ROME – As the Food and Agriculture Organization prepares for a crucial Council meeting next month, the embattled UN agency has been rocked by increasing tension between super ambitious FAO chief economist Maximo Torero and other heads of technical departments who resent his “narcissistic” tendency to interfere in their territory, diplomatic sources say.

 The ebullient Peruvian assistant director general has been throwing his weight around recently in areas considered beyond his expertise such as climate change and programming, evidently because he wants to get his profile up in order to be hired by another institution. Latin American member states do not see him as their representative in the FAO stratosphere but rather as a “creature of the World Bank,” where he worked before joining FAO in 2019. Now there is a growing body of opinion that Director General Qu Dongyu should cut Torero down to size or else remove him from the organization as a disruptive element, the sources say.

 “It seems like Qu is the president and Maximo is the CEO,” one veteran observer said, “this is creating an imbalance in other management areas. In an authoritarian state the president might resolve the matter by having someone like that shot.”

 “it is unclear if the DG knows all the details or the consequences,” the observer added.

 The presence of a high-level ‘loose cannon’ comes at a time when the FAO is being diverted from its challenging hunger-fighting mission by efforts promoted by Russia and China to make the agency a forum for controversy over the plight of Palestinians in Gaza and divert attention from the Russian war against Ukraine, the sources add. The result of attention to Gaza and before to Ukraine has been the neglect of solutions for other trouble spots such as Haiti, the Congo, Afghanistan,

 “The bullfighter Torero is more like a bull in a china shop,” one diplomat quipped.

 As things stand the number of hungry people in the world in 2030 is expected to be some 700 million, the same as in 2015, meaning that the UN is on course to fail in the second millenial development goal that it set itself.

 Among causes identified by observers for the looming failure is the FAO’s failure to cooperate horizontally and humbly with other international institutions and stakeholders to deal effectively in concert with the worst trouble spots for hunger in the world.

 In addition to the posturing of the “bullfighter” there is also speculation that  Hans Hoogeveen, the Independent Chairperson of the FAO Council, is jockeying for position to run as a candidate for FAO director general when Mr Qu’s second term ends. As a result he is seen as failing to curb the divisive discussion of geopolitical issues in the Council, which could be disruptive next month.

 European Union countries believe that the next DG should be European under the UN rotating spoils system and Italy also is believed to be considering fielding a candidate for the job.

 Also dividing member states is what is seen as manouvering by the South African ambassador to the FAO, Nosipho Nausca-Jean Jezile, to step into the shoes of Maria Helena Semedo, the fun-loving deputy director general with responsibility for dealing with the effects climate change, who reputedly was extremely close to former DG José Graziano da Silva, the sources add. Not all African member states believe Ambassador Jezile is well suited for the role, however.

 jf