Kai Eide
Kai Eide | |
---|---|
Born | Kai Aage Eide 28 February 1949 |
Nationality | Norwegian |
Occupation(s) | Diplomat and writer |
Spouse | Gro Holm |
Kai Aage Eide (born 28 February 1949 in Sarpsborg) is a Norwegian diplomat and writer. He was appointed the United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on 7 March 2008, a position he held until March 2010 when Staffan de Mistura took over.[1]
Eide has previously served as the Special Envoy of the
He has been a member of the Norwegian Foreign Service since 1975. He was the Norwegian ambassador to
While being a member of the
Eide holds a
Firing of Peter Galbraith
UN deputy special representative in Afghanistan Peter Galbraith, Eide's subordinate, was fired by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after he urged UNAMA to take actions to prevent fraud in the 2009 Afghan presidential elections and to take action, consistent with its mandate to support "free, fair and transparent" elections once the fraud took place. After being informed of his dismissal, Galbraith wrote Ban Ki-moon a letter accusing Eide of helping to cover up electoral fraud and favoring Hamid Karzai.[5][6][7]
On 11 December 2009 Kai Eide, announced that he would step down from his post in March. He said he was not resigning but simply fulfilling a commitment he made to his family in March 2008 to spend only two years in Kabul. De Mistura, a Swedish-Italian diplomat who earlier headed the UN mission in Baghdad, was appointed as his successor.
Eide proposed the appointment of a senior civilian representative to coordinate relief efforts by the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. He also urged the UN leadership to allow his successor to hire more staff from the United States and other Western countries, saying it would increase their confidence that their money is being properly spent.[8]
Peter Galbraith, in an interview with Foreign Policy, maintains that Eide did not resign voluntarily as he claimed, but was forcibly removed: "Kai's problem was that he valued his relationship with Karzai above all else, including having honest elections...He was so discredited by the way he handed the election and the fallout from engineering my ouster. He cut his own throat." Galbraith predicted that Eide would be replaced by Swedish diplomat De Mistura.[9]
Shortly after this comment by Galbraith, Kai Eide accused Galbraith of proposing to enlist the
Nonetheless, Eide said that he told Galbraith that the plan was "unconstitutional" and "interference of the worst sort", which, if pursued, would provoke not only a strong international reaction" but also civil insurrection. Eide did not address the issue of Karzai's effort to unconstitutionally extend his term. It was during this conversation that Galbraith proposed taking a leave to the United States, and Eide accepted. Galbraith denied he had pursued the plan and both Vice President Joe Biden and Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, two close Galbraith allies, confirmed that the matter had never been raised with them.[10]
Negotiations with Taliban
In early 2010, Kai Eide put out the word that he had secret exploratory talks with Taliban commanders to discuss peace terms, as emerged end of that month during the
Oskar Kokoschka Painting
While serving as Chairman in Office of the OSCE, Kai Eide arranged for the Norwegian Government to rent a very expensive villa for his use. His landlord subsequently gave him a painting by the German Expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka which he did not declare to the Norwegian tax authorities. During the subsequent investigation, Kai Eide took a leave from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
References
- ^ Leithead, Alastair (28 March 2008). "UN's new Afghan envoy begins work, from". BBC News. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ "Kai Eide biography from NATO webpages". Nato.int. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-82-03-23561-0.
- ^ "Kai Eide" (in Norwegian). Storting.
- ^ Peter Galbraith (10 October 2009). "Fired UN Official Peter Galbraith Accuses the United Nations of Helping Cover Up Electoral Fraud Committed By Afghan President Hamid Karzai".
- ^ Ben Farmer (4 October 2009). "US diplomat claims UN tried to gag him". The Daily Telegraph. UK.
- ^ Peter Galbraith (4 October 2009). "What I Saw at the Afghan Election". The Washington Post.
- ^ Lynch, Colum (12 December 2009). "Top U.N. envoy in Kabul to step down Eide's tenure marked by dispute over Afghan presidential election". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ "Galbraith: Eide was fired". Thecable.foreignpolicy.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ Glanz, James (16 December 2009). "U.N. Officials Say American Aide Plotted to Replace Karzai". The New York Times. Afghanistan. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ Julian Borger (28 January 2010). "UN in secret peace talks with Taliban – Kabul envoy met top commanders in Dubai this month to discuss terms". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ Filkins, Dexter (29 January 2010). "U.N. Mission Head in Afghanistan Met With Taliban Envoys". The New York Times. Afghanistan. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ 5 Minutes 10 Minutes (15 December 2011). "UN ups ante with secret Taliban talks". The Australian. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Afghan Taliban Deny Meeting with UN". .voanews.com. 30 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ Graff, Peter (30 January 2010). "Afghan Taliban deny meeting U.N. envoy". Reuters. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ "Afghan Taliban deny peace talks with UN's Kai Eide". BBC News. 30 January 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ "Taliban denies reports that leaders met with U.N. envoy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
- ^ Partlow, Joshua (31 January 2010). "Taliban maintains hard-line stance, denies U.N. meeting|". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 January 2012.