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United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday defended the appointment of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as UN special envoy in Democratic Republic of Congo, Empowered Newswire reported.
United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday defended the appointment of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as UN special envoy in Democratic Republic of Congo, Empowered Newswire reported.
But questions relating to how Obasanjo, as the president, single-handedly approved a $8bn railway Chinese deal continues to dog his appointment as UN special envoy to crisis-ridden DRC.
In the country rebels are accusing President Joseph Kabila of a similar side deal-worth $9bn for the Chinese also.
Last week, Obasanjo admitted there were obstacles in the talks, although he offered to continue the dialogue.
But independent sources, including a western news agency, Inner City Press, reported that 'the talks have broken down,' quoting the spokesperson of the rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda.
According to Inner City Press, a New-York based purely investigative media on the UN, this breakdown in talks is 'because Ban Ki-moon‘s chosen envoy, former Nigerian General and President Olusegun Obasanjo, is not objective.'
Ban said, 'First of all, President Obasanjo in his capacity as my special envoy has been making great efforts; in fact he has made some great improvements in the situation there.
'He was able to broker a cessation of hostilities in that region and he himself and his aide met several times with General Nkunda. This will continue.
'He is a former President, and whatever he had done as his national government policy at the time of his Presidency, I think he is now out of his government.
'He is acting only as the special envoy of the Secretary-General. Therefore I do not think there is any conflict of interest in his carrying out of duties as a special envoy.'