Annan: TT can make UN relevant

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO can help to make the United Nations relevant because there is “an absolute need” for an organisation like the UN to solve the woes of the world. This was the pronouncement yesterday by UN secretary general Kofi Annan when he addressed a news conference at Whitehall.

“There is an absolute need for the UN. It is needed today more than ever. I think the Iraqi crisis underscored for many member states and peoples around the world, the need to have a forum like the UN where people can discuss their differences.  The UN is much more than peacekeeping activities,” he declared. Annan said a panel of eminent persons has been established to create guidelines for the UN’s operations in the 21st century and beyond and their report will be submitted to him within a year. He disclosed that one question the panel will address will be the justification for preventative war. The UN secretary general explained: “We are going to make the organisation more dynamic and it is an organisation of large and small states. Size counts but it is not everything. There are lots of small countries in the UN which today are punching beyond their weight and TT has a capacity for being one of those.”

Annan said the UN had not abandoned its role in Iraq and a January 19 meeting between the Iraqi Governing Council, the coalition and the UN Secretariat will determine “the nature and extent of UN involvement in Iraq.” He stated that the UN has an office in Cyprus and through its presence in Jordan, conducts cross-border operations to monitor developments within Iraq. The UN withdrew its staff from Iraq after a terrorist attack on its headquarters in Baghdad on August 17. He stressed that the key to combatting global terrorism was governmental cooperation across borders. Annan said terrorists must have no safe haven, receive no logistic support from any nation, and their financial accounts must be closed down but military action was only a small part of the war against terrorism.

Turning to Haiti, Annan said both he and Prime Minister Patrick Manning shared a grave concern that “something needs to be done to help the government and the people of Haiti overcome their difficult, economic and political situation.” “I know Caricom has taken some intitiative but in the final analysis, it is the people of Haiti who have to really face up to this challenge that the future of their nation must come first and find a way to resolve their differences through dialogue,” the UN Secretary-General said.

Manning said “quiet diplomacy” was needed to resolve the Haitian situation and Caricom was not shirking its responsibility in this regard. “Caribbean countries cannot behave as though we have no resp in this matter,” the Prime Minister stated. Annan added that the UN would be taking part in Haiti’s bicentennial celebrations. Asked whether Manning discussed the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) with him, Annan said he hoped to see the establishment of a functional FTAA Secretariat within the region but he could not campaign for any of the competing cities.