Ban Ki-Moon, a 62-year-old native of South Korea, has been en stated the successor of Kofi Annan of Ghana this week. He started off by promising attention to Sudan, which has been experiencing a crisis in the Darfur region. Escalating violence and human rights abuse is a major issue on the agenda which the former Kofi Annan began to solve. We will see how this new Secretary-General proves he is the man for the job by the way he handles the ethnic violence in Darfur.
Ban has also stated he will meet with the African Union and help keep an eye on the current situation with Ethiopia and Somalia. Talks to support the 7,000 AU troops in Darfur with UN peace-keeping troops have been engaged.
On North Korea, Ban has stated it is a top priority. He’s been making some sort of diplomacy with South Korea’s foreign minister to limit his nuclear ambitions. The only challenges that stand in the way are international support. The UN cannot be run by one man or one country alone. It must be a common goal sought by all in order to be swiftly tackled successfully.
