Annan Shakes Up Staff 

Stewart Stogel 
January 7, 2005 
Newsmax
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/1/7/71340.shtml

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has requested resignations from key members of his staff, so revealed several diplomatic sources to NewsMax on Thursday night. 

The resignations come as two key members of the U.N. chief's inner circle already ammounced their intentions to leave. 
Annan's chief de cabinet (chief of staff), Iqbal Riza, left the world body after 30 years in December. 
The U.N.'s undersecretary-general for personnel management and director of international security operations, Catherine Bertini, also announced her retirement in December. 
The latest round of personnel musical chairs comes just weeks before former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker submits his preliminary findings on the alleged multi-billion dollar embezzlement of the (now defunct) Iraq Oil-for-Food Program. 
U.S. Congressional investigators claim as much as $21 billion may have been illegally siphoned from the program which ran from 1996-2003. 
One key member of the current group of U.N. retires includes the director of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). 
OIOS is the semi-independent operation chartered by the General Assembly to investigate charges of corruption and mismanagement within the world body. 
It has been headed by Dileep Nair, who submitted a resignation which was accepted by Annan. 
Nair had been plagued by recurring charges of incompetence and sexual harassment by the U.N. staff union as well as other staffers, some reportedly inside his own department. 
'Full Confidence' 
Only weeks ago, Annan had expressed full confidence in his chief internal investigator, and now he is out. 
Originally, Nair was charged to lead the U.N.'s investigation into the Oil-for-Food embezzlement, only to be removed ftom the case and an independent commission headed by Volcker formed by Annan. 
The move by the U.N. chief comes as yet another potential U.N. crisis looms on the horizon. 
NewsMax has learned of internal reports at the U.N. detailing corruption in the world body's operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 
The U.N.'s investigations detail rapes, embezzlements and serious security lapses in the war ravaged African nation, including major problems at the U.N.'s center in Kinshasa which employs over 600. 
The Congo report first surfaced almost a year ago, but the U.N. launched a review of the report late last summer. The review is said to confirm the allegations made in the initial report. 
Annan, in Indonesia to survey the tsunami relief operations was unavailable for comment.