UNITED NATIONS, May 14 -- When it emerged that Valerie Amos was leaving the UN and her post as Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, the focus turned to who would replace her: David Cameron's first choice Andrew Lansley, or one of Cameron's two second choices, Caroline Spellman or Stephen O'Brien, would get the (UK) post.
The shift in interest wasn't entirely fair to Amos, who while sometimes reliably following the line of her country, which has now held the OCHA post three times in a row, also showed independence, most recently by chiding if only implicitly Saudi Arabia for trying to politicize aid to Yemen, which it has bombed.
Inner City Press was first to report Cameron's begrudging submission of the alternate candidacies of Spellman and O'Brien, and the victory of O'Brien, as credited in the Telegraph, UK Channel 4 and IRIN (which was spun off from OCHA under Amos' watch).
But on the eve of Amos' farewell reception at the UN, which among others US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Anne Richards will attend, Inner City Press offers this admitted partial recap.
After taking over the OCHA post in 2010, following fellow Brit John Holmes (he of passionate ambivalence about the Tamil Bloodbath on the Beach in Sri Lanka), Amos started quietly. In 2011 when Tony Blair visited the UN, it was by her side. But she branched out: for example into Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan in Sudan, on which she always to her credit took questions.
This is the balance, this is the dance: the MSFs and Aids-Free Worlds of the world tell the truth, and the range of UN USGs push back, some as colleagues, others like Ladsous as unaccountable drone.
Amos was and is no drone, that we can say. We wish her well in future endeavors. We will have more on this.
UNITED NATIONS, April 24 -- How should the next UN Secretary General be selected, to improve the Organization? That was the question on April 24 across the street from the UN at the International Peace Institution in a panel moderated by former Indian Ambassador to the UN, and former Security Council member, Hardeep Singh Puri.
The post is said to be slated for the Eastern European Group, and the question and answer (or comment) portion was top-heavy with the Permanent Representatives of Croatia and Slovakia (also the chair of the Budget Committee) and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Estonia laying out of the positions of the ACT group, echoed by Costa Rica.
Inner City Press asked what about improving the transparency and place of merit in the selection of Under Secretaries General? Recently UK Prime Minister David Cameron's attempt to put Andrew Lansley of National Health Service infany atop the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was defeated as reported in detail by Inner City Press, see credits in the Telegraph and UK Channel 4.
But, the position has stayed with the UK in the person of Stephen O'Brien (deemed better than the initial candidate by panelist Edward Mortimer). Should USG positions be “owned” by P3 countries, like France has owned UN Peacekeeping four times in a row (following a horse-trade for Kofi Annan becoming Secretary General) and the US has held Political Affairs twice in a row?
While Political Affairs USG Jeffrey Feltman came directly from the US State Department with the baggage that may carry, particularly in the Middle East, the most extreme example is Herve Ladsous of UN Peacekeeping,video here, Vine here.
When asked by Inner City Press about his history and qualification adopted the position of refusing all questions from Inner City Press and having his spokespeople, at least one of whom was present at IPI on April 24, go so far as to grab the UNTV microphone to avoid questions. Ladsous went so far as to say "I don't answer you Mister" at IPI itself, video here.
On the overall USG question Jean Krasno of the City College of New York favored “selecting candidates for these positions on merit rather than geographical. We want the highest quality people, serving in an impartial matter.”
Natalie Samarasinghe of the UN Association of the UK said, On the USG issue, we want an SG who has the freedom to make merit based appoints. At the moment as you have seen it is very unevenly applied. We need to condemn it. That pressure is very positive.”
Mortimer said he was among those who wrote to Ban Ki-moon (selected by the US and China, more than one attendee said, some citing John Bolton's book) about Cameron's first nominee for OCHA. He said that Press oversight is important. Puri said a good SG would pick good USGs. We'll have more on all this.
Background: When Ban Ki-moon was selected as UN Secretary General in 2006 it was an untransparent process, with secret ballots in the Security Council.
On February 7, 2015, both processes were criticized by "The Elders." Appearing at the Munich Munich Security Conference, four Elders including Ban's predecessor Kofi Annan along with Gro Harlem Brundtland, Martti Ahtisaari and Graça Machel unveiled a UN reform plan.
Beyond Security Council reform, they specifically criticized Secretary General selection process for lack of transparency and choice, and suggested a single seven year term to avoid simply trying to get re-elected.
