JAPAN'S CANDIDATE FOR UNRWA COMMISSIONER GENERAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 002402 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2014 TAGS: PREF PREL AORC NL SUBJECT: JAPAN'S CANDIDATE FOR UNRWA COMMISSIONER GENERAL REF: SECSTATE 202615 Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew Schofer for reasons 1.4 (b) a nd (d) ¶1. (C) The Netherlands (in their national capacity, not as EU President) shares USG concerns about Japanese candidate Takashima's lack of credentials for UNRWA (reftel) but is not aware of any alternative candidates for the position, according to Marwienke Tillema, Senior Policy Officer at the MFA's UN Department. Tillema told Poloff on September 21 that the Dutch had also heard the as-yet-unsubstantiated rumor that Hansen might extend for an additional year. ¶2. (C) Tillema agreed to explore the issue further with EU colleagues. To flush out possible qualified candidates, she will try to get the UNRWA succession issue on the agenda of September's upcoming CONUN working group meeting in Brussels. If the agenda for that meeting is already too full to allow such a discussion, she said she would put it on the October CONUN agenda. She promised to keep us informed as discussions on this topic progess in EU councils. SOBEL