African Group threatens Ban Ki Moon over Nr#2 post of UNDP

It seems that since his arrival in January 2007, when he had to deal with UNDP's cover-up in North Korea, Ban isn't having a good 2009 either in public relations. Halfway through a five-year term as UN SG, he's been hit with a wave of negative assessments by the top world media Financial Times,The Economist, , Foreign Policy.

An African Official has recently declared that: - "The African Group will blame Ban for the #2 position of UNDP". He claimed that Ban Ki Moon had previously promised the post to African Group, but now he is being "misled by his senior advisor Kim Won-so".

Meanwhile the saga over the nomination of #2 of UNDP continues. Representatives of African Group and from G77 have brought to the attention of Team Ban that a failure to award the post to an agreed African would cost Ban the second term and most probably take away from Asia the turn and give it to an Eastern European.

Many now say that the prospect of an Eastern European to replace Ban are being discussed also at WEOG (Western Europe and Other Group + USA). As one WEOG participant put it, after Norwegian "Confidential Memo" - all of us are "very concerned with Ban's performance and keeping open mind - our governments have already initiated unofficial briefings on the matter".