To replace Ban, the Elders say "we call on the General Assembly to insist that the Security Council recommend more than one candidate for appointment as the Secretary-General of the United Nations, after a timely, equitable and transparent search for the best qualified candidates, irrespective of gender or regional origin. We suggest that the next Secretary-General be appointed for a single, non-renewable term of seven years, in order to strengthen his or her independence and avoid the perception that he or she is guided by electoral concerns."
Even further down, the under-performance of Team Ban, including for example UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, has been enabled and concealed by what has become the UN's Censorship Alliance, formally the United Nations Correspondents Association. These forms of decay are not UNrelated.
On November 14, 2014 this organization in decline formally announced a slate of six officers -- all without any competition at all. It was a pure rubber stamp, "yes," with the only question being turn-out. The top post was handed (back) to Giampaolo Pioli, who engaged in outright censorship while last using the position.
Then Pioli demanded that reporting of these facts must be removed from the Internet (compilation of audio here) or he would use UNCA to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN.
Now in 2015 Pioli has returned. Reuters has on the board its current correspondent as well as its retired UN bureau chief. Agence France Presse, which had been off the UNCA Executive Committee after having used it to complain about Press reporting on Herve Ladsous, wanted to return but did not make it; it was handed a seat on another board announced by UNCA.
Only News Agency of Nigeria, which ran in 2013, did not run this time: its UN office space was taken away in 2014, ostensibly due to scarcity when UNCA is given a big room that sits empty and locked most of the time, then opens for events that could and should have occurred in the UN's Press Briefing Room, open and on UNTV. This is the UN's Censorship Alliance.
As to the Secretary General's race, an earlier reform letter's signatories included Avaaz, Amnesty International, CIVICUS, Equality Now, FEMNET, Forum-Asia, Global Policy Forum, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, Social Watch, Third World Network, Women’s Environment and Development Organization, the World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy and the World Federation of United Nations Associations.
The new Free UN Coalition for Access, formed in response to the decline in media access and transparency generally under Ban Ki-moon, heartily agrees with the need to reform and improve the Secretary General selection process.
Candidates so far including Helen Clark of UNDP, who virtually never takes press questions while in New York, the headquarters of UNDP, amid untransparent layoffs, and Irina Bokova, the Director General of UNESCO, an agency which on November 3 led an event about journalists at which not a single question from a journalist was taken. There's also among others, in this SG race we will closely cover, a Latina trio, Kristalina Georgieva, Miroslav Lajcak, Kevin Rudd, Dalia Grybauskaite, Vuk Jeremic, Danilo Turk, Jan Kubis - that is, unlike the UN's Censorship Alliance, at least there is some competition. We'll have more on this.
UNITED NATIONS, April 16-- How weak is today's UN?
On April 15 Inner City Press reported that despite UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's claims to stand behind the UN's envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar, who refused to call Saudi airstrikes positive, Ban was planning to replace him.
After that Inner City Press report, the UN Spokesman sent out this a canned statement that Benomar "expressed an interest in moving on" and would be replaced in due course. But by whom?
On April 15, Inner City Press named the name which was floated by Saudi and UN sources, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and linked to its February 15, 2015 exclusive report on this individual's previously "incompetence" in Yemen, and side fishing business. There is more on both of these below.
But, now on April 16, Inner City Press can exclusively report another candidate: Martin Kobler of Germany, currently the head of MONUSCO in the DR Congo. Kobler ran for head of the Office of Humanitarian Affairs, but that post "belongs" on the UK, in the person of Stephen O'Brien. Inner City Press' exclusive were credited in the Telegraph and Channel 4. (At least Andrew Lansley was avoided, as Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed should be here.)
Kobler speaks Arabic; as Inner City Press has exclusively reported, some six years ago he was in line to become UN Special Coordinator on the Middle East until a Permanent Five member blocked him (more on that soon), given the job to Robert Serry. Now Kobler is ready. But is Saudi Arabia?
Another name floated by UN sources (also reported exclusively by Inner City Press) is Lisa Buttenheim, currently at the UN mission in Cyprus. Like Kobler, she has more diplomatic experience than Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
She is a woman. For the UN, that should be a plus, given what Ban Ki-moon has said. But as a well placed sources put it to Inner City Press, if Ban gave in to Saudi Arabia and got Benomar out, will he stand up to an edict NOT to name a woman? Watch this site.
