John Rapley
IT WAS a great idea, long overdue. Sadly, the reforms proposed by United Nations Secretary-General, Koffi Annan, last week are unlikely to get very far in the wake of this week's damning report on the oil-for-food scandal.
The report actually cleared Mr. Annan of any wrongdoing. The scandal in question was the large humanitarian programme operated by the U.N. in which Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, exported oil in return for food.
Not only had Saddam abused the programme, but a number of people at, or connected to, the U.N. apparently lined their pockets as well. One of the individuals under suspicion had been Mr. Annan's son, Kojo.
WHIFF OF SUSPICION
Koffi Annan, though found not guilty, nonetheless emerges from the affair surrounded by a lingering whiff of suspicion.
The report indicted him for not being more vigilant in investigating allegations of abuse years ago. Moreover, it emerges at a time when the U.N. is under something of a cloud for other scandals. Among the more notorious has been the involvement of U.N. troops in child prostitution rings in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the best of times, the U.N. has many enemies in the United States. These are not the best of times. Already, Congressional Republicans in Washington are baying for blood.
Officially, the Bush administration is standing behind Mr. Annan. There is thus no reason to suppose that his declaration 'hell no' he won't resign has not closed the matter of his leadership.
Nevertheless, Mr. Annan post-Kojo is beginning to resemble Bill Clinton post-Monica. Anxious to push through an ambitious agenda in their last couple of years in office, both men spent all their scarce political capital to save their careers.
As was the case for Clinton, Mr. Annan today has little of the moral authority needed to push through his proposed agenda for sweeping change.
Top of the reform list have been much-needed alterations to the Security Council. If it was ever relevant to global political realities, the current system which vests exceptional influence in the hands of the five 'great powers' is far from being so today.
The difficulty, of course, is that it will be hard to get those great powers to agree to changes which threaten their interests. So rather than a straight expansion of the list of permanent members, Mr. Annan presented a couple of options, with the idea being to throw the floor open to discussion.
LEADERSHIP IN DISARRAY
Nevertheless, opposition from within the ranks of the five permanent members remains strong. So, too, there is discontent in those capitals, like Tokyo, whose governments have pretensions of great power but which have been offered no permanent places at the table.
It would take strong and consistent leadership within the U.N. to bring about effective negotiations and smooth over the many differences. This now seems questionable, to say the least.
Word from New York is that the leadership of the U.N. is in disarray. We see more of Mark Malloch Brown before the news cameras, and less of Mr. Annan.
That is because as Mr. Annan's chief of staff, Mr. Malloch Brown has been given the task of cleaning up the U.N. bureaucracy. Heads are rolling. Reportedly, many of them are people close to Annan. However, given his weakened status, Mr. Annan has had to leave his friends to their own devices.
In all likelihood, the U.N. will turn in on itself for a while as it sorts through its affairs. Moreover, given that the issue of Mr. Annan's succession will come up soon, it is probably too much to expect that a dramatic burst of reinvigoration is about to begin.
Ironically, some at the U.N. see a ray of hope in U.S. President George W. Bush's selection of a new ambassador to the U.N.. John Bolton has spent years criticising the U.N.. If nothing else, he will have the ear of the president, and the confidence of America's U.N.-sceptics. So he should be able to deliver on any commitments he can negotiate.
Still, it is a reflection of the state of morale at United Nations Plaza that some are pinning their hopes for the U.N.'s future on one of its decided enemies. These are indeed strange times.
John Rapley is senior lecturer in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona.
