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da Internazionale:

FINANCIAL TIMES, Gran Bretagna http://www.ft.com

Annan chiede ad Arlacchi di lasciare.

Il segretario generale delle Nazioni Unite, Kofi Annan, ha chiesto a Pino Arlacchi di lasciare, quando sarà terminato il suo mandato, la carica di direttore dell'Agenzia antidroga delle Nazioni Unite. La decisione arriva dopo mesi di polemiche sulla gestione di Arlacchi che secondo Annan rischia di mettere in pericolo l'esistenza stessa dell'agenzia. Molti paesi europei hanno deciso di tagliare i fondi al programma Onu a causa della gestione di Arlacchi.

dal Financial Times
www.ft.com

Annan orders head of UN drugs agency to step down

By Carola Hoyos, United Nations correspondent
Published: July 24 2001 20:16GMT

Pino Arlacchi, head of the United Nations programme to combat the international drugs trade, has been told to step down. Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, told Mr Arlacchi that he must leave the organisation when his contract finishes at the end of February. Mr Annan has been careful not to voice his frustration over Mr Arlacchi openly. The secretary general made his request privately, leaving the Italian diplomat an opportunity to be seen leaving on his own accord. The move follows months of controversy over Mr Arlacchi's management style that has put in doubt the future of the UN's programme of fighting the international drugs trade. Several European donors, including the Netherlands, cut off their funding of the Vienna-based Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNDCP) following allegations of Mr Arlacchi's mismanagement, which were the focus of a damning UN investigation released last month. UN internal overseers who inspected the agency described its decision-making and operational system as "more appropriate for a task force than for an established organisation that needs clearly defined responsibilities and lines of authority".

Mr Annan is said to have been studying a second report concerning more serious allegations of misconduct by Mr Arlacchi relating to plans to send a 90-year-old wooden boat on a round-the-world trip "to raise awareness" of the agency. Diplomats who have seen the report say that it is even more damning than the first. Fred Eckhard, Mr Annan's spokesman, said: "We know the secretary-general is studying the reports and I've not been informed that he's yet made a final decision." Diplomats say Mr Arlacchi's fate was sealed when he lost the support of the US and Italy following the changes of administration in both countries. "The US is becoming less and less supportive. The Clinton holdovers are gone," said one. Mr Arlacchi, a former member of Italy's socialist party, is a political appointee who serves at the pleasure of the secretary-general and relies on the support of the Italian government. That support began to fade after rightwing Silvio Berlusconi was elected prime minister this year. Mr Annan has sought funding for the new post of deputy director of the UNDCP to rein in Mr Arlacchi. Mr Arlacchi, who has said in the past he has been unjustly singled out, could not be reached for comment.