UN chief gives out top jobs

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday named a top management team dominated by officials from powerful countries in a bid to win big countries’ support for longer-term reform of the UN.

Some officials however accused him of bowing to pressure from powerful countries in deciding UN appointments. Mr Ban has promised a fresh start in the way the UN does business.

The US, China, Japan and Egypt all won top jobs, while France and Russia retained their current posts. He had previously appointed government officials from the UK, India and Tanzania.

The announcement followed a difficult first month for Mr Ban, in which he earned widespread criticism for the slow pace of appointments, a lack of transparency over decision-making, and a backlash by member states over restructuring plans.

The UN’s bureaucracy was paralysed last month after 55 senior managers were asked to tender their resignations, but did not receive any news on their fate until on Saturday.

Mr Ban’s team hoped on Friday to curb that criticism and press ahead with an overhaul of the UN’s most important departments, although Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff, declined to explain what the particular appointees brought to the job. Mr Nambiar claimed, however, that the appointments were Mr Ban’s decision, and not the result of national pressure.

The UN’s top management now includes nationals from all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, some of the most influential voices in the developing world, and the UN’s biggest paymasters, although Germany failed to secure a post.

Lynn Pascoe, the US ambassador to Indonesia, will now head the UN’s political affairs department – but there are questions as to whether he will be seen as independent in discussions over crises in the Middle East, Myanmar, or Africa.

“He is a State Department guy,” said one Western diplomat, who was likely to be perceived as “influenced by US policy. I see that as a potential problem; it will be much harder for him.”

The diplomat also warned there was a “danger (Mr Ban’s team) misread the soft tone” of a recent public debate on restructuring of the UN. “No-one wants to throw the first stone in that kind of format, (but) on substance the opposition is strong.”