Posted on 04/30/2005 6:14:31 PM PDT by blam
Annan talks of 'lynch mob' determined to destroy him
By Charles Laurence in New York and Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 01/05/2005)
Kofi Annan, the beleaguered secretary-general of the United Nations, has claimed that a "lynch mob" is out to "destroy" him in the wake of the Iraq oil-for-food debacle and other UN scandals.
In his first big interview since he was criticised in a report into the discredited oil-for-food scheme, which the UN administered, Mr Annan refused to rule out stepping down in the autumn, a year before his second term is due to end.
Some diplomats believe that Mr Annan will remain in charge only until September, when he is due to present his draft for UN reform to the Security Council.
"That's a question for the future," Mr Annan told New York magazine. "In life, you cannot rule out, you cannot say never or forever."
The interim Volcker Committee report, published at the end of March, looked into any role played by Kofi Annan and his son, Kojo, a businessman, in the hiring of a Swiss inspection firm, Cotecna, to monitor goods sent to Iraq under the $60 billion (£31.4 billion) oil-for-food programme.
During the interview, Mr Annan talked about the embarrassment caused by Kojo, who told his father that he no longer worked for Cotecna after the contract was granted when in fact he carried on as a consultant, paid about $400,000 (£210,000).
According to the Volcker report, Kojo also used his father's name to get business.
The secretary-general said that he had learnt the truth only last November.
"I've talked to him about coming clean with everything he knows, no surprises," Mr Annan told the magazine.
"I'm suffering on various levels. As a secretary-general and as a father dealing with his son. It's all very heavy and difficult.
"There hasn't been too much to laugh about. There have been those difficult periods when you wonder, 'What's it all about and where are we going?'
''I've been under pressure for how many years now? Almost 15 years. I can handle the pressure but certain things touch you."
Mr Annan, who said that his son had apologised, is still trying to understand his behaviour. "I have no theories," he said. "You know, it's incredible when you see these little children. You carry them in your arms and lead them along the way. And over time, they develop their own personalities and become their own person. Of course, he maintains he did nothing wrong. Even now."
In all, six committees in the Senate and House of Representatives are poring over different elements of the oil-for-food scandal, which erupted over the illicit sale of Iraqi oil in what was supposed to be an aid programme. They have unique influence over the UN because Washington controls 80 per cent of the organisation's budget.
The interim report by the Volcker commission, appointed by the UN to investigate the scandal, found "no evidence" of improper influence by Mr Annan in the bidding or selection process that awarded the contract to Cotecna. It did find him guilty of complacency, saying that his office's investigation into the links between Kojo and Cotecna had been "inadequate".
Although Mr Annan declared that he had been exonerated, two senior invest-igators resigned from the Volcker commission after the report was published because they feared a "de facto cover-up". One of the three chairs of the commission, Mark Pieth, also said he felt that the report played down critical findings.
In a move that will add to the pressure on Mr Annan, congressional investigators in Washington are to question a witness who claims that there has been a cover-up over the Annan family's role in the oil-for-food scandal.
Pierre Mouselli, a former business partner of Kojo, will fly to Washington from his base in Paris next month.
He is expected to tell the investigators that he had lunch with the secretary-general in South Africa in 1998, at which the younger Annan's business links with Iraq were allegedly discussed. He gave similar testimony to the Volcker committee but his evidence was played down in the interim report.
Last week, a spokesman for Kofi Annan said that the secretary-general would not add to the version of events he had given the Volcker committee, in which he could recall no discussion of his son's dealings involving Iraq during his meeting with Mr Mouselli.
The UN spokesman said: "The secretary-general's answers are in the latest report into the oil-for-food programme. The committee has also indicated that it will continue to examine Kojo Annan's business affairs. We will have no further comment at this time.''
A spokesman for the UN Secretariat said yesterday: "Mr Annan is not thinking of quitting. He has made it clear that he intends to dedicate the last two years of his term to his reform programme for the United Nations."
Quit Kofi quit! Your credibility is zilch.
Could it be? Nooooo? Not the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where do I send my check?
He destroyed himself. I can only pray that he has destroyed the UN along with.
Last refuge of a scoundrel.
How about - like father, like son?
.
Good catch. Leftists are pathetic.
"lynch mob"
No. It's just a bunch of people who think that at very least, you're incompetent and you need to GO.
The contract for repairing the henhouse has gone to Mr. Fox.
I'vwe got a rope.
Hope it is a charter flight with bodyguards and an escort.
Annan can't blame the U.N.'s problems on a "lynch mob". Whether he goes or not, the problem is that there's no accountability in the organization. Nobody knows where money is going, nobody has to answer when there's a major screw-up, no one is going to be asking the people running the show hard questions.
"You know, it's incredible when you see these little children. You carry them in your arms and lead them along the way. And over time, they develop their own personalities and become their own person. Of course, he maintains he did nothing wrong. Even now."
Incredible...this man has no honor.
He turns on his son to save his own a**.
I am sure he is keeping his back to the wall...in fear of everyone including his son.
Last I heard Kofi was trying to threaten the UN into paying his legal bills or he would spill some beans. The UN is proving to be a bigger mistake than the "League of Nations" because of it's longevity and lask of oversight.
The sooner he's out of the UN good for the UN. The sooner the US is out of the UN the better.
Someone call the Waaaaaambulance
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