Interim director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Helene Pelosse has handed in her resignation after she claims to have been ‘forced out’ by the UAE.
Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Pelosse told the AFP that she had faced ‘intimidation’ and been forced out of the job after making claims that the UAE was delaying payments and jeopardizing the institution’s financial future. "The Emirates asked France for my head," Pelosse said, adding that one of the reasons was that she had worn a T-shirt reading "IRENA recruits 50% women" at a climate conference in Amsterdam at the end of 2009. "Since I’ve been here, I’ve done several things which have led each time to the (UAE) foreign minister calling Paris to say, ‘This does not please us at all,’" she said.
IRENA was headquartered in Abu Dhabi after the announcement of the world’s first carbon neutral city, Masdar City, was planned. If Pelosse’s claims are valid regarding the delayed payments from the Gulf country, it warrants the recent backlash that Masdar City has acquired.
Pelosse was replaced by Kenyan native Adnan Amin with Rafael Condo de Sara, the Spanish chairman of the preparatory commission, declining to give a comment as to the reasoning behind the former figure head’s resignation. Pelosse claims that her home had been broken into, phones tapped, and baggage searched at hotels. She added that she’d reached a point that left her fearing for her safety and plans to depart from the UAE on November 2.
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