"UNSMIL's former deputy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania has been moved to head UNMEER, the UN's Ebola mission. Sources in Yemen say Ould Cheikh Ahmed was the UN's “designated security official” when a UNICEF staffer was taken hostage while traveling to the Sana'a airport without the required (and needed) security detail. Some say Ould Cheikh Ahmed was distracted, in Yemen and later in Libya, by side business interests.
Now on April 17 we can report: in Yemen UN personnel where to have escort to the airport, and armored vehicles. But designated official Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed allowed the guards he hired to do nothing, and left the armored vehicles in customs. The staffer was kidnapped by a criminal group affiliated with Al Qaeda and was traumatized.
"But a check of Ban Ki-moon's Public Disclosure website, where his officials are supposed to make rudimentary disclosure of the finances and outside business interests, does not even list Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (while numerous other Deputy SRSGs are listed). His is not in the most recent database, for 2013 - and may escape any disclosure by become an Under Secretary General with a mere nine month stint at UNMEER. Then what? We'll stay on this."
So, no matter how much of a sycophant for the Saudi-led coalition he is, how can he get this post? How can the "P4" support this?
For now, Inner City Press asked this additional question: in Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed's business(es), are there any Gulf investors? Watch this site.
UNITED NATIONS, March 9 -- While with Stephen O'Brien being named today to replace Valerie Amos atop OCHA the UK keeps that post for the third time in a row, at least there was some public process, which resulted in the rejection of a worse UK candidate, Andrew Lansley.
By contrast, when France in 2011 kept UN Peacekeeping for the fourth time in row with Herve Ladsous, there was NO public process at all, nonote verbale to other countries inviting nominees, and very little review of Ladsous himself, who had been rejected for the post when, for example, Jean Marie Guehenno left.
In light for example of the exposed sale of UN posts in Ladsous' UN Peacekeeping -- and the post seller still remaining in the UN -- and the cover up of rapes in Tabit in Darfur and Minova in the DR Congo before that, it's time for at least as much public process on UN Peacekeeping as on UN OCHA.
In this OCHA case, when Langley's name emerged and questions were raised -- as they would have been on Ladsous had his name similarly become public -- the UK was forced to put forward two more candidates, Stephen O'Brien and Caroline Spelman.
After Inner City Press reported on UK Prime Minister David Cameron's angry or "rude" call to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and more than a month after Inner City Press exclusively reported on Cameron's second and third nominees to replace Valerie Amos,including Stephen O'Brien, Inner City Press on February 26 exclusively reported that Cameron's replacement candidate Stephen O'Brien was slated to be interviewed Tuesday, March 3, by Ban Ki-moon himself.
Now on March 9 UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric at noon announced that O'Brien will take over UNOCHA. Inner City Press immediately asked Dujarric if this means that the UK owns OCHA like France owns UN Peacekeeping (four times in a row) and the Political Affairs (twice in a row and counting).
Dujarric said to look at the list of OCHA chiefs since 1992. But three in a row, under Ban Ki-moon, it is not a coincidence.
Inner City Press asked Dujarric to at least describe WHO chose O'Brien, and if there was a woman on the final short list. Even this, Dujarric would not do. Video here.
In fairness to O'Brien, Inner City Press has been told he's done work for example on malaria; we'll see. Still, the UN is UNtransparent and dominated in these posts by the Permanent Three (or Four) members of the Security Council. We'll have more on this.
On March 3 UNOCHA announced that "Valerie Amos was to pass the baton as #UN Humanitarian Chief at the end of March. She will stay 2 more months, til end of May."
Sources also told Inner City Press there was a "second Brit" in the final round, Caroline Spelman, the submissions of whose name was first reported by Inner City Press. But neither that, nor the UAE's female candidate, Dujarric would confirm.
Beyond Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, who as on many similar issues Ban Ki-moon has put in charge of this process, Inner City Press is informed that the interview panel consists of two senior UN officials and two outside officials, including "the Swiss chief of the International Committee of the Red Cross."
That would be Peter Maurer, formerly Switzerland's Ambassador to the UN. As one source put it, this puts the UK with its "weak" candidates "even further behind the eight ball."
