Radhika out who’s in?

U.N. Under-secretary-general (USG) Radhika Coomaraswamy, the highest ranking Sri Lankan in the U.N. system at present, will step down shortly as the Secretary-general's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

Since Secretary-general Ban Kimoon wants a new team for his second five-year term which began January 1, he has asked all senior officials holding the rank of USG and ASG (assistant secretary general) to resign from their posts if they have completed five years of service. The five year rule is to be enforced with few exceptions.

Radhika is one of the few senior officials who were offered an alternative posting in the field which she has politely turned down. Instead, she has accepted a professorship at New York University's global faculty programme.

With nearly 25 to 30 senior U.N. positions falling vacant within the next few months, Ban has sent a letter to all 193

member states asking them to submit names of qualified individuals to fill these jobs.

Meanwhile, judging by a letter sent out by the External Affairs Ministry to some of the overseas missions, Sri Lanka is interested in vying for some of these jobs. But so far it has not submitted any names.

As one official of the Ministry joked: This may be a golden opportunity for the Government to get rid of the rumbustious (though temporarily silenced) Mervyn Silva. Under the former Bush administration, the Americans called the UN "turkey farm" where all the incompetent and inefficient US officials were sent into virtual exile. And as one official of the external affairs ministry joked: this may be a golden opportunity for the government to get rid of the equally incompetent and rumbustious Mervin Silva.