Cleaning out the Darfur Office

Apparently it isn't just state or federal government workers who risk their positions by sharing their professional expertise or institutional perspective through personal blogs; U.N. officials can be sacked, demoted, or transferred as well. Witness the case of U.N. special representative for Sudan Jan Pronk, whose candid comments on his weblog about the conflict in Darfur cost him his job. I actually thought that Pronk's erudite blog was a model of decorum, and that its journalistic components were hardly tabloid in their orientation. I would like to see more public officials offering such learned comments to broader audiences.

Pronk also includes photographs of himself and other UN officials out in the field, including these images of explaining the latest peace agreement to the populace.