Evan Solomon of the CBC interviews Kofi Annan
EVAN SOLOMON: Ok. Let’s talk about relevance of the US [sic] itself. Famously, the president of the US said the UN risks irrelevance if it did not back the war in Iraq. It didnt. There have been, as you know, tensions between the US and the UN. Tell us, tell Canadians why Canada ought to spend the scarce dollars that we as a country have on UN operations? Why the UN is actually relevant?
KOFI ANNAN: I think the UN is a unique organization. It is the only organization in the world that has not only the convenient power we have, bringing 191 member states together, but when it comes to development of international law and collective action and the question of legitimacy, theres no other organization than the UN. And, in fact, its become quite clear that its the UN that can confer legitimacy on situations which individual countries, however powerful, cannot do.
EVAN SOLOMON: But even if in cases like Kosovo, which was a NATO operation, the UN missed it, in Rwanda the UN, as you well know-that in fact theres an argument to be made that the UN outside of Korea, that really, maybe the 1991 Gulf War, that the UN has failed to accomplish its mission.
KOFI ANNAN: I think it depends on how one accesses success and failure. Even if we were to stay in the peacekeeping area, which you have indicated, you should remember the UN operations in places like Cambodia, Mozambique and many others where we have succeeded the work the UN did in Central America. But the UN is much, much more than a peacekeeping operation.
Damned straight. The UN has also served as an oil-for-palaces operation and a prostitution ring. But “success” … “failure” … eye of the beholder, I suppose.
EVAN SOLOMON: Ok, last question, as the UN expands, weve talked about the 19 missions, in August you lost some key members in a bombing in Iraq, on the 19th of August. Secretary General, if the UN becomes a target because of its shifting mandate and you continue to lose friends and I know you took that very personally would that make you think twice in terms of deploying your people to areas of conflict?
KOFI ANNAN: Oh, absolutely. We need to be concerned about our staff. They are not soldiers. They travel around in soft-skinned vehicles. They are not in tanks. And, besides, their work is people. They need to be able to get to the people, whether its humanitarian elections or political process, and people need to be able to get to them. So, if they cannot move around in relative safety and security, they cannot work. If they go to these countries and sit behind barracks protected, they cant do their work either. So, whilst the nature of the conflicts are changing, we need to adapt and determine under what circumstances we go in, what situations are too dangerous for our people to go in thats one of the reasons why we pulled out of Iraq and are waiting for the security situation to improve before we go back in. And, I should remind you that Iraq was the first time the blue flag, the UN blue flag, has been targeted in so vicious a way.
Ah, this is what Annan meant by “convenient power”. And watch Solomon catch Annan on his short term memory issues….
EVAN SOLOMON: And, with the Belgian soldiers in Rwanda who were also killed�
KOFI ANNAN: The Belgian soldiers were also killed. And, in fact, that was also one of the reasons, someone asked me, why didnt you give Romeo Dallaire the instructions for a limited force to go in and intervene to do what we were concerned at the time, even before the Belgians? that if any of the troops were to die, they wouldve withdrawn them as they did in Somalia and, in fact, in Somalia the Belgians withdrew.
EVAN SOLOMON: But, to be an effective force don’t you have to be ready to die?
KOFI ANNAN: Risk is part of it. I agree with you that theres always an element of risk but it doesnt mean one should be foolhardy.
I guess Solomon got his relevancy question answered, after all.