UN Chief failed during Lankan visit – Norwegian diplomat

Norway’s UN Ambassador Mona Juul has criticized United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s leadership style including his role during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, where she maintained he had failed in his capacity as UN leader, the Oslo daily Aftenposten reported Wednesday.

Ban was said to have ‘regular outbursts’ making it hard to work with him, was struggling to show leadership and has lacked commitment, Norwegian UN Ambassador Mona Juul was quoted as saying in the secret report obtained by Aftenposten. ‘In a time when the UN and the need for multilateral solutions to global crisis are needed more than ever, Ban and the UN are conspicuous by their absence,’ Juul’s report read.

The publication of the classified report is likely unwelcome news for Oslo, as the UN head is scheduled to visit Norway at the end of August. The Norwegian diplomat was critical of Ban’s role during recent visits to Myanmar and Sri Lanka, where she maintained he had failed in his capacity as UN leader. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store told Aftenposten he did not want to comment upon Juul’s criticism or assess the UN secretary general’s performance halfway through his term, but said a diplomat’s role is to ‘report back’ on moods.

‘Everything does not rest with the secretary general,’ Store said. ‘My view is that the UN is the sum of what the individual countries that are members of the UN are prepared to do.’