UN-Truth

Journalists got this information in an exchange with a UN spokesperson at the regular UN Noon Briefing on Monday:
“Question: Shashi Tharoor is scheduled to speak on 1 March at Duke University and it identifies him still as Under-Secretary-General of Information. When does the new head of DPI start?
Spokesperson: I can check the exact date for you but I know Mr. Tharoor is here for at least the end of March.
[The Spokesperson later added that the new Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information will take up his duties on 2 April.]”
http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2007/db070227.doc.htm

The Times of India recently had a flattering (if not fawning) little piece on Tharoor’s departure:
“One of India’s most accomplished writer-diplomats has ended a three-decade career with the United Nations, seemingly with a future that holds untold promise. Shashi Tharoor, who joined the UN system when he was just 22, bowed out this week after the new UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon accepted several resignations from the previous dispensation, including that of Tharoor. Tharoor, who was Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Information during Kofi Annan’s term, had contested an election to succeed him, a run-off that pitted him against the South Korean Ban and several other contenders. Once he ended an honourable second best in that race, there was little chance that the Indian diplomat-writer would remain in the UN system despite his long service and vast experience. The announcement about the resignations and new appointments was made by fellow Indian Vijay Nambiar, another distinguished diplomat who recently retired from the Indian Foreign Service to become the new Secretary General’s Chef de Cabinet, which would make him the highest ranking official of Indian origin in the UN. Tharoor’s job will be going to Kiyotaka Akasaka, a Japanese diplomat who was the deputy-director of the OECD…Ban himself has spoken fondly of India, which was his first posting as a South Korean diplomat. His daughter Ban Hyun-hee is married to an Indian, Siddarth Chatterjee, and they both work in the Kenya office of the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF. Last month, Ban became the first UN Secretary General to make a full financial disclosure, revealing that he and his wife have assets valued at $1.2 million to $2.5 million, including an apartment and a plot of residential land in Seoul. Ban also disclosed that he made less than $100,000 in salary as South Korea’s foreign minister last year. As UN Secretary General, Ban will earn $403,958 a year and live for free in a lavish Manhattan residence for his five-year term. Tharoor meantime has said he is weighing his options and his future plans are unclear as yet. An acclaimed writer, a full-time literary career awaits him with certainty, besides diplomatic, academic and political possibilities in India.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/The_United_States
/Tharoor_bows_out_of_UN/articleshow/1590333.cms

Filed under: Shashi Tharoor watch, UN Administration