UNRWA SUCCESSION - UNRWA STAFF AND DONORS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 009891

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM, NEA AND IO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2014
TAGS: PREF PREL KPAL JO UNRWA
SUBJECT: UNRWA SUCCESSION - UNRWA STAFF AND DONORS
RESIGNING THEMSELVES TO HANSEN EXTENSION

REF: AMMAN 9013 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires David Hale for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)
.


1. (C) SUMMARY AND COMMENT. UNRWA's small cadre of reformist
senior managers are resigning themselves to the growing
possibility the SYG will extend Peter Hansen's tenure as
UNRWA ComGen. They fear that major donors' inability to
coalesce around a viable alternative, combined with the fact
that formal UNSYG office consultations with stakeholders is
limited to the non-representative Advisory Commission (and
led by a Hansen supporter),is leaving Annan no other option.
A preliminary survey of officials from ADCOM member states
suggests it is possible Chef d'Cabinet Iqbal Reza could
report that a majority of ADCOM members favor Hansen's
extension. Despite these prospects, Amman and
Jerusalem-based major donor representatives confirmed in
December 10-13 telcons with Refcoord that their governments
have effectively ceased their effort to search for
candidates, although three names are reportedly circulating
in EU channels. Renewed USG engagement, including contingency
planning to ensure that any "gentlemen's agreement" the SYG
may make with Hansen to limit his tenure is enforced, may be
critical to prevent the departure of Deputy ComGen Abuzayd
and to preserve the gains reform-minded stakeholders have
made over the last year. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.

HANSEN DETERMINED TO REMAIN
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2. (C) UNRWA External Relations Director Andrew Whitley
(protect),who accompanied the UNRWA ComGen to the Agency's
annual pledging meeting in NY last week, told Refcoord that
Hansen appeared buoyed by a one-on-one meeting he had with
Kofi Annan December 3. He explained that while Hansen did
not receive the explicit backing he had sought, he emerged
believing that Annan's own recent experience fending off
resignation calls had strengthened prospects that the SYG
would approve a new term for Hansen. According to Whitley,
senior UNRWA officers were surprised that Hansen failed to
make any mention of his future plans during his last
scheduled meeting with the Management Committee (December 8),
offering only an oblique reference to the fact that both he
and Annan had discussed that they were both facing calls for
their resignation (sic). Hansen's extension of Gaza Field
Director/Chief of Operations Lionel Brisson and Health
Services Director Fathi Mousa in the past month (both
considered &old guard8 opponents of donor efforts to
establish greater oversight over UNRWA's operations) -- in
contravention of UNRWA rules that prohibit a ComGen from
extending staff beyond the period of his own tenure --
suggests that Hansen believes he has the support of New York.


UNSYG CHEF D'CABINET CONSULTS ADVISORY COMMISSION
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3. (C) Senior UNRWA staff regard Hansen's personal assessment
of his standing in New York to be widely off base. Whitley,
for example, recounted how his contacts in the UNSYG's office
had been incensed by Hansen's "unnecessarily provocative"
statements, issued on the eve of this fall,s Major Donor,s
Meeting, rationalizing UNRWA staff support for Hamas.
Whitley added that the damage to Hansen's reputation did not
appear to have been remedied when he accompanied Hansen to
New York last week, as the SYG,s MidEast Advisor had told
him over a private dinner that he thought Hansen was "in
denial." Separately, SDC Jerusalem Director Fritz Froelich
told Refcoord that his Mission in New York confirmed that
Annan made no commitment to support an extension at this
meeting, noting USG opposition. However, staff and donors
both fear the ComGen,s optimism may be warranted for two
reasons. Formal UNSYG office consultations with stakeholders
on the succession issue are being conducted by longtime
Hansen supporter UNSYG Chef de Cabinet Iqbal Reza. Second
those consultations are limited, per UNRWA's 1949 mandate, to
the members of UNRWA,s formal (but non-representative)
consultative body, the UNRWA Advisory Commission (ADCOM).
(COMMENT: The Secretary's November 30 call to the SYG
reiterating our opposition to extending Hansen has not yet
filtered to UNRWA field staff. END COMMENT.) An informal
survey of local officials from the nine other ADCOM member
states (Belgium, Egypt, France, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon,
Syria, Turkey, and the UK) was inconclusive, but left open
the possibility that Reza could conclude the majority of
ADCOM members support extending Hansen. While the UK is
clearly opposed to a fourth term, Syria and Lebanon are
strongly supportive of extending Hansen. Jordan is opposed,
by is unlikely to make its views conspicuous. According to
Turkish Embassy Counsellor Sadi Altinok, Turkey has no
official position on Hansen. The Embassies of the remaining
AdComm members, including the Japanese, could not confirm how
they would respond to Reza. (NOTE: We confirmed that
Jordan's position has not evolved as a result of the recent
turnover at the Department of Palestinian Affairs. Senior
Policy Advisor Muna Darwaza informed us that Reza had called
incoming DG Azayzeh last week; although she was not privy to
their discussion, she assured us Jordan's position favoring a
change in UNRWA leadership remained firm. Japanese Embassy
Polcouns Yamaguchi revealed that Japan did not have a single
country backing its candidate, but was uncertain whether
Tokyo was prepared to formally withdraw his candidacy. END
NOTE.)


