Posted on 12/10/2004 5:13:11 PM PST by jalisco555
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. diplomats say they are concerned that calls for Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites)'s resignation and allegations of widespread corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq (news - web sites) could derail plans for a sweeping reform of the United Nations (news - web sites).
When a blue ribbon panel, after a year's work, released a report last week on how the world body should tackle wars, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, poverty and other threats, the spotlight should have been on its 101 recommendations.
Instead the report was eclipsed by headlines that Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record), R-Minn., was calling for Annan's resignation over the oil-for-food allegations.
Algeria's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Baali said "many are concerned ... because we are distracted now (and) we will not be able to focus on the panel report."
"There is a growing movement to defend the secretary-general and the United Nations, because member states feel that the attack is not only on the secretary-general but on the U.N.," he said.
Annan has called a September 2005 summit in hopes of getting agreement on major reforms, including an expansion of the U.N. Security Council. But whether his effort will succeed remains in question.
A lot depends on the United States and the results of the U.N.'s oil-for-food investigation headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Paul Volcker, as well as five U.S. congressional inquiries.
The Bush administration is unhappy with Annan over Iraq. He called the war "illegal," wrote a letter opposing the U.S. operation in Fallujah, and has been reluctant to send a large number of experts to help Iraq hold elections.
After the call for Annan's resignation, President Bush (news - web sites) twice refused to back him. He said he wanted a thorough, transparent investigation of the oil-for-food program.
But on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador John Danforth expressed confidence in Annan on behalf of the administration and said he should remain at the helm of the United Nations, an abrupt turnaround.
"We are not suggesting or pushing for the resignation of the secretary-general," Danforth said. "We have worked well with him in the past and look forward to working with him for some time in the future."
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which Coleman chairs, reported that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government subverted U.N. sanctions and the oil-for-food program to garner $21.3 billion in illegal revenue.
Annan's son, Kojo Annan, has come under scrutiny for work he did for a company that had a contract in the oil-for-food program, receiving payments for more than four years after his job ended. He worked for the company in Africa, not Iraq.
Annan has also faced criticism over his handling of allegations of sexual abuse by 150 U.N. peacekeepers in Congo. A resolution by U.N. staff expressed a lack of confidence in senior management, and Annan's decision to clear a top official of wrongdoing.
The secretary-general said Tuesday he intends to remain at the helm of the Nations and concentrate on U.N. reform in his final two years.
"I think I'm working well with the member states," Annan told reporters Wednesday after receiving a standing ovation in the General Assembly. "I think the report is appreciated, and we do have quite a bit of work to do."
The high-level panel called for an expanded and more active Security Council with authority to take action to prevent conflicts or potential genocides. It also called for a new body to help failing states and countries emerging from conflict during their difficult transition to peace and democracy.
U.S. support for any reform of the United Nations is crucial because of Washington's veto power.
Asked whether he was concerned that calls for Annan's resignation could set back the reform initiative, France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said: "This is a concern we all have."
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov said Annan doesn't need praise or criticism. "What ... we all need is strong leadership, especially now," he said.
An "investigation should be carried out, but not in such aggressive manner which can undermine the activity of one of the leading world institutions," Denisov said.
The oil-for-food program, initiated and monitored by the U.N. Security Council and run by the U.N. secretariat which Annan heads, allowed Iraq to sell unlimited amounts of oil provided the money went primarily for humanitarian goods and reparations for victims of the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites).
Britain's former U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, now the director of the Ditchley Foundation, a British think tank, stressed that the 95-page reform proposal should be examined "on the basis of the facts and not prejudiced speculation."
"This is the best secretary-general we've had since Dag Hammarsjold," he said in a telephone interview.
Nile Gardiner, a fellow in Anglo-American security policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he believes "any major reform of the United Nations will be impossible under Kofi Annan."
Annan has "little credibility with the Bush administration" and the panel's report restricts American foreign policy and "is all about the power of the U.N. over the individual nation state, and it is indirectly fiercely critical of the doctrine of pre-emptive strike."
Gardiner said he believes Annan will resign.
"What we are seeing are public displays of support for Annan from many world leaders. Yet behind the scene, countries are feverishly working to put forward their own candidate to replace Annan, especially from Asia," he said.
At the United Nations, some diplomats and officials said they believe that if the Bush administration told the secretary-general it had no confidence in him, he would have no choice but to step down.
Words simply fail me.
Nile is telling the truth. The headline by AP, on the other hand, is a lie.
The UN is inherently unreformable. The only solution is to get rid of it.
Annan isn't the only crook at the UN. Every single program ought to be audited. Oil For Food isn't the only program with a problem.
Dismantling the U.N. may harm U.N. reforms. Heck, it might even make them unnecessary.
I don't think so!
"Forget the corruption or we won't reform" isn't going to work this time. What an obvious red herring!
All the reforms in the world aren't worth a bucketful of spit if the same crooks are allowed to continue "serving" (themselves).
BINGO... Give the man a Qupie doll.
Of course this knife cuts both ways. This also means their rush to save Annan is really just so much Ass Covering. A delegate with nothing to hide would be making Kofi walk the plank in order to SAVE the UN.
The rot goes far deeper than Oil for Food.
Should let that French dude that took a shot at Jacques Strap, and let him out of jail, and put a target on Kofi's back.
You see: our arrogance and our perverse independence is creating all kinds of problems for everyone. We should just stand down now, get in line and be good little world-citizen collectivists. And stop promoting that democracy. That makes it so difficult on all of the non-democratic member states. And why do we fixiate on this US Constitution and Bill of Rights? That just expresses an unhelpful superior attitude to international law.
Oh my gosh. I'm heart-sick. I'm been staying up nights worrying about UN reforms.
LOL
>>>…Here, as in Annan's 'reform' proposals, and at the UN Seminar, a platitude is offered in answer to a specific question.<<<
>>>Q: Did you steal billions of dollars and help rearm Saddam?
A: We must reform the UN because no one nation can solve the world's problems.<<<
>>>Q: Are radical Islamists funding international terror?
A: If you ask such questions they will resent it so much that what you fear will come to pass. <<<
>>>Q: Will the IRA photograph the destruction of the weapons it promised to decommission?
A: It is humiliating to require proof.<<<
>>>Any objections that these anwers are unsatisfactory are met by the claim that the questions themselves are illegitimate…<<<
>>>…The implicit assumption underlying this discourse is that "we" -- and not you -- ask the questions. The United Nations and no one else sits in judgement. That's final: it is International Law. As Robert Kaplan pointed out in The Media and Medievalism, the most powerful tool of totalitarianism is to don the guise of righteousness and assume "the right to question and to demand answers, the right to judge and condemn, and the right to pardon and show mercy." It is in the end an attempt to usurp the wellsprings of legitimacy. Do you hold it to be self-evident that you have the right "to assume among the Powers of the Earth" a separate and equal station? That's being a rogue nation. Do you presume that "that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". That is not in the Koran. It is illegitimate and utterly intolerant to impose such a view upon anyone, even upon yourselves. – Wretchard <<<
Words simply fail me.
I have several words in mind. Of course if I used them I'd get banned.
Instead the report was eclipsed by headlines that Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record), R-Minn., was calling for Annan's resignation over the oil-for-food allegations.
THAT'S MY SENATOR!!!
I once believed in the UN, I was 13.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.