[WSIS CS-Plenary] FWD: Frechette to leave UN post

[Robert Guerra]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM. 
20051216.wfrech1216/BNStory/International/

Frechette to leave UN post

By EDITH M. LEDERER

Friday, December 16, 2005 Posted at 3:10 PM EST

Associated Press and Canadian Press

United Nations — Louise Fréchette, the UN's Deputy Secretary-General,  
who was criticized for tolerating corruption in the oil-for-food  
program, will join a research centre in Canada in April, the centre  
announced Friday.

A UN official confirmed that Ms. Frechette would be leaving next  
April, about nine months before Secretary General Kofi Annan's second  
five-year term ends on Dec. 31, 2006. The official spoke on condition  
of anonymity ahead of an expected UN announcement.

Jim Balsillie, chairman of the Centre for International Governance  
Innovation, a Canadian international relations and policy research  
centre, announced that Ms. Fréchette would join the organization as a  
distinguished fellow in April. The centre is based in Waterloo, Ont.

Ms. Fréchette has served as Mr. Annan's deputy since March, 1998,  
taking a mainly behind-the-scenes role in dealing with UN management.  
She was the direct boss of Benon Sevan, the oil-for-food program's  
executive director now being investigated for allegedly accepting  
kickbacks.


An exhaustive investigation of the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq,  
led by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, criticized  
the almost total lack of oversight of the program by the secretary  
general and deputy secretary general. It issued “adverse findings”  
against Ms. Fréchette, Mr. Annan and Mr. Sevan.

The report gave meticulous accounts of Mr. Annan's, Ms. Fréchette's  
and others' dodging responsibility. The investigators also accused  
Ms. Fréchette and Mr. Annan of tolerating corruption and doing little  
to stop former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's manipulations. The  
powerful UN Security Council was accused of doing much the same.

One of the largest humanitarian programs in history, oil-for-food was  
established in 1996 to help ordinary Iraqis cope with UN sanctions  
imposed after Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait – and it was a  
lifeline for 90 per cent of the country's population of 26 million.

Ms. Fréchette refused to comment on the report's findings at the time.

She was also in charge of a steering group on Iraq when the United  
Nations decided in May 2003 that UN staff could go back into the  
country after the U.S.-led war. A bomb exploded at UN headquarters in  
Baghdad three months later, on Aug. 19, 2003, killing 22 people  
including top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.

In a stinging rebuke in March 2004, Mr. Annan accused senior UN staff  
of ignoring the security threats in Iraq before the bombing. He fired  
one top official, demoted another and chastised Ms. Fréchette but  
refused to accept her resignation.

In recent months, she has been overseeing UN reform efforts.

Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Fréchette was Canada's deputy  
minister of national defence from 1995 to 1998. Before that, she  
served as associate deputy minister in the Finance Department. Ms.  
Fréchette started her career as a foreign service officer and was  
Canada's ambassador to the United Nations from 1992 to 1995.

She had made no secret of wanting to return to Canada, preferably in  
a research or academic environment.

Mr. Balsillie said that in her new post, Ms. Fréchette will supervise  
a research project over a two-year period on the political and  
economic issues arising from increased use of nuclear energy.

--
Robert Guerra <rguerra at privaterra.org>
Director, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
Tel +1 416 893 0377 Fax +1 416 893 0374