Kofi Annan (still) must go
The Oregonian  | June 20, 2005 | unknown
 

K ofi Annan should have resigned months ago. The world knew then that he had lost all credibility as leader of a United Nations that itself has lost credibility as a result of assorted scandals. The world knew then that Annan himself had contributed to this through an inattention to duty that bordered on gross ineptitude. This week, however, the world learned that the secretary-general's sins of omission in the $64 billion oil-for-food scandal -- a cursory one-day investigation into his son Kojo's financial role in the scandal, for starters -- could extend to sins of commission, potential criminal wrongdoing.

Last week, The New York Times uncovered a Dec. 4, 1998, memo written by a former executive of the Geneva-based company Cotecna Inspection SA that employed Kojo Annan. "We had a brief discussion with the [secretary-general] and his entourage" it read. "Their collective advice was that we . . . could count on their support."

What's interesting here? The memo was dated about a week before the company beat out two competitors for the $10 million contract to oversee humanitarian-aid imports into Iraq. Also, Annan has always claimed he didn't know of the U.N. contract to his son's employer until after it was awarded.

Kofi Annan doesn't recall the Paris meeting in question. Neither does the Cotecna executive. Thus it's possible the memo is some sort of exaggeration or outright misstatement of the facts.

But you'd hardly expect anyone to confess to this kind of deal-making if the meeting actually took place. A second memo from the same executive also has come to light. If they're authentic memos, they must be explained, difficult as that would seem to be.

What isn't a question is whether Kofi Annan, should remain as U.N. secretary-general. He should not.

The United Nations needs a leader who can help pull it out of its current problems. Not the individual whose inaction or actions helped create them.