POLITICS: UN Chief a Shoo-in for Second Five-Year Term

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 23 2001 (IPS) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to be re-elected for a second five-year term next week, an unprecedented six months before he completes his current term in December.

Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, who holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, said Friday that the 15-member Council will meet in closed session Jun 27 “to recommend to the General Assembly a full five-year term” for Annan.

“We have no other candidates for the job,” Chowdhury told IPS.

The Council’s recommendation is expected to be unanimous and will go before the 189-nation General Assembly for ratification, considered a formality, Jun 29.

Annan’s re-appointment was added to the assembly’s agenda Friday at the request of Nigeria.

The Secretary-General got his first public endorsement for a second term from the African Group at the United Nations, followed by the five veto-wielding permanent members (P-5) of the Security Council, namely China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and United States.

Since the P-5 were the only members who could have vetoed Annan’s second term, their endorsements have made his proposed re-election next week a fait accompli.

Traditionally, the election of the Secretary-General is held towards the end of the year. Annan was elected in December 1996.

Asked why the election was being held so far in advance, Chowdhury said, “There was a strong request” both from the African Group and members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) for an early election.

The Africans also wanted the re-election to be held under the symbolic presidency of a NAM member, namely Bangladesh.

The South Asian nation also will take over the chairmanship of the 114-member NAM early next year, succeeding South Africa.

The Security Council presidency for the month of July goes to China, which is not a member of NAM, and in August to Colombia, a NAM member.

Chowdhury said there was also the “logistics factor”: August is a traditional month of holidays for diplomats and staffers, while September is a month of hectic activities culminating in the opening of the annual sessions of the General Assembly.

As a result, Chowdhury said, it was decided to wrap up the elections far ahead of December.

At a news conference last March, Annan gave his first indication of running for a second term. “If member states decide to offer me a second term as Secretary-General, I shall be deeply honoured to accept,” he said.

“There is a great deal still to be done to make the United Nations, this indispensable organisation, into an effective instrument humanity needs, in this new century, to fulfil the hopes for peace, development and human rights,” he added.

“If asked, I am ready to serve,” Annan declared.

A national of Ghana, Annan is the second African to be Secretary- General, after Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt.

The post has been previously held by Trygve Lie of Norway (1946- 1953); Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden (1953-1961); U. Thant of Burma, now Myanmar (1961-1971); Kurt Waldheim of Austria (1972-1981); Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru (1982-1991); and Boutros Boutros- Ghali (1992-1996).

The only opposition for his candidature could have come from the Asian Group of countries at the United Nations, many members of which have said they believe that it was Asia’s turn to field a candidate for Secretary-General.

But neither the Group nor any individual Asian country named any candidates to run against Annan.

At the non-political level, one of the criticisms against Annan has been his penchant for globetrotting. As Secretary-General, Annan has logged more miles and visited more countries than any of his predecessors. Asked about this, he told a reporter: “You’ve been keeping score, have you?

“You seem to imply that the world is very sedentary; it was the sedentary world that we knew 100 years ago, without communication, without the ability to stay in touch wherever you are.

“In fact, those who travel with me are often amazed. They think I work several shifts because not only am I doing what I’m on the ground to do, but my office travels with me, and I am in touch with New York all the time,” he said.

“I think modern communications, my dear man, has changed our lives,” Annan added.