By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 26 2000 (IPS)

After eliminating over half a dozen candidates with equally strong credentials, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Wednesday named a Dutch national and a Saudi national to head two key UN agencies.

Ruud Lubbers, a former prime minister of The Netherlands, was appointed UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to succeed Sadako Ogata of Japan who retires at the end of the year.

Thouraya Ahmed Obaid, the first Saudi Arabian woman to head a UN agency, was named the new Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). She will succeed Nafis Sadik of Pakistan who also retires at the end of the year.

A former deputy executive director for the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Obaid is currently Director of the Division for Arab States and Europe at UNFPA.

The only other Saudi national to head a UN agency was A.M. Al- Sudeary who presided over the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) from 1980 to 1984.

Both appointments are effective January 2001. Sadik retires after 14 years with UNFPA and Ogata after seven years with the Office of UNHCR.

After introducing Lubbers at a press briefing Wednesday, Annan said the appointment was made only after he had reviewed several candidates who had strong credentials for the job.

Based in Geneva, the Office of the UNHCR has an annual budget of over 1 billion dollars and oversees some 290 offices in more than 120 countries. The Office is entrusted with the task of protecting and assisting over 21 million refugees.

“This was an extremely difficult decision to make, both because of the importance of this post, and because I was fortunate to receive expressions of interest from a number of outstanding candidates,” Annan said.

“I also conducted my own search and solicited some additional candidacies. I gave them all my most serious consideration, but in the end I could appoint only one person,” he added.

Among the candidates on a short list were Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil, the UN Administrator in East Timor and Bernard Kouchner of France, the UN Administrator in Kosovo.

Annan admitted that among the several candidates proposed by governments were Jan Pronk, former Dutch Minister for Development Co-operation, and Emma Bonino of Italy, a former head of the European Community Humanitarian Affairs (ECHO).

Asked why he had opted for Lubbers over Pronk, who was a Dutch government nominee, Annan said he cannot give any reasons why one candidate was chosen over the other.

“I don’t want to get into: who blackballed whom? It is not fair by the candidates and by governments that proposed them,” he added.

But he singled out Lubbers for his outstanding leadership at the highest levels of government and his ability to reach out and work with national governments.

Annan said he would like to add a personal word to each of the “exceptionally well-qualified men and women who made themselves available for consideration” for the posts.

“I recognise that you, and many of your admirers in the international community, will feel disappointed that I have not found it possible to offer you this post. But I sincerely hope that your outstanding personal and professional qualities will continue to be placed at the service of the United Nations, and of humanity,” he added.

Obaid was one of three candidates – along with those from Turkey and Egypt – who were front runners for the UNFPA job.

The first Saudi woman to receive a government scholarship to study at a US university, Obaid has a PhD in English Literature from Wayne State University in Michigan.

Sadik, the outgoing UNFPA head, said she was very pleased with Obaid’s appointment. “I believe she has the necessary experience and skills to lead the Fund in the new millennium.”

“We have made great strides in population issues over the past 30 years. Individuals are now at the centre of population policy, and women’s empowerment is seen as critical for development,” she added.

“A woman dies every minute due to pregnancy-related causes, and some 350 million couples do not have access to a range of safe and effective contraceptive methods,” she noted.

“As Director of UNFPA’s Division for Arab States and Europe, Obaid has shown her commitment to these issues and I believe she will be courageous in moving the agenda forward. And, of course, I am delighted that my successor will be a woman,” added Sadik, who was the first woman to head a UN agency.

Sadik’s predecessor at UNFPA was Rafael Salas of the Philippines, who was the first Executive Director of the Fund back in 1969. Since that year, UNFPA has provided over 5 billion dollars in assistance to developing nations, primarily for reproductive health and family planning services.

Last month, Frances Stevenson, head of programmes for Medecins sans Frontieres, a non-governmental organisation involved in refugee work, complained about the lack of transparency in the proposed appointment of a new High Commissioner for Refugees.

“Like any democracy, we should know who the candidates are and there should be a public arena to allow debate rather than have it done behind closed doors,” she said.

Responding to a question at a press conference in Geneva early this month, Annan said: “This is not a public election. We have organised a long search. In fact, some of the candidates were not even candidates. They had to be sought out.”

Refusing to identify the candidates, Annan said it would be inappropriate to “throw names around”. If they do not happen to be selected, he said, then they would feel they had been rejected.

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