Annan’s mixed legacy symbolises UN failure
Aproud son of Africa. A global statesman. A guiding force for good. And a selfproclaimed stubborn optimist. As the tributes poured in for the late Kofi Annan, one thing was clear: admiration for the Ghanaian, who rose to the highest rank in the United Nations, was universal and came from all quarters. The tributes came from political leaders, freedom fighters, friends and opponents alike. As his successor, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, said: ‘‘In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations.’’
His legacy is a mixed one; he conducted himself with dignity, quiet determination and charisma. He devised the Millennium Development Goals still in use today and a UN philosophy called the ‘‘responsibility to protect’’, which member states pledged to abide by.
But his position also led to criticism over UN failures to act, most notably in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the Srebrenica massacre of 1995. And while he decried the 2003 invasion of Iraq as ‘‘illegal’’, he did not do so publicly until 2004. Annan was also challenged over failing to investigate corruption allegations against his son Kojo in Iraq’s oil-for-food programme.
In many ways, his personal failures were the failures of the UN as an institution; where it, and he, fell short was an inability to prevent catastrophes on a global scale.