WHILE Secretary-General Kofi Annan was cleared on Tuesday of influencing the award of a UN contract in Iraq to a firm that employed his son, the picture that emerges from the Volcker committee report is of a chief executive who needs to get his act together. Clearly, under his watch, the oil-for-food program was seen by many as a gold mine where anyone could help himself to what he could lay his hands on. Benon Sevan, former head of the program, steered oil contracts worth $1.5 million to a friend. The Saddam government is reported to have siphoned off nearly $2 billion. The Swiss firm Cotecna, for whom the secretary-general’s son, Kojo Annan, worked received a $10-million-a-year UN contract in late 1998 to certify goods coming into Iraq.
While the report has found no evidence that the selection of Cotecna in 1998 “was subject to any affirmative or improper influence of the secretary-general in the bidding or selection process,” Paul Volcker was at pains to point out that Annan should have authorized an independent and thorough investigation of the award of Cotecna contract. That defines Annan’s immediate task: Cleaning up the UN’s act and making fundamental changes in the way the organization conducts itself. In this he can count on the support of most governments, who believe that his UN experience makes him the best man to carry out the changes. Even the United States, which has been gunning for him ever since he refused to show any enthusiasm for America’s prescription for the future of the world, has given him what has been described as “cautious support.” That in itself deserves closer examination. It is clear that Washington in its new-found love of diplomacy, needs Annan and the UN, because in the end, the UN will have to be part of its exit plan from Iraq. A change of UN leadership at this juncture could throw up too many uncertainties. Washington would prefer to be dealing with a known quantity in the shape of Annan.
Washington’s investigators may have found out more than they have so far revealed about the involvement of Annan’s son in UN contracts. Were that the case, the Bush administration might believe that it now had significant political leverage over the secretary-general. The Volcker investigation is not due to deliver its final report until June. Even after that, awkward revelations, even if a subtle distortion of the facts, could place Annan in an extremely difficult position At the moment, a Washington assault on the man would be resisted vigorously by other Security Council members who would see it as a further attempt by the Americans to assert undue influence over the UN. Later in the year, especially if allegations against the Annan family can be made to originate from outside the US, the effect on world opinion could be far more satisfactory for Bush’s administration.
Besides which, at the moment the UN is on the back foot. The US sees no reason why it should help bring in a new secretary-general and allow the organization the opportunity to recover with fresh leadership promising to clean up the UN’s act.