Inner City Press: on this OCHA recruitment process, I know that earlier in the process, Farhan, I think it was, had said there's been a petition asking for outside participation in the review and he'd said, no, this is something that can be done in-house. So I wanted to ask you not who's on the short list, but as a general matter, can you confirm that the UN has in fact accepted at least two outside people on the review panel, some of whom have been named in writing, but just the general principles…
Spokesman Dujarric: No, I understand. I think if you look — we can share with you — there's quite an extensive detailed report on how this recruitment process is done, which went to the General Assembly, I think, last year, and outlines the possibility for the Secretary-General to reach out to outside parties. But I will not confirm the details of this recruitment process. When it's over, we'll announce it.
Question: And will you say whether you had an outside participation…
Spokesman: When it's over, we'll announce it.
Talk about (a lack of) transparency...
Non-UK candidates, as Inner City Press has already first reported, include Germany's Martin Kobler, the United Arab Emirates' Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi -- for whom Ban was heavily lobbied when he was in the UAE recently -- and, Inner City Press now hears, "a South African candidate." We'll have more on this.
Citing Inner City Press' exclusive reporting on Caroline Spelman and Stephen O'Brien, the UK's second round of candidates after opposition to Andrew Lansley, C4's Lindsey Hilsum says Germany's candidate Martin Kobler led in a poll of 200 UN staff by Avaaz.
Whatever the other merits, there is now another unaddressed scandal at the UN Mission in the DR Congo, MONUSCO, which Kobler is in charge of. As exclusively uncovered by Inner City Press, UN Police posts in Kobler's mission were for sale, by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Cote d'Ivoire to the UN. Click here for that.
Back on January 14, Inner City Press was informed by sources of a minister from the United Arab Emirates, Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah, put forward as a candidate by the UAE. The UAE has, it was noted,, the "Humanitarian City." And the UAE did give $1 million to OCHA's CERF last month.
But the UAE sought, and has been unable to obtained, UN Asia Pacific Group consensus support for their candidate. This is a set-back.
The UK's second duo of candidates, after opposition to Andrew Lansley: Caroline Spelman and Stephen O'Brien. Are those who oppose and opposed Lansley being lobbied?
Germany's candidate Martin Kobler, a close observer emphasizes to Inner City Press that Kobler was for a time the UN's first choice to be UN Special Coordinator on the Middle East, before after opposition by a Permanent Five Security Council member the position went to Robert Serry.
Now Serry is to be replaced by Nickolay Mladenov, currently UN envoy in Iraq. The UK -- seeming to reflect a lack of confidence it will retain OCHA -- sought to name one of its national to replace Mladenov, but was shot down by Iraq. That process is now in its final stages.
Back on November 26, minutes after the UN announced the departure of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs chief Baroness Valerie Amos, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the vacancy would be advertised for candidates from all countries, or if it is set aside for Amos' United Kingdom.
On January 30 Inner City Press was reliable informed that UK Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and said -- "rudely," according to denizens of the UN's 38th floor -- that despite the UK's submission of two additional names, below, Ban "must" pick Andrew Lansley.
These sources say that Ban, as if to prove independence, will NOT choose Lansley but will keep the post UK, choosing on a progressive basis the female candidate, Caroline Spelman. Are those opposed to Lansley being lobbied for her?
UNITED NATIONS, March 9, more here, Video I here -- After Inner City Press reported on UK Prime Minister David Cameron's angry or "rude" call to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and more than a month after Inner City Press exclusively reported on Cameron's second and third nominees to replace Valerie Amos, including Stephen O'Brien, Inner City Press on February 26 exclusively reported that Cameron's replacement candidate Stephen O'Brien was slated to be interviewed Tuesday, March 3, by Ban Ki-moon himself.
Now on March 9 UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric at noon announced that O'Brien will take over UNOCHA. Inner City Press immediately asked Dujarric if this means that the UK owns OCHA like France owns UN Peacekeeping (four times in a row) and the Political Affairs (twice in a row and counting).
Dujarric said to look at the list of OCHA chiefs since 1992. But three in a row, under Ban Ki-moon, it is not a coincidence.
Inner City Press asked Dujarric to at least describe WHO chose O'Brien, and if there was a woman on the final short list. Even this, Dujarric would not do.
