Mentions
UN and the Kofi Annan years

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

The Daily Sun
October 4, 2006

As the year 2006 winds up, one thing that is sure to remain engraved in the memory of political writers especially on the black continent of Africa is the departure from the exalted position of the Secretary-General of the United Nations of one of Africa's most accomplished diplomats, Kofi Annan.

Kofi Annan, the first Secretary-General to be elected from the rank and file of the United Nations staff became the seventh Secretary-General of the august body seen around the world as the global government.

The fine diplomat, though not devoid of controversies, was born in Kumasi, Ghana on April 8, 1938. He studied at the University of Science and Technology in his place of birth and completed his undergraduate work in Economics at the Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America in 1961.

Between 1961 to 1962, he read for his post-graduate degree in economics at the prestigious institute --Universitaire des Hautes E'tudes Internationales in Geneva. As a 1971 – 1972 Sloan Fellow at the equally respected Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he bagged a Master of Science degree in Management. He joined the United Nations System in 1962 as an administrative and budget officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. Kofi Annan is indeed a square peg in a square hole in the reckoning of most objective analysts. He is a man extremely endowed with intellectual prowess and massive administrative acumen.

Since joining the United Nations management staff, Mr. Annan has worked variously in many strategic positions some or which include the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, the UN Emergency Force (UNEFII) in Ismailia, the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, and at the UN Headquarters in New York as Assistant Secretary-General for Human Resources Management.

Kofi Annan's finest moments which ironically turns out as one of his most contentious assignments, came when in 1990, the then Secretary-General asked him to head a special team to facilitate the repatriation of staff and citizens of Western countries from Iraq following that country's invasion of Kuwait, just as he led the first United Nations team negotiating with Iraq on sale of oil to fund purchases of humanitarian aid for the war-ravaged civilians of Iraq.

In summary, some of his private staff believe that the outgoing Chief scribe of the United Nations has achieved a lot. According to information downloaded from the United Nations website, the United Nations staff who prepared a biographical write up on Kofi Annan said that his first major initiative was his plan for reform, “Renewing the United Nations”, which was presented to the Member States in July 1997 and has been pursued ever since with an emphasis on improving coherence and coordination. His April 1998 report to the Security Council on “The Causes of Conflict and the Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable development in Africa” was among several efforts to maintain the international community's commitment to Africa, the most disadvantaged of the world's regions.”

In their words; “Mr. Annan has also sought to improve the status of women in the Secretariat and to build closer partnership with civil society, the private sector and other non-state actors whose strengths complement those of the United Nations; in particular, he has called for a “Global Compact” involving leaders of the world business community as well as labour and civil society organization, aimed at enabling all the world's people to share the benefits of globalization and embedding the global market in values and practices that are fundamental to meeting socio-economic needs.”

To a lot of people in the developing countries, these aspirations of the out-going Secretary-General of the United Nations have not in any way positively affected their lives since the world's economic order is skewed in favour of the advanced western countries and the so-called globalization has worked against them because of the fact that most Western countries like the United Kingdom and the United States of America still pay agricultural subsidies to their farmers thereby making agricultural products in Africa unattractive to international buyers.

The tenure of Mr. Annan, however, has witnessed several controversies ranging from a groundswell of allegations of corruption over the oil-for-food relief programme in Iraq, and the inability of the world body to prevent the ongoing alleged genocidal killings in the Darfur region of Sudan, systematically carried out by the dreaded janjaweed Arab militia sponsored by the Sudanese government.

Writing in the American Chronicle of September 12, 2006, Joseph Danladi Bot, a research Fellow at the African Centre for Strategic Research and Training, National War College, Abuja, listed the alleged genocidal killings in the Darfur region of Sudan where over two hundred thousand people have been killed and millions displaced, as one of the lowest points of the United Nations in contemporary times. Two hundred thousand people are believed to be the most accurate figure of the number of people killed so far in Darfur.”

His words: “The situation in the Darfur region of Sudan threatens to become one of the most devastating humanitarian disasters of our time, over one million people have been displaced from their homes by a systematic scorched earth campaign carried out by the allied militias in the region.”
He continued: “However, it seems like the international community is failing in its responsibility to protect the inhabitants of Darfur, many of whom are still dying or face indefinite displacement from their homes. New thinking and bold actions are urgently needed.”

The scholar traced the origin of the crisis to the colonial times when the region was absorbed into Sudan in 1922 by the British colonial masters. He further traced the foundation of the uprising to the contestations for grazing lands between the Arabs and the black Africans of Sudan.

Writing in the Commentary Magazine of Canada published on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, a journalist Claudia Rosett said allegations and established cases of corruption were bad aspects of the Kofi Annan years. Kofi Annan himself is free of any indictment of financial indiscretion although his son Kojo was mentioned among those allegedly linked to the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq.

Rossett who is working on a book about the United Nations in the age of terror averred that the United Nations is an organization hobbled by official
Corruption. Thus: “The United Nations was founded as a forum of governments. As we had ample occasion to learn over the decades, this arrangement presented quite enough problems of its own. Now, the United Nations, in contravention of its own charter, is rapidly evolving into something larger, more corporate, and more menacing: a predatory, undemocratic, unaccountable and self serving vehicle for global governments.”

Kofi Annan disagreed strongly with these criticisms and believed that the world body has achieved a lot under his stewardship.

Said he: “As you see, there is plenty going on in the world, and much of it finds its way to this building. We are currently working on Iran, Iraq, the Palestinian crisis, the investigation into the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, relations between Syria and Lebanon – and that's just in the Middle East. We are also working on HIV-AIDS and migration. We are working on Timor-Leste.

We are also working on Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a lot of other issues in Africa – especially, of course, Darfur. Only this week, we were able to peacefully settle a border dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon, two African countries that have known conflict before – saving who knows how many thousands of lives and millions of dollars. This is precisely what the UN was set up to do – to prevent wars.”

“In fact, all of the things I have listed are things the world expects the UN to do. They are just some of the many reasons why we have to keep the organization working even while we reform it, but also why we need reform, so that it will work better.”

Dismissing the allegations of corruption, Annan who addressed a press conference on June 15, 2006 stated; “And the fact is, we are moving ahead with reform. Both the Human Rights Council and the Peace Building Commission will hold their first meeting next week. We have an ethics office, with stronger protection for the whistleblowers in the Secretariat….”

Though an overwhelming opinion among some schools of thought around the world is that the current hierarchy of the United Nations has achieved much, but the success story of this African diplomat who will quit the world's stage at the end of the year will remain incomplete if the carnage in the Darfur region of Sudan as well as the many civil wars in Africa are not checked effectively by the organization. It is likely that Africa may never get the opportunity to mount that international rostrum as the Secretary – General of the United Nations in the next two decades. Mr. Annan will do Africa a whole lot of good by making sure that the crises in most African nations are minimized.

Onwubiko writes from Abuja.