Campaigns by hopefuls dreaming of filling Kofi Annan's shoes
have already begun, as the United Nations secretary-general is a
year away from the end of his second five-year term.
"It is generally accepted among the membership that it is Asia's
turn," Annan told a press conference at UN headquarters on December
21.
A trend of rotating the position around the world has been in
place since the global organization was founded in 1945.
The secretary-general that preceded Annan was Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, an Egyptian and Arab. Strictly speaking, he was a
representative of the African bloc.
The assumption that the job will go to another region has opened
up a huge field of possibilities, with plenty of time for
scrutinizing candidates that hope to succeed Annan, who is from
Ghana.
The Western Europeans have had three, Trygve Lie of Norway, Dag
Hammarskjold of Sweden and Kurt Waldheim, an Austrian. The Latin
Americans have had one secretary-general Javier Perez de Cuellar of
Peru.
At least half a dozen hopefuls from Asia are already lobbying
for the top position in the world organization. The candidates are
from such a wide range of countries as Thailand, the Republic of
Korea, Sri Lanka, India, Japan, Iran and others.
They are either UN veterans or experienced diplomats in their
homelands. India wants to become a permanent member of the Security
Council, as does Japan.
The last and only Asian secretary-general was U Thant, a
statesman from Myanmar whose term ran from 1961 to 1971.
Asia, in UN terms, includes countries as far apart in every way
as Turkmenistan and Vanuatu. It has changed dramatically in many
ways since U Thant was the leader of the world body.
Asia needs to reach a consensus on who will represent the region
to compete for the post.
The race should not turn into a game with countries trying to
checkmate other nations' nominees as much as to promote their
own.
This could lead to paralysis rather than consensus. Agreement
can only be reached through negotiations and dialogue, which could
be very tough.
A candidate needs the approval of nine of the 15 members of the
Security Council and can be vetoed by any of the five permanent
member countries Britain, China, France, Russia and the United
States.
Nominees from other parts of the world are also in the race for
the important post. They include former presidents Alexander
Kwasniewski of Poland, Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic and Bill
Clinton of the United States though permanent members have
traditionally eschewed claims on the top job in the
Secretariat.
Annan was hailed as an experienced UN insider when he took over
from Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
In the past year he put forward an ambitious blueprint to
reshape the organization to better meet the challenges of the 21st
century.
But the UN has recently faced damaging allegations of corruption
in the Iraqi food-for-oil program.
The UN is far from perfect, but the only world body we have. It
needs reform, and not marginalization.
The world looks to a person in the position of secretary-general
to take a confident lead commensurate with the noble ideals the UN
embodies.
(China Daily January 18, 2006)
