Secretary-General Ban Said To Favor Briton as U.N. Envoy to Middle East

By BENNY AVNI, Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 8, 2007

UNITED NATIONS — A British diplomat who has worked at the United Nations and for Britain's Foreign Office, Michael Williams, is emerging as a strong candidate to become Secretary- General Ban's representative in the Middle East, according to several diplomats and officials here.

The prominent slot became vacant yesterday after a U.N. veteran, Alvaro de Soto of Peru, ended a two-year stint as Middle East envoy. Mr. de Soto was appointed in 2005 by Mr. Ban's predecessor, Kofi Annan. Mr. Ban, however, has been slow to fill vacancies, and the process of naming an envoy to the Middle East, which the United Nations considers one of its top assignments, may not be announced for some time, officials familiar with the deliberations said.

Israeli and Arab diplomats, as well as Mr. Williams, declined to speak about the assignment yesterday prior to an official announcement.

The United Nations was marginalized in Middle Eastern diplomacy during Mr. de Soto's term, partly because of such circumstances as the change in Palestinian Arab leadership following the Hamas victory of the Palestinian Arab elections, last year's war in Lebanon, and the continual regional strains related to the war in Iraq. According to several sources, Mr. de Soto also contributed to the marginalization by alienating Israel early in his tenure and by advising the organization to sever ties with the Bush administration.

A plan that Mr. Ban is considering, according to sources, is to name a top Middle East policy tsar, based in New York, in addition to the region-based envoy. The New York appointee would oversee policy issues related to the region.

Mr. Williams's U.N. career began in 1992, when he served in Cambodia. He later worked in the Balkans before returning to Britain to become a top aide at the Foreign Office, where he served under two foreign secretaries, Robin Cook and Jack Straw.

Several diplomats and officials describe Mr. Williams as an affable, easygoing diplomat who has the capacity to grasp large issues and lay them out on paper. He only began dealing intensively with Middle East issues in the past few years, when it became part of his portfolio at the United Nations's political department. Since then, he has built strong ties to officials both in Jerusalem and Arab capitals, and Mr. Ban has increasingly sought his advice.

The United Nations suffered a setback during last week's summit launching the five-year International Compact With Iraq peace and development plan, which was attended by Iraq's neighbors and interested parties, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In the summit's final statement, the responsibility for implementing the summit's decisions was transferred from the United Nations to the Arab League, which is currently led by Saudi Arabia.

Separately yesterday, Mr. Ban expressed his concern over the "extent and detail" of reports about weapons smuggling to Hezbollah across the Syria-Lebanon border. Mr. Ban also referred to reports of armaments in Palestinian Arab camps and called on the governments of Syria and Iran to cooperate in implementing the relevant resolutions.

As well, there was no evidence to substantiate speculations about the arming of anti-Syrian elements in Lebanon by Israel, Mr. Ban said.