Leading UN official quits

A leading UN official is quitting his job early after being caught up in a row over perks and pay.

Kamil Idris, head of the UN patent agency had faced pressure to resign after using an apparently false birth date to get jobs and win promotions.

Developed countries failed last month in their bid for a public debate on an internal report that said had claimed his year of birth as 1945 when he applied to join the agency, then changed it to 1954 last year.

The row led the United States and other Western countries to block approval of the agency’s budget for the 2008-2009 period, hampering its efforts to expand its work in developing countries.

Idris, from Sudan, announced his departure yesterday in an internal memo saying that he has “decided to advance the process for nominating and appointing a director general” and urges member states to consider approving the new budget.

No reason for his early departure, likely to be next Autumn.