Britain Asks For The Moon: Horse-Trading At UN

Before throwing its weight behind Ban Ki Moon, the South Korean in the leading position to succeed Kofi Annan, the British Government set out conditions that included the promise of top jobs in the United Nations for British officials. The Times quotes diplomatic sources that “unseemly’ horse-trading also involved other countries.

” ‘It was like the European states carving up Africa in the 19th century,’ one diplomat at the UN said. ‘The very same countries that lecture the UN on the need to reform and to make appointments based on merit were the ones pressing for their candidates to be given top jobs.’

“Mr Ban, the South Korean Foreign Minister, is expected to be confirmed next week by formal vote after several rounds of arcane polling by the Security Council. When a new secretary-general is appointed, all UN under-secretaries will resign to allow the new man to assemble his own team.

“The five permanent Security Council members — Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States — all have the power of veto, and have used this to press their cases for plum posts for their officials. Sir Emyr Jones Parry, the British envoy to the UN, told Mr Ban this month that early in his tenure Britain would put forward the names of at least two ‘outstanding’ candidates for top posts in the secretariat.

“In particular, the British want to reclaim the job of under-secretary-general for the Department of Political Affairs, responsible for all the main international crises, including the Middle East, Iran, North Korea and other flashpoints.”