Marc Lurie wrote:
> =
> For the record, I am apalled by the way that our government has dealt
> with the Zimbabwe situation in general, and the elections
> specifically.
Here's a bit more to be apalled by. This is from the (UK) Observer,
Sunday April 3, 2005
Like its cousin, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Rwanda's stunning =
new genocide museum, perched on a quiet hillside overlooking Kigali, is =
at its most arresting when it honours the lost children. One =
installation invites us to consider David, a cute, shy boy, with big =
round black eyes: David's favourite sport was soccer; he enjoyed making =
people laugh; his dream was to be a doctor; he was tortured to death; =
his last words were: 'The UN will come to get us.' =
Next to David's biography is Ariane's, four, stabbed in the eyes and =
head; Fillette, also four, smashed against a wall; Yves and Yvonne, =
three and five, hacked to death at their grandmother's house; Aurone, =
two, burnt alive in a chapel; and 12-year-old Mami, whose last words =
were: 'Mum, where can I run to?' =
The children's installation is introduced by the words: 'They should =
still be with us.' A nearby display asks whether they could be. It =
honours the actions of ordinary people of courage. People like Yahaya, =
a 60-year-old Muslim who saved Beatha, who narrates her story: 'The =
killer was chasing me down an alley. I was going to die any second. I =
banged on the door of the yard. It opened almost immediately. He =
[Yahaya] took me by the hand and stood in his doorway and told the =
killer to leave. He said the Koran says if you save one life it is like =
saving the whole world. He did not know it is a Jewish text as well.' =
Next to these tributes is another installation - a reproduction of the =
infamous fax by the UN Force Commander, General Romeo Dallaire, =
imploring the then head of UN peacekeeping, Kofi Annan, for authority =
to defend Rwandan civilians - many of whom had taken refuge in UN =
compounds under implicit and sometimes explicit promises of protection. =
Here, too, is Annan's faxed response - ordering Dallaire to defend only =
the UN's image of impartiality, forbidding him to protect desperate =
civilians waiting to die. Next, it details the withdrawal of UN troops, =
even while blood flowed and the assassins reigned, leaving 800,000 =
Rwandans to their fate. =
The museum's silent juxtaposition of personal courage versus Annan's =
passive capitulation to evil is an effective reminder of what is at =
stake in the debate over Annan's future: when the UN fails, innocent =
people die. Under Annan, the UN has failed and people have died. =
His own legions have .d and pillaged. In two present scandals, over =
the oil-for-food programme in Iraq, and .-for-food in Congo, Annan =
was personally aware of malfeasance among his staff, but again =
responded with passivity. =
Having worked as a UN human rights observer in Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti =
and Liberia, there are two savage paradoxes for me here. The first is =
that, while the media and conservative politicians and pundits have =
suddenly discovered that the UN has been catastrophically incompetent, =
this is very old news to anyone with the mud (or blood) of a UN =
peacekeeping mission on his boots. =
One very personal example: when I worked in Liberia in the mid-Nineties =
a new chief administrative officer was dispatched to Monrovia by the UN =
to replace the previous CAO, who was removed (then reassigned =
elsewhere) for taking a 15 per cent kickback on UN procurement =
contracts. In the name of cleaning up the old corruption, the new CAO =
tapped our phones, paid locals to spy for him and threatened to send =
home anyone who opposed him, all to facilitate his own quest for a 15 =
per cent kickback on everything we purchased. =
The worst part was watching him try to coerce as many of his young =
'local staff' to sleep with him as possible. A UN salary is enough =
money to support an entire extended family in a country such as =
Liberia, so these vulnerable women were in a tortuously compromised =
position by their boss's unwanted advances. =
I was the human rights lawyer and these girls would come to my office =
in tears asking for help. I wrote memo after memo of complaint to my =
chain of command, but no one did anything. I even confronted the CAO =
personally. To no effect. When I visited the UN human resources office =
in New York to complain personally, they laughed at my naive outrage: =
'It happens all the time in the field,' they said. 'There's nothing we =
can do.' =
In the meantime, a quarter of a million Liberians died, and warring =
factions committed war crimes. And the UN did - nothing. Just as it was =
simultaneously doing nothing, more infamously, in Rwanda and Bosnia. =
Before I met him in Liberia, that CAO, Krishna Gowandan, had been =
knocking around West Africa for years in various UN jobs, always mired =
in corruption, never disciplined, always promoted and reassigned - a =
pattern all too familiar at the UN - during which time the head of =
personnel was Kofi Annan. (Gowandan was eventually indicted by US =
federal prosecutors in New York for $1.5 million worth of fraudulent =
kickbacks on UN construction jobs. He has since died.) =
What kind of leadership would tolerate this conduct 10 years ago? The =
answer is: precisely the same leadership that, 10 years later, =
permitted the oil-for-food scandal and the .-for-food scandal. Why =
did it take everyone 10 years to figure this out? =
The second searing irony for me is that the American neoconservative =
right has occupied the moral high ground in critique of Annan, =
outflanking the left, which sits on indefensible territory in his =
support. But if prevention of genocide and protection of the vulnerable =
are not core priorities on the left, then what is? If anyone's values =
have been betrayed, it is those of us on the left who believe most =
deeply in the organisation's ideals. I am mystified by the reluctance =
of the left both in the US and the UK (the Guardian 's coverage, for =
example) to criticise Annan's leadership. The bodies burn today in =
Darfur - and the women are .d - amid the sound of silence from =
Annan. How many genocides, the prevention of which is the UN's very =
raison d'=EAtre, will we endure before the left is moved to criticise =
Annan? Shouldn't we be hearing the left screaming bloody murder about =
the UN's failure to protect vulnerable Africans? Has it lost its =
compass so badly that it purports to excuse the . of Congolese women =
by UN peacekeepers under Annan's watch? Is stealing money intended for =
widows and orphans in Iraq merely a forgivable bureaucratic snafu? =
I am co-author of a book critical of Annan's peacekeeping legacy, =
Emergency . (and Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War =
Zone . My co-author, Dr Andrew Thomson, penned a line that drove the UN =
leadership to fire him. Lamenting UN negligence in failing Bosnian =
Muslims whom it had promised to protect in its 'safe area' of =
Srebrenica - where 8,000 men were slaughtered - Thomson wrote: 'If blue-
helmeted UN peacekeepers show up in your town or village and offer to =
protect you, run. Or else get weapons. Your lives are worth so much =
less than theirs.' =
Our book is often criticised by fellow travellers on the left because =
we hold Annan and the UN accountable. As head of peacekeeping then, and =
as secretary-general now, Annan's power to effect any change on the =
ground, our critics remind us, is constrained by the interests of the =
Security Council (the US and France didn't want to intervene in Rwanda, =
the French again in Bosnia, and China and Russia now in Darfur). =
Therefore it's unrealistic to argue that Annan should risk his job by =
exhorting his Security Council bosses to do the right thing in the face =
of genocide. |