Cuando una revista como The New Republic (Issue date 08.22.05) se permite publicar una nota titulada con un juego de palabras tan revelador como irrespetuoso (el mismo que encabeza esta anotación), parece que no estaría de más para Kofi Annan cambiar de trabajo. Ya se habló aquí del estado de este asunto, hace unos meses (Kofi & Kojo Annan: oil for food, conflicto de intereses). Y, pensando en el bien de la institución, lo mejor es retirarse.
De todos modos, y sin ir más lejos, para enterarse medianamente de lo que pasa, basta leer algunos de los primeros 174,400 artículos que proporciona el buscador Clusty -no va a ser siempre Google o Yahoo el proveedor- cuando se busca "kofi annan oil for food" (los tres primeros son: 1. Kofi Annan’s Shrinking Credibility, 2. Kofi Annan's son admits role in oil-for-food scam, 3. Kofi Annan, oil for food scandal). Vistas las cosas en esta perspectiva, es razonable sugerir lo dicho en TNR: que se retire a escribir sus memorias. Será muy interesante ver qué dice en los capítulos sobre Bosnia y Ruanda:
Tom Kean Won't Take a Hint: Time for a Kofi break
Yes, everyone is innocent until proved guilty. But there is no reason for anyone to continue to pretend that Kofi Annan is an honorable man, fit to be secretary-general of the United Nations. For several years now, Annan has dodged documented evidence of indifference to genocide in Srebrenica and Rwanda with high-minded calls to do something--he has actually done nothing--in Darfur and other centers of man-made misery. (About Darfur, he made sure that the word "genocide" not be applied to the catastrophe, lest the United Nations be called upon to take stronger action.) (...) [T]he fact is, Annan knew a lot more than he admitted about his own son's perfidy, as e-mails examined by the Independent Inquiry Committee into the heavy-with-scandal Oil-for-Food program have shown. The committee is chaired by Paul Volcker, a noted economist and former head of the Federal Reserve. He is a scrupulous public servant who does not allege what he cannot prove. In the wake of Volcker's work, one of Annan's aides has already been arrested for allegedly taking nearly $1 million in illegal kickbacks from Oil-for-Food contractors. More serious for Annan is that Benon Sevan, an intimate whom he had continually defended, was also accused of fraud. He is conveniently now in Cyprus. The big question is whether Annan will insist on continuing to burden the United Nations with his presence or finally go and write his memoirs. It would be especially interesting to read his chapters on Bosnia and Rwanda. |
·····
Actualización (30-11-2005): Claudia Rosett escribe hoy en el WSJournal: The U.N. must not be allowed to destroy the Volcker investigation's archives. Entre los dineros ultimamente gestionados por Kofi Annan, la articulista menciona de paso una partida especial de $ 4 millones, para un proyecto que debe ser el animado por el presidente Zapatero, "Alliance of Civilizations", en el que coloca a su amigo Iqbal Riza: (...) "Mr. Annan is even now resurrecting, via a new $4 million U.N. program called the Alliance of Civilizations, the career of his former chief of staff, Iqbal Riza, who officially retired earlier this year after it came to light that during Mr. Volcker's investigation Mr. Riza had overseen the shredding of three years' worth of documents that might have better illuminated the oil-for-fraud shenanigans of the U.N.'s executive 38th floor."(...)
·····
Actualización (08 Septiembre 2005): Kofi Annan asume su responsabilidad por el fraude en el plan humanitario para Irak. El secretario general de Naciones Unidas descarta dimitir pese a sentirse "avergonzado ". (Sobran comentarios, falta información).
·····
Actualización (18 Agosto 2005): "Oil for Enron", titula hoy Claudia Rosett en el WSJ, y comienza así: "Since the Oil for Food program came to an end in 2003, it has been described -- accurately enough -- as oil for palaces, oil for terror and oil for fraud. Now it turns out the U.N. relief program in Iraq was also oil for Enron. (...)"
Comentarios