|
Mr. Samaraweera was an able Minister and worked hard to elect the
incumbent President and is an honourable man. (Reference DN Feb. 16).
However, in his press conference, he accuses the President of ruling
by proxy. Mr. Samaraweera forgets when newspapers such as the 'Leading'
UNP mouthpiece used to say the same thing about the Chandrika
Bandaranaike Kumaratunga Cabinet; he was one of the closest Confidantes
and ignored most cabinet members.
She did not share most of her arbitrary decisions with the Cabinet.
She shoved so many questionable deals (Train deal with France) and
created new positions such as Media Advisor by Cabinet writ and Mangala
said nothing about propriety then.
In addition, MP Samaraweera insulted and abused Sri Lanka's best
known athlete in Parliament to protect another close confidante of the
President. He made a fool of himself in public.
He was at loggerheads with Mr. Bandaranaike who lead the honourable
assault for the UNP in Parliament to defend Susanthika. Does he remember
the racist insults he hurled at a true national hero then to protect his
buddy and then President's ally?
Does he forget the close coterie of people who made all the decisions
for her ignoring the Cabinet and even her mother's Prime Ministerial
concern on many issues?
What about all those close advisors of her's who made off like
bandits during her regime? Did he ever speak out then about her kitchen
Cabinet of non-political figures?
Does he forget who tried their best to undermine their own party's
candidate and now want their Ministerial perks back because without them
those people will have no way to sustain themselves? Where is the
credibility, if one was silent then and noisy now?
We are fighting the world's most ruthless terrorists. Arrogance takes
a nasty fall when people lose their powers and privileges and they have
to resort to sour grapes.
R. F. GUNASEKERA, via email
Since Ban Ki Moon took office as Secretary-General of the august body
- the United Nations Organisation and he seems to be feeling the
pressure; in the conflicting self-interests of nations. To play an even
hand will be well nigh impossible.
However all nations expect fair play and justice in the conduct of
the Secretary-General. Ban-Ki-Moon himself before he took office
declared that there is a crisis of confidence in the UN and this has in
a great measure reduced the effectiveness of the world body today.
It is too soon to review his performance but it may be of vital
interest for him and other nations who are members of the UN to
dispassionately asses the performance of the former Secretary-General
Kofi Annan who apparently did not have a legacy and has gone into
oblivion almost immediately after his retirement.
It is true that the fundamental principles of peace, tolerance,
justice and human rights are central to UN's Charter and mission. Yet
the UN has rarely succeeded in ensuring that these lofty ideals are
upheld. Until the closing days of the cold war era, the UN was in effect
an arena for super power rivalry.
And now in the increasingly unilateral post cold-war Pax Americana,
the UN has been reduced to an instrument for legitimising Washington's
military adventures around the world, and an engine for the march of
American-style globalisation.
The only time the UN took an anti-US stand was the time when the UN
did not sanction the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Kofi Annan for once in his life time managed to summon enough courage
to say that the invasion was illegal. Perhaps that was the only time he
exercised fair play and justice in the running of the UN.
In other events he time and again held with Washington's agenda,
though professing, he was independent.
The UN stood idly by as the genocide in Rwanda, where some 800,000
Tutsis were slaughtered by Hutu tribesmen, unfolded.
It failed to prevent the infamous massacre at Srebrenica, where some
8,000 Muslims were slaughtered by the Serbs in a UN designated safe
haven.
The fact that, when these atrocities took place, Annan was head of UN
peace-keeping operations, itself exposed his inefficiency. More over,
the UN had completely abdicated its responsibility in many a hotspot
around the world; it's officials content themselves with vacuous
resolutions, statements and appeals that largely fell on deaf ears.
Kofi Annan was born into an aristocratic Ghanian family on April 8,
1938. He completed his undergraduate education in economics at McAlster
College in St. Paul Minnesota, USA.
In 1961 and 1962, he attended graduate school in Economics in the
Institute Universitaire des Hautes Internationals in Geneva. Throughout
his career at the UN, Annan displayed remarkable skill in working his
way through the ranks of the UN system.
His ability to prosper in the bureaucratic nightmare that is the UN
indicated a strong instinct for self-preservation and self-promotion.
Kofi Annan was awarded the Nobel prize in 2001. In many ways the Nobel
peace prize is a reward for being a good servant of the West in general
and of the US is particular.
It is a reward for Annan's obsequious silence about, and active
efforts to provide a veneer for, the US's efforts to tailor an
international post cold war order to its desires and interests. Since he
became Secretary-General in 1997, Annan had never been tired of
repeating the platitudes of his patrons in Washington.
He also propounded the end of sovereignty and irrelevance of national
boundaries. These were strange utterances from the head of an
organisation based on the sovereign equality of all its members.
In pandering to Washington's whims and caprices, Annan was ready to
abandon every principle of the UN and to make a mockery of international
law.
His stand on the US, British bombing of Afghanistan is a case in
point. He interpreted the UN Charter to justify the US-led strikes on
Afghanistan, saying that the attacks are act of self-defence permitted
under Article 51 of the Charter.
But Article 51 permits states to defend themselves against on going
or imminent attack as a temporary measure until the Security Council can
restore international peace and stability. It says nothing about a
country that harbours or might be harbouring a nation's enemies.
Annan's sanction of a US-led military action against Afghanistan also
contravenes the express words of numerous articles of the UN Charter.
One of these is Article 2.3, which states that: "All members shall
settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner
that international peace and security are not endangered."
Another is Article 2.4 which states that: "All members shall refrain
in their international relations from the threat or use of force against
the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
Article 39 states that: "The Secretary Council shall determine the
existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of
aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall
be taken to restore international peace and security."
In the light of these facts which cannot be denied, it seems perverse
that Annan who for a decade displayed unbridled eagerness to facilitate
the US's war-mongering was awarded the Nobel prize for peace. Dag
Hammarskjoeld a former UN Secretary-General was awarded the Nobel prize
posthumously in 1961, many believed that he was martyred in the course
of his duty to sincerely uphold the Charter of the UN.
In addition, it was during Annan's tenure that the scandal of oil for
food broke out and it was even alleged that Annan's son was involved in
wrong doing. During the tenure of Annan and presently there is serious
charge of child abuse by UN peace makers serving in Africa and in Haiti.
Ban-Ki-Moon is new to the job. It will be a tremendous task to remove
the crisis in confidence that has enveloped the UN. One can only wish
him well.
The voice for reform has grown especially since the UN has now grown
to be an organisation that has more than 70,000 peace makers deployed
and also has development and humanitarian programmes all over the world.
Ban-Ki-Moon's task is daunting indeed, one hopes he will not make the
mistakes that Kofi Annan made.
SAYBHAN SAMAT, Rajagiriya |
