Is Kofi On The Way Out?

High level, tightly controlled press corps, like the White House or UN press corps, are a quick-to-speculate group, always grubbing theories like a truffle hog grubs 'shrooms. So this exchange is offered with caveats as to its relationship to reality, but every once in a while, they do find a truffle.

The rumor: Kofi's about to be replaced by Mark Malloch Brown. The exchange with the press and Kofi's spokesperson, Fred Eckhard:

Question: Fred, were you surprised that your resignation has been accepted or were you expecting it? I hear it’s mainly due to a conflict in styles with Mark Malloch Brown?

Spokesman: No, it had nothing to do with a conflict withMark Malloch Brown. I wanted to give the Secretary-General the option of making a change now. With the arrival of Mark, of course, there is already a noticeable change in how we handle our communications.

Was I surprised? I think I was relieved. And I think the Secretary-General has a very good instinctive sense of the people who work for him and he picked up how profoundly tired I am. So he asked me to stay through the end of June and I agreed. And after that I’ll be a free man, thank you very much.

Question: Fred, there is a growing feeling among some of the delegates that I have talked to that, in fact, Mr. Mark Malloch Brown has become the de facto Secretary-General and most of the decisions are being made by him. The Secretary-General is just rubber-stamping them.

Spokesman: Oh I don’t think that’s an accurate reading at all, if you know anything about the Secretary-General and how he operates. His choice of Mark Malloch Brown, I think, reflected his sense that the UN needed to get upfront and more aggressive in defending itself against an increasingly hostile segment of the media and the political spectrum.

Mark Malloch Brown is a very outgoing personality, as you know from having met him. It’s easy to see how he would get plenty of media notice. And that, indeed, is part of his job description that the Secretary-General has given him. But taking over? No way.

Question: No Chef de Cabinet before him has been so bold and made decisions at that level before...

Spokesman: The position of Chef de Cabinet is a very powerful one, and different people carry out their responsibilities in that post in different ways. The predecessor, Mr. Riza, was a consummate diplomat and you hardly ever saw him. It didn’t mean that he didn’t have a significant role to play.

That’s why the Secretary-General picks a very close confidant as Chef de Cabinet, because it is such a powerful position.