4. (C) While our preliminary count suggests this
consultative process is still underway, Amman-based CIDA
officials informed Refcoord December 11 that the Canadian UN
Mission had a sent a troubling report last week claiming the
SYG,s office is already poised to extend Hansen for a
further nine months. The possibility the SYG would extend
Hansen under a "gentlemen's agreement" that he depart before
2006 strikes most long-time UNRWA watchers as feasible, as it
would enable the SYG to comply with his ten-year limit on
senior management tenure in the absence of a viable
alternative.

MAJOR DONORS ARE NOT PURSUING THE CANDIDATE SEARCH
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5. (C) Although the ADCOM position on Hansen is unclear,
Amman and Jerusalem-based major donor representatives
confirmed in December 10-13 telcons with Refcoord that their
governments have effectively ceased their search for
replacement candidates. Swedish Vice Counsul Ann Mawe, for
example, noted that even the ongoing visit of Deputy
Development Cooperation Minister Anika Soeer to the region
had failed to kickstart GOS' efforts. Jerusalem-based EC
UNRWA watcher Phillipe Jacques was unable to reach Near East
Political Advisor Christian Berger to confirm lastest EU
thinking on the COMGEN succession issue, but told Refcoord
that he believed no/no European donor is mounting an eleventh
hour search, based on recent EU email traffic. These
contacts confided that EU countries are looking to the U.S.
for leadership. As reported to PRM/ANE, SDC Amman made a
formal demarche to Refcoord to inform us that Switzerland is
prepared to publicly endorse "any candidate the U.S. backs."
According to these contacts, three names are still being
discussed in EU email chains as possible candidates: Former
Amnesty International official Ian Martin -- who was recently
dispatched to conduct a three month survey of the human
rights situation in Darfur by the High Commissioner for Human
Rights -- remains interested in the position, according to EU
officials, but will not/not identify himself as a candidate
if it means openly opposing Hansen. Geir Pedersen is also
regarded as a potential candidate despite concerns that he
lacks management experience, having previously held only a
D-2 position within the UN. Finally, UNRWA Gaza Field
Director/Chief of Operations Lionel Brisson has been mounting
an effort to develop interest around his own candidacy, with
little apparent support. Andrew Whitley also told Refcoord
that the SYG,s Senior Political Advisor told him in NY last
week that the SYG had considered Kamel Merjane as a potential
replacement, but had determined he was "too indispensable" to
UNHCR during the Lubber transition.

IMPACT OF A HANSEN EXTENSION -- DEPARTURE OF DEPUTY COMGEN?
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6. (C) Reform-minded UNRWA staff and donors believe a Hansen
extension would deliver a significant blow to efforts to
improve UNRWA operations by hastening the departure of the
two senior officials who were instrumental in advancing
stakeholders' calls for greater oversight and planning.
Andrew Whitley and longtime UNRWA watchers are convinced
Deputy ComGen Karen Abuzayd will step down this summer if
Hansen were extended. According to Whitley, Abuzayd agreed
to a limited (one-year) term last August on the explicit
understanding that Hansen would depart and that she would be
needed to manage the transition. SDC Representatives believe
that she is angling for other UN positions, and only turned
down the A/SYG positions she had been offered with UNHCR in
Sudan and Iraq this past year because she hopes to be offered
a more senior position. Whitely told Refcoord December 12
that he would also resign when his tenure expires in July if
there is no change in UNRWA,s leadership. Some donors
believe that Budget Director Fiona Grant,s recent decision
to leave UNRWA was prompted by her disillusionment with the
resistance she was meeting while attempting to introduce some
of the methodologies advocated at the high-level conference
Switzerland hosted in Geneva last June to analyze
systematically UNRWA operations. While the departure of
Abuzayd and Whitley would still leave some reform minded
Field Directors (i.e., Syria and the West Bank) who are
committed to implementing the reforms called for in Geneva,
most donors believe any inroads made as a result of the
Geneva Conference would be lost with their absence. In a
December 12 telcon, SDC Amman rep Adrian Gnaegi told Refcoord
that he feared the only lasting achievement from Geneva would
be the ongoing effort to reform UNRWA-stakeholder
consultative bodies.


7. (C) COMMENT: Given the number of second hand reports we
have received from New York claiming the SYG is contemplating
extending Peter Hansen for an additional nine months under
some sort of gentlemen's agreement, we are concerned the
UNSYG's office may not be preparing the shortlist of
alternate candidates promised in October. Strategies that
might be employed to limit Hansen's reappointment, could
include keeping the ComGen position open after Hansen's term
ends in February in order to extend the candidate search to a
point where some officials under consideration within the USG
and EU might become available (i.e., Martin, Merjane). Our
conversations with Amman and Jerusalem-based UNRWA watchers
suggest there would also be strong support for a joint donor
approach to the UN to ensure that any extension the SYG may
offer Hansen is strictly enforced.
HALE