Kofi Annan chides US on human rights in farewell address

UNITED STATES: Outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the United States not to abandon human rights and the rule of law as it prosecutes its war on terrorism around the globe.

"Human rights and the rule of law are vital to global security and prosperity," Annan said in a speech to be delivered at the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, according to an advance transcript of his remarks.

"This country has historically been in the vanguard of the global human rights movement. But that lead can only be maintained if America remains true to its principles - including in the struggle against terrorism," said Annan.

"When it appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused," he added.

"The US has given the world an example of a democracy in which everyone, including the most powerful, is subject to legal restraint," he said.

"Its current moment of world supremacy gives it a priceless opportunity to entrench the same principles at the global level."

Annan did not directly mention Iraq, but he was deeply opposed to the US invasion there, as well as Washington's principle of preemptive strike in the run-up to the 2003 war.

"States need to play by the rules towards each other," Annan said.

"No state can make its own actions legitimate in the eyes of others. When power, especially military force, is used, the world will consider it legitimate only when convinced that it is being used for the right purpose - for broadly shared aims - in accordance with broadly accepted norms," he said.

In the address, one of Annan's final acts after a decade at the helm of the United Nations, he also called on world governments to do a better job observing the human rights of their own citizens, and as well as safeguarding the rights of the oppressed in other countries against genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Earlier Annan, urged the United States to shun go-it-alone diplomacy and collaborate on its world challenges, including the Iraq war.

Annan praised the 33rd U.S. president's legacy, and quoted Truman in cautioning that "no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others."

Truman was a strong backer of the United Nations and helped found the world body. Annan said, "We need U.S. leadership; we have lots of problems around the world ... and we require the natural leadership role the U.S. played in the past and can play today.

"None of our global institutions can accomplish much when the U.S. remains aloof. But when it is fully engaged, the sky's the limit," he said. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the outgoing U.N. chief was entitled to his opinions.

"There's no secretary-general of the United Nations that's going to be in lock-step with the United States or any other country with regard to its policies. It's not that person's job," McCormack said.

Republican Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, the retiring chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said Annan failed to mention "the rampant financial and moral mismanagement at the United Nations" and called his remarks "a classic case of misdirection aimed at the United States."

"When power, especially military force, is used, the world will consider it legitimate only when convinced that it is being used for the right purpose - for broadly shared aims - in accordance with broadly accepted norms," Annan said.

In response to a question on how to end the war in Iraq, Annan said the United States needed to work with other countries, including Iran and Syria, to foster a "sharing" of political power and oil revenues within Iraq's Sunni and Shi'ite factions.

"If you make them responsible and pull them into work with you, I think it will be in everyone's interests," he said. "Getting Iraq right is not only in the interests of the U.S. and the broad international community but even more so for the countries in the region."

Washington, Tuesday, AFP, Reuters