came to know it. That is telling.
Inner City Press on April 14 reported: among the candidates to take over the position, ostensibly co-equal with Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row atop the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, include American Jane Holl Lute and the current head of the UN Office of Human Resources Management, Catherine Pollard.
Given that the top contributors of peacekeeping troops to the UN are from South Asia -- India, Pakistan, Nepal and Ameerah Haq's native Bangladesh -- it would look strange to have DFS headed by an American while DPKO remains owned by France. Several UN sources muses this would be a perfect time for Ladsous to leave. "Better him than Haq," as one source put it.
But the alternate theory has Secretary General Ban Ki-moon throwing geographical and ideological balance to the wind in UN Peacekeeping. In this theory, the US would have to give up the Department of Safety & Security -- "he's only an Acting USG," the proponent pointed out -- so as to not have too too many American Under Secretaries General.
The shame would be, Kevin Kennedy is one of the better and more accessible USGs, by contrast to Ladsous whorefuses Press questions about rapes and UN Peacekeeping from the Congo to Mali, and about the Hutu FDLR, click here for last week's video.
Now as of July 15, Kennedy IS out from DSS, and Lute has an interim position reviewing drones for, who else, Ladsous. Pollard said she will be the poster child of Ban's "mobility" policy.
It was back in October 2013 that Inner City Press reported that Ladsous was trying to get Haq out, to assert more control. On October 7, 2013 Inner City Press reported, "While an earlier Ban Ki-moon reform involved splitting Peacekeeping into two separate components, DPKO and DFS, now Ladsous wants to dominate both of them, by pushing Haq out of DFS and installing a person of his own choosing. More on that in a future story."
There will be more. Watch this site.
