UN chief Ban reform plans run into criticism

United Nations, Feb 6: In office only a month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ran into dissension over his restructuring proposals, mainly among developing nations, prompting one European envoy to warn of death by a thousand meetings.

Returning from a trip to Africa and Europe yesterday, Ban, who has was elected in October to succeed Kofi Annan, was also criticized over the slow pace of senior appointments.

''Today is probably his first reality check,'' Dan Gillerman, Israel's UN ambassador, said after a two-hour closed meeting in the 192-member General Assembly.

''It shows you that Ban Ki-moon, who prepared this with diligence, is probably learning right now that changing anything is very difficult,'' Gillerman said.

The secretary-general, in an effort to balance posts between major contributors and poor nations, urged approval of proposals to split in two the peacekeeping department, which has to handle nearly 100,000 troops, police and civilians in 18 missions. One half would focus on operations and the other, new department, on management, procurement and logistics.

Ban also proposed putting the Department for Disarmament Affairs, now headed by an undersecretary-general, into his own office. While he said disarmament would receive more attention, the new office would be headed by a lower-ranking assistant secretary-general.

Europeans in general backed Ban's plans, with one diplomat warning that the assembly deliberations could result in ''death by a thousand meetings.''

Rich, Poor Struggle

The changes bring to the fore an ongoing struggle between rich and poor nations. Developing nations who command a majority in the General Assembly are anxious their authority not be sidestepped.

While Ban wanted approval as soon as possible, Pakistan's UN ambassador, Munir Akram, representing 114 developing nations, said, ''We do not think there should be arbitrary deadlines,'' adding that the proposals would have to be approved by two assembly committees.

India's UN Ambassador Nirupam Sen agreed. ''We have to go into details as to how the unity of command (in peacekeeping) in the field will be preserved,'' he said.

American Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, currently in charge of the U.S. mission, said Washington backed Ban and that with 192 members ''we could debate this indefinitely.'' ''It is his responsibility to deliver a secretariat that is responsive, that does its work well, that is efficient, that is transparent,'' Wolff said. ''We hold him accountable for that and therefore we ought to give him the authority to do the necessary changes.'' He said Ban had now decided to ''delink'' the naming of new officials from structural changes and he expected some appointments to be announced in days.

One anticipated appointment is B Lynn Pascoe, the American ambassador to Indonesia, as head of the key political affairs department.

Ban yesterday also introduced his new deputy secretary-general, Asha-Rose Migiro, 50, the former Tanzanian foreign minister, who will be in charge of management reforms.

Asked about critics who questioned her management experience, Migiro told reporters she did have ''managerial capability'' and pointed to managing two ministries.

Reuters