For the 5N pupils who have done the 2003 'N' Level Papers. Remember Source A was a speech by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. Many of you must be wondering who he is and how he looks like. This is a recent interview with him when he came to Singapore to give a lecture. Read about this Nobel Peace Prize winner and his thoughts.
ABLE TALK WITH KOFI ANNAN
By Cheong Suk-Wai, Senior Writer
FORMER United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan was in a Kenyan market recently when he noticed a board on which was scribbled the prices of onions, maize, tomatoes and other vegetables across major African cities. All around him were veggie vendors, mostly women, jabbing their fingers at the board while jabbering into their cellphones as they cut deals with buyers near and far for their produce.
'They'd managed to cut out the middlemen and so I told them they'd set up their own Chicago Board of Trade,' Mr Annan, 71, says, slapping his thigh between hearty chuckles.
The sobering point behind the story, however, concerns poverty in Africa, which has spurred Mr Annan to seek solutions. This son of Kumasi, Ghana, and alumnus of Macalester College, Minnesota, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has set up the Kofi Annan Foundation since retiring as UN secretary-general, so as to champion better policies for the needy, good governance and human rights.
He and his wife, Swedish lawyer and artist Nane Lagergren, were in town till yesterday for his first week-long visit as the first Li Ka Shing Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Over coffee on Monday, Mr Annan told me of his crisis-fraught career in the UN, why he's hopeful about Africa and how Asia could be a better friend to his countrymen.
What do you miss most about your days in the United Nations?
I left behind many friends and wonderful colleagues. Luckily, I continue to run into some of them. Some, we have also lost tragically, like the head of operations in Haiti and his deputy, who worked with me for many years.
What about the UN work?
Sometimes, one had an opportunity to make a difference like when we got governments to ban land mines; or to come up with the Millennium Development Goals. Most people thought the latter wouldn't happen. But it did.
How did you manage to convince countries they sometimes had to override their sovereignty?
It took quite a long time. I first started thinking about it when we went through (crimes against humanity) in Rwanda and Yugoslavia and raised the issue in 1997. Then I raised it again to the UN General Assembly in 1999. But I was conscious that nothing would happen immediately. The Canadians then took it up... and set up a very good commission, which came up with a report entitled Responsibility To Protect. But when the report came out in 2001, it was too early.
But why so, when the world was already so mired in crises?
Some said we should use the report to push the member states to act immediately. I encouraged them to distribute the report widely - but not push for its adoption until the time was ripe. It was 2005 when I eventually introduced it and we worked hard with the member states to adopt 'responsibility to protect'.
But it was too late for Rwanda, Yugoslavia and Iraq?
Well, we had entered a new millennium and also had time to reflect on some of the conflicts we went through towards the end of the last century... What is interesting about responsibility to protect is that we are telling dictators or leaders, who may allow their people to be brutalised, that sovereignty is no longer a shield. But it is also telling the rest of the world that it too has no excuse: it has to act. So it's two-way pressure.
Which crisis did you find hardest to deal with and why?
The Iraq crisis in 2003 was definitely one of the worst because of the way the coalition decided to go to war without Security Council approval... As secretary-general, you have to try to push and work with the member states to ensure that the right thing is done.
At the same time, you also have the responsibility to try and hold the organisation together and not to do anything that will add to the divisions.
Could you have been more forceful about how wrong the war was?
Well, I needed to act in a manner that was not only responsible but also to a great degree effective. I know that, sometimes, people will say: 'Why didn't you stand on the rooftop and shout?'
Well, that was not the effective way. Your action has to make clear where you or the organisation stand on legal and moral principles, but not create a situation that compounds the difficulties.
Do you believe in fate?
You describe it as fate, but you know it when you've done your best. Nobody can tell you so. You know it and you sleep like a baby.
What hope do you see in Africa that others don't?
The one thing most people see is its rich, natural resources. They also see poverty and an ill-educated population. But there is another Africa, one of bright, young educated men and women. Some have worked overseas, are proud of their continent and countries, and are beginning to return because they want to make a difference.
What persuaded them to do that?
Before the October 2008 global financial crisis, Africa had been growing at the rate of about 5 per cent a year for the past five years. So they saw brighter prospects at home. They were, perhaps, also facing economic retrenchment. And they had sent substantial remittances home to help their relatives and all.
So it's a confluence of these winds of change?
All these good things coming together - yes. And Africa has a robust civil society that is going to keep its politicians on their toes.
How real a turning point is this in Africa?
In my own country, Ghana, the difference between the governing party and the opposition in the last elections was 23,000 votes. But the handover of power went very smoothly. The people, press and civil society were very active in monitoring and ensuring that things went well.
Where do you see yourself in all this?
I like to encourage younger people. We've reached the stage where we need generational change in Africa. That would be extremely healthy and helpful because they will come up with new approaches.
I also want to continue to fight against poverty. That is why I'm now talking to small-scale farmers - most of whom are women - who produce the bulk of the food on the continent. We want to help them all along the value chain - all the way from the farm gate to the market.
Why can't they help themselves?
They don't often have the money to get fertilisers and so they plant year after year without putting anything back (into the soil). They don't have the right seeds or can't afford the right seeds or the right seeds are not available. So they're using very low-yielding old seeds - some as old as 20 years.
You urge Asia to be a better friend to Africa. How can it be a better friend?
Asia can help through sharing some of its best practices, especially in growing small and medium-sized companies, (and by partnering) Africans in business... I also want to see more exchanges of young people between both continents at the university level.
Are there still many psychological and cultural road blocks to teaming up with Africans, do you think?
You're right. Those will always exist between groups, from time immemorial. But human beings have managed to overcome them and work together. We also need the will to interact with mutual respect, in a mutually beneficial way.
But isn't such will what's lacking the most?
It's important for leaders to understand that there's something in it for them and for their people, and if you get the latter engaged, you're likely to get results. The Millennium Development Goals are a good example. The average man in Mumbai, Bugata or Lagos understands what clean water and education for girls mean. They can now also say to their leaders: 'These are the eight (Millennium) goals. What are you doing for me? Come and see my village.'
suk@sph.com.sg
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