Reuters: UN aid chief succession in focus amid exploding humanitarian crises : Emma Farge / Reuters

Note the last paragraph - the 'unwritten rules' of senior UN appointments continue locking appointments into an irrational political system of 'who gets what'.

Joyce Msuya, OCHA

"Martin Griffiths has said the plan is to appoint his deputy Joyce Msuya from Tanzania as acting chief."

Click here for the article in Reuters

"Someone acting temporarily is not a good thing," Jan Egeland, who held the post from 2003-2006 and is now secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters.

"They don't have the same authority, perspective, the same weight at a time of deep crisis in humanitarian work – we haven't had so many people hungry, attacked, abused with so little hope before in living memory."

"Under the unwritten rules of a U.N. system, the five countries holding permanent seats on the Security Council divide up key the roles. Britain gets aid; France gets peacekeeping; the United States gets political affairs; China gets economic affairs; and Russia gets a key U.N. post in Europe.