STEEP LEARNING CURVE FOR U.N.'S BAN !

Mr Ban has spoken out on global warming and Darfur. The new UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has been in office for just over 100 days - traditionally the period in which new leaders make their mark.
Upon taking office, Mr Ban pledged to be a harmoniser and a bridge builder, who would restore trust in the UN. The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN asks how the man with what has been called the most impossible job on earth has been doing.
It's not easy being UN secretary general - Kofi Annan was fond of quoting how it is often called the most impossible job on earth.
Ban Ki-moon has been installed in his suite of offices on the 38th floor of the towering UN secretariat building in Manhattan for three months now.
One senior aide to Kofi Annan predicted it would be a vertical take-off for the new man in charge - and so it has proved.
Mr Ban has gone from being South Korea's foreign minister to the head of an often fractious and divided world body with 192 different member states.
Not only that, but the UN is an organisation steeped in its own peculiar and highly specific sub culture - where resentments and tensions over geopolitics spill over into this building and manifest themselves in strange ways.
Asked about the frustrations of his first 100 days, Mr Ban told reporters: "Frustration? I have been trying to learn and adapt myself as fast and as well as possible. I have learned many lessons and I have been much encouraged by the strong support from my staff and member states."
Department troubles
The five permanent members of the Security Council - France, Britain, the US, China and Russia - effectively selected Mr Ban.
He can bark about lots of things but he can't force change in the organisation
Professor Ed LuckColumbia UniversityThey had the power to veto the appointment and Mr Ban's pitch to reform the UN after a turbulent period in which the oil-for-food scandal had tarnished the organisation's reputation was well received.
But the new secretary general's sensible sounding plan to split the overstretched Department of Peacekeeping into two and reshape the Department of Disarmament ran straight into trouble. Jim Traub, author of Kofi Annan and the UN, explained why.
"The Disarmament Department hasn't succeeded in disarming anyone or anything but it doesn't matter because the Third World likes disarmament, so the Third World rose up as one against this change," he said.
"He was shocked to discover that what he thought was a purely institutional set of arrangements that needed to be made provoked a mighty uproar. In the aftermath he went about doing that kind of painstaking political work, ie grovelling, which he is apparently expected to do to make any changes."
'On message'
Senior diplomats from Western and developing world nations do not usually agree on much but they are united in complaining privately that the new boss is too reliant on his South Korean advisers.
Global warming is well chosen not only in the sense that is it as immense and urgent an issue as Aids is, but also unlike let's say terrorism, it's more amenable to UN action
Jim TraubAuthor, Kofi Annan and the UNIt's no way to run a world body, observed one ambassador. But Ed Luck, professor of international relations at Columbia University in New York, says such complaints are overblown.
"Partly the UN hasn't seen an Asian secretary general for 35 years, the style is a bit different and certainly he's had to get used to an organisation where the secretary general has enormously high profile but little power," he says.
"He can bark about lots of things but he can't force change in the organisation."
But on the key issues facing the world, says Ed Luck, Mr Ban is right where he should be.
"He's shown a lot of courage facing up to very tough issues, and a willingness to speak truth to power, as when he spoke to President Bush about the need to focus on global warming, when he tells the Sudanese that they have to do something about Darfur. He's been willing to be outspoken."
Priority issue
Mr Ban has soft power - the power to persuade, to preach from his pulpit, rather than the hard power of military might or economic force. Jim Traub says the new secretary general has clearly identified a pressing problem where he can use the soft power at his disposal.
"I think his one substantive priority has been global warming. Just as for Kofi Annan the one priority he singled out was Aids," he says.
"Global warming is well chosen not only in the sense that is it as immense and urgent an issue as Aids is, but also unlike let's say terrorism, it's more amenable to UN action."
For Ed Luck, Mr Ban has made a solid start and will only get stronger: "I think insiders probably fret more about all the little mistakes of one sort or another, these things really don't matter too much.
"I think what the world has seen is a secretary general who cares a great deal about the organisation, who's very energetic, who has a personal modesty which is refreshing and who is determined to make a difference. I think the people will stay with him and I think the governments will get used to him."
Mr Ban himself told reporters he is clear about what his priorities are in the days to come.
"I am going to step up my diplomatic efforts to resolve the Darfur situation, and Somalia, and try to contribute more to the Middle East peace process," he said.
"So, maybe you have to wait and see until you can see some of my achievements."

BBC NEWS REPORT.