UN Trials and Tribulations

KOFI ANNAN, the United Nations secretary-general, is said to be struggling with depression and considering his future. Colleagues have reported concerns about Annan ahead of an official report this week that will examine his son Kojo’s connection to the controversial Iraqi oil for food scheme.
Depending on the findings of the report, by a team led by the former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, Annan may have to choose between the secretary-generalship and loyalty to his son.

American congressional critics of the UN are already pressing him to resign over the mismanagement of the oil for food programme, and even his supporters have been dismayed by the scandals on his watch, including the sexual abuse of children by UN peacekeepers in Congo.

One close observer at the UN said Annan’s moods were like a “sine curve” and that he appeared near the bottom of the trough.

I can't quite figure out why Annan is depressed at this particular moment. It's not like he simply stood back and watched the genocide in Sudan happen in slow motion, as he did when he was in charge of UN operations in Rwanda in 1994. No, he's suffering from the culmination of more than a decade of personal and professional failures, including moral and ethical lapses that boggle the mind.

That he has lasted this far is startling.

That there are now public whispers among his colleagues at the UN for him to be considering leaving the UN represents a major step towards his ouster.