In fairness to O'Brien, Inner City Press has been told he's done work for example on malaria; we'll see. Still, the UN is UNtransparent and dominated in these posts by the Permanent Three (or Four) members of the Security Council. We'll have more on this.
On March 3 UNOCHA announced that "Valerie Amos was to pass the baton as #UN Humanitarian Chief at the end of March. She will stay 2 more months, til end of May."
Sources also told Inner City Press there was a "second Brit" in the final round, Caroline Spelman, the submissions of whose name was first reported by Inner City Press. But that, nor the UAE's female candidate, Dujarric would not confirm.
Beyond Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, who as on many similar issues Ban Ki-moon has put in charge of this process, Inner City Press is informed that the interview panel consists of two senior UN officials and two outside officials, including "the Swiss chief of the International Committee of the Red Cross."
That would be Peter Maurer, formerly Switzerland's Ambassador to the UN. As one source put it, this puts the UK with its "weak" candidates "even further behind the eight ball."
Inner City Press: on this OCHA recruitment process, I know that earlier in the process, Farhan, I think it was, had said there's been a petition asking for outside participation in the review and he'd said, no, this is something that can be done in-house. So I wanted to ask you not who's on the short list, but as a general matter, can you confirm that the UN has in fact accepted at least two outside people on the review panel, some of whom have been named in writing, but just the general principles…
Spokesman Dujarric: No, I understand. I think if you look — we can share with you — there's quite an extensive detailed report on how this recruitment process is done, which went to the General Assembly, I think, last year, and outlines the possibility for the Secretary-General to reach out to outside parties. But I will not confirm the details of this recruitment process. When it's over, we'll announce it.
Question: And will you say whether you had an outside participation…
Spokesman: When it's over, we'll announce it.
Talk about (a lack of) transparency...
Non-UK candidates, as Inner City Press has already first reported, include Germany's Martin Kobler, the United Arab Emirates' Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi -- for whom Ban was heavily lobbied when he was in the UAE recently -- and, Inner City Press now hears, "a South African candidate." We'll have more on this.
Citing Inner City Press' exclusive reporting on Caroline Spelman and Stephen O'Brien, the UK's second round of candidates after opposition to Andrew Lansley, C4's Lindsey Hilsum says Germany's candidate Martin Kobler led in a poll of 200 UN staff by Avaaz.
Whatever the other merits, there is now another unaddressed scandal at the UN Mission in the DR Congo, MONUSCO, which Kobler is in charge of. As exclusively uncovered by Inner City Press, UN Police posts in Kobler's mission were for sale, by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Cote d'Ivoire to the UN. Click here for that.
Back on January 14, Inner City Press was informed by sources of a minister from the United Arab Emirates, Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah, put forward as a candidate by the UAE. The UAE has, it was noted,, the "Humanitarian City." And the UAE did give $1 million to OCHA's CERF last month.
But the UAE sought, and has been unable to obtained, UN Asia Pacific Group consensus support for their candidate. This is a set-back.
The UK's second duo of candidates, after opposition to Andrew Lansley: Caroline Spelman and Stephen O'Brien. Are those who oppose and opposed Lansley being lobbied?
Germany's candidate Martin Kobler, a close observer emphasizes to Inner City Press that Kobler was for a time the UN's first choice to be UN Special Coordinator on the Middle East, before after opposition by a Permanent Five Security Council member the position went to Robert Serry.
Now Serry is to be replaced by Nickolay Mladenov, currently UN envoy in Iraq. The UK -- seeming to reflect a lack of confidence it will retain OCHA -- sought to name one of its national to replace Mladenov, but was shot down by Iraq. That process is now in its final stages.
Back on November 26, minutes after the UN announced the departure of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs chief Baroness Valerie Amos, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the vacancy would be advertised for candidates from all countries, or if it is set aside for Amos' United Kingdom.
On January 30 Inner City Press was reliable informed that UK Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and said -- "rudely," according to denizens of the UN's 38th floor -- that despite the UK's submission of two additional names, below, Ban "must" pick Andrew Lansley.
These sources say that Ban, as if to prove independence, will NOT choose Lansley but will keep the post UK, choosing on a progressive basis the female candidate,Caroline Spelman. Are those opposed to Lansley being lobbied for her?
UNITED NATIONS, February 26, more here, Video I here-- After Inner City Press reported on UK Prime Minister David Cameron's angry or "rude" call to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and more than a month after Inner City Press exclusively reported on Cameron's second and third nominees to replace Valerie Amos, today Inner City Press can reported that Cameron's replacement candidate Stephen O'Brien is slated to be interviewed next Tuesday, March 3, by Ban Ki-moon himself.
Sources also tell Inner City Press there is a "second Brit" in this final round, Caroline Spelman, the submissions of whose name was first reported by Inner City Press. "It's looking like [Andrew] Lansley is OUT," a well placed source told Inner City Press. But there are others in the final round, to be interviewed by video.
Can Martin Kobler, with the promised neutralization of the FDLR in the DR Congo so incomplete, be considered?
Beyond Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, who as on many similar issues Ban Ki-moon has put in charge of this process, Inner City Press is informed that the interview panel consists of two senior UN officials and two outside officials, including "the Swiss chief of the International Committee of the Red Cross."
That would be Peter Maurer, formerly Switzerland's Ambassador to the UN. As one source put it, this puts the UK with its "weak" candidates "even further behind the eight ball."
Inner City Press: on this OCHA recruitment process, I know that earlier in the process, Farhan, I think it was, had said there's been a petition asking for outside participation in the review and he'd said, no, this is something that can be done in-house. So I wanted to ask you not who's on the short list, but as a general matter, can you confirm that the UN has in fact accepted at least two outside people on the review panel, some of whom have been named in writing, but just the general principles…
Spokesman Dujarric: No, I understand. I think if you look — we can share with you — there's quite an extensive detailed report on how this recruitment process is done, which went to the General Assembly, I think, last year, and outlines the possibility for the Secretary-General to reach out to outside parties. But I will not confirm the details of this recruitment process. When it's over, we'll announce it.
Question: And will you say whether you had an outside participation…
Spokesman: When it's over, we'll announce it.
Talk about (a lack of) transparency...
Non-UK candidates, as Inner City Press has already first reported, include Germany's Martin Kobler, the United Arab Emirates' Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi -- for whom Ban was heavily lobbied when he was in the UAE recently -- and, Inner City Press now hears, "a South African candidate." We'll have more on this.
Citing Inner City Press' exclusive reporting on Caroline Spelman and Stephen O'Brien, the UK's second round of candidates after opposition to Andrew Lansley, C4's Lindsey Hilsum says Germany's candidate Martin Kobler led in a poll of 200 UN staff by Avaaz.
Whatever the other merits, there is now another unaddressed scandal at the UN Mission in the DR Congo, MONUSCO, which Kobler is in charge of. As exclusively uncovered by Inner City Press, UN Police posts in Kobler's mission were for sale, by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Cote d'Ivoire to the UN. Click here for that.
Back on January 14, Inner City Press was informed by sources of a minister from the United Arab Emirates, Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah, put forward as a candidate by the UAE. The UAE has, it was noted,, the "Humanitarian City." And the UAE did give $1 million to OCHA's CERF last month.
But the UAE sought, and has been unable to obtained, UN Asia Pacific Group consensus support for their candidate. This is a set-back.
The UK's second duo of candidates, after opposition to Andrew Lansley: Caroline Spelman and Stephen O'Brien. Are those who oppose and opposed Lansley being lobbied?
Germany's candidate Martin Kobler, a close observer emphasizes to Inner City Press that Kobler was for a time the UN's first choice to be UN Special Coordinator on the Middle East, before after opposition by a Permanent Five Security Council member the position went to Robert Serry.
Now Serry is to be replaced by Nickolay Mladenov, currently UN envoy in Iraq. The UK -- seeming to reflect a lack of confidence it will retain OCHA -- sought to name one of its national to replace Mladenov, but was shot down by Iraq. That process is now in its final stages.
Back on November 26, minutes after the UN announced the departure of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs chief Baroness Valerie Amos, Inner City Press asked UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq if the vacancy would be advertised for candidates from all countries, or if it is set aside for Amos' United Kingdom.
On January 30 Inner City Press was reliable informed that UK Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and said -- "rudely," according to denizens of the UN's 38th floor -- that despite the UK's submission of two additional names, below, Ban "must" pick Andrew Lansley.
These sources say that Ban, as if to prove independence, will NOT choose Lansley but will keep the post UK, choosing on a progressive basis the female candidate,Caroline Spelman. Are those opposed to Lansley being lobbied for her?
