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Valerie Amos, Top U.N. Relief Official, to Step Down Valerie Amos, Top U.N. Relief Official, to Step Down
(about 3 hours later)
Valerie Amos, the top relief official at the United Nations, who has grappled with some of the most intractable humanitarian disasters in her four years on the job, is resigning, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Wednesday. Valerie Amos, the top relief official at the United Nations, is resigning, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Wednesday, paving the way for a potential political showdown over her successor.
In a brief statement, Mr. Ban gave no explanation for why Ms. Amos was resigning, when the resignation takes effect or who might replace her. Farhan Haq, a spokesman for Mr. Ban, told reporters later that Ms. Amos would leave at the end of March, giving Mr. Ban time to choose a successor. The announcement followed speculation at the United Nations that Ms. Amos, 60, a British stateswoman with a long career in humanitarian work, might soon step down after four years. But the timing was a surprise.
“Ms. Amos has tirelessly advocated for people around the world affected by disaster and conflict,” Mr. Ban said in his statement. Her leadership and experience, he said, had “helped find solutions for people who are facing the worst experiences in their lives.” Effective March 31, the resignation appeared to have to do not with her performance — she was widely respected — but rather with political maneuvering in Britain, which has become accustomed to picking one of its nationals for the post, the under secretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.
The timing of Ms. Amos’s resignation announcement was considered a surprise. The British prime minister, David Cameron, has asked Mr. Ban to appoint one of his political loyalists, Andrew Lansley, to the position. Mr. Ban’s office has pressed Britain for other candidates, two senior United Nations diplomats said.
Ms. Amos, 60, the under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, has most notably been the face of the United Nations relief efforts for civilians in the Syrian civil war, now nearly four years old. “For positions of this nature, the secretary general should have a choice and be given more than one name,” one of them said.
She has repeatedly implored the Syrian government, with mixed results, to permit relief convoys into rebel-held areas. She supported a Security Council resolution approved in July that authorized, for the first time, the delivery of aid across Syria’s borders without the Syrian government’s permission. Another expressed concern about creating an impression of political patronage and said the secretary general should have the authority to choose the right person for the job, without being pressured by a powerful member state. Mr. Ban, the diplomats said, could always open the position up to candidates from other countries.
The resignation announcement came one day after Ms. Amos told the Council that although that resolution had made a difference, an estimated 12.2 million Syrians now need assistance because of conflict, up from 10.8 million in July. The issue goes to the heart of simmering complaints that what were once considered international civil service posts have in recent years been “colonized,” as one Western diplomat put it, by specific countries.
A former British cabinet minister, Ms. Amos took the United Nations position in 2010, about a year before the Syria conflict began. It has become customary for these posts to be distributed among the biggest world powers, which are still more influential because they are permanent members of the Security Council.
Syria has preoccupied much of her time, adding to the management of relief efforts like the 2013 typhoon disaster in the Philippines and a variety of humanitarian crises in Africa, including the conflict in South Sudan and the basic collapse of authority in the Central African Republic. The French have held the job of peacekeeping chief since 1997, while the World Food Program has been run by an American since 1992. Britain, like France and the United States, is a permanent member of the Security Council. China, another permanent member, has a citizen, Dr. Margaret Chan, running the World Health Organization, while a Russian diplomat, Yury Fedotov, heads the United Nations office in Vienna.
A Briton has held the job of under secretary general for humanitarian affairs since 2007.
Mark Malloch Brown, a former United Nations deputy secretary general and a veteran British diplomat, was openly critical of Britain’s pressure on Mr. Ban.
“While other permanent members have pulled the same stunt in recent years, it degrades the authority of the S.G. and diminishes the secretariat,” he said in an email, using initials for the secretary general. “Britain should know better.”
While Ms. Amos was a political appointee, she came with a formidable background in aid issues. She had been secretary of state for development in the British government.
In a brief statement, Mr. Ban gave no indication of why Ms. Amos was resigning or who might replace her.
“Ms. Amos has tirelessly advocated for people around the world affected by disaster and conflict,” Mr. Ban said in his statement.
Ms. Amos has most notably been the face of the United Nations’ relief efforts for civilians in the Syrian civil war, now nearly four years old.
She has repeatedly implored the Syrian government, with mixed results, to allow relief convoys into rebel-held areas. She pushed for a Security Council resolution, approved in July, that authorized for the first time the delivery of aid across Syria’s borders without the government’s permission.
Ms. Amos took the United Nations position in August 2010, less than a year before the Syrian conflict began. Her tenure has coincided with a surge of humanitarian crises, both man-made and natural, including the 2013 typhoon disaster in the Philippines and gory sectarian conflicts in Central African Republic and South Sudan.
Ms. Amos informed her staff of her resignation plans in a letter posted Wednesday on her agency’s website. She said nothing about what she intended to do next.
She noted in the letter that she was the longest-serving person in the job and said she was “extremely proud of the way we have worked together to make the humanitarian response system more effective.”
Mr. Cameron proposed Mr. Lansley for the position when he met with Mr. Ban at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Brisbane, Australia, last week, according to diplomats. Mr. Lansley is a Conservative politician who led the House of Commons until earlier this year, and before that he was the health secretary. In that role, he came under criticism for his handling of health care changes.