After ten years of hard work and a lot of aspirin and peptobismol (speculation, but you've got to imagine that stress level!) Kofi Annan has completed both terms in office as Secretary-General and has now returned home to Ghana. He was the second African serve this position. (Boutros Boutrous-Ghali from Egypt served 1 term before his second term was vetoed by the U.S.[Important to note that Annan was the first Black African to serve as Secretary-General, a "victory" for Sub-Saharan Africa]). Of course, as a Ghanaian, I beam with pride when people acknowledge the great things that this man worked so hard to achieve during his term. At the same time, I have read lots of comments in which he is refered to as an "Uncle Tom". As a Secretary-General, he was under scrutiny because he was supposed to lead the world towards betterment. As an African he was closely watched because the world had to make sure that the Dark continent could produce leaders, afterall. Initially, he was seen in a very favorable light, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, but after the U.S. declared war in Iraq, and things got heated in Darfur, Sudan, many critics say that Annan did not do enough as a Secretary-General. The "Food-For-Oil" scandal involving his son, definitely did not help his image. It was interesting to hear during his last speech as Secretary-General, his open criticism of the Bush administration's use or rather misuse of democracy in Iraq. But in all, I believe that the soft-spoken gentleman from Ghana is highly respected; his position as a leader has affirmed that the Black Man does have a place in world affairs and cannot be reduced to a disease statistic.
Check out this sites talking about his return home. Different interests and motivations for the authors are readily displayed in these articles:
From CNN:
From ghanaweb:
2 comments:
I absolutely agree with you Rosie, I think Kofi Annan was a real catalyst for change in this world. Its so sad that he couldn't have a partner in the United States to make more of his visions reality.
Hey Grace - He definitely had lots of pepto, no doubt about it :) I love your site, and agree with you on the last entry you made about taking some personal responsibility in decreasing statistics.
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