UN Chief on defensive

Harsh attack on his leadership:

UN: Aides to Ban Ki-moon were in damage control mode Wednesday as the UN Chief reeled from a blistering attack on his leadership by the outgoing head of a UN unit battling internal fraud.

As Ban returned from a Kabul conference on Afghanistan, his spokesman faced questions about charges by Inga-Britt Ahlenius, the former head of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), that the UN boss sought to thwart her efforts and led the the world body into “decay.”

In a 50-page memo to Ban leaked to the Washington Post, Ahlenius accused the secretary general of systematically undercutting her authority, notably by thwarting her efforts to hire her own staff.

Ahlenius, who stepped down last Friday at the end of a five-year term, also launched a rare, personal attack, saying there was no accountability at the United Nations and more broadly questioning Ban’s stewardship. “I regret to say that the secretariat is in a process of decay,” the 72-year-old Swede added. AFP