I have been following the lively debate that began with the reprimand of
Kofi Annan for his apparent neglect of Africa to the Real Purpose of the UN,
then degenerating into battles over the personalities of participants to the
debate, then to truce and apology, and then back to gaiety. It was worth my
while following the exchange, albeit impatiently for its ending, and now
that everyone seems to be aware of his/her own significance vis-a-vis
problems of continental proportion, I think it is safe to share my views.

I concur with all who expressed disdain at Annan's apparent indifference to
the plight of African countries only in this respect:

Being Secretary General of the UN seems to me like the ultimate stage for
any politician/diplomat-Symbolically speaking. Therefore, I don't think a
Secretary General of the UN in his/her right mind would make/not make
decisions with a view to influence aspirations to future political office.
More often than not, It is a legacy of worth that UN Secretary Generals
worry about more. If indeed Annan had prior intelligence reports and fair
warning of imminent genocide of Rwandaic proportions, the least he could
have done would be to bring it to the attention of the Security Council or
use the bully pulpit to publicize it with the hope of averting it. Whether
or not he will have the support of the US or other members of the Council is
indeed irrelevant-Time was of the essence. Another value of a Secretary
General is to communicate with individual heads of state outside of the
context of the UN. Portugal, France, and Australia could have been
approached with the information and their assistance requested with the hope
that one of them would agree to lend a hand. With one nation on board, it
makes the task of persuading the whole council into action or at least
funding. I think Jabou and Yus' points were along this line-That Annan's
capacity/office is too valuable to waste on silence.

I had to think long and hard how such an intelligent, and diplomatically
persuasive man can choose silence over trying to marshall all resources to
avert the Rwanda atrocities and I thought it only fair to view the problem
in more detail. I realised it was one of ethnic hegemony and the whole of
Africa, parts of Eastern Europe, Fiji, Canada, and a whole host of other
communities are rife with such eventualities. Therefore, maybe Annan thought
about it in the context of sheer madness to begin such a trend and therefore
unlikely, so he did not give much weight to the alarm. Or maybe because if
such a war were to begin, there is no way any army (UN or otherwise) could
have stopped (he did not have the luxury of NATO a la Kosovo Metochia) but
surely he should have learnt something from Bosnia Herzegovina.

I want to remind everyone though that as dissappointing as Annan's inaction
may have been, We must lay the blame squarely on those who are responsible
for the conflict. Ethnic problems are nurtured for years throughout the
history of a community. The metamorphosis takes the form of intolerance in
religious and linguistic differences, and other cultural/tribal apathy at
different stages. It is manifest in unequal access to education, employment,
and industry, and the uneven allocation of development funds. In fact as we
speak, it is being nurtured in several countries and it is only in their
infancy can such monsters be averted. The approach has to take the form of
immunisation or periodic innoculations of reverse processes to the causes of
the tensions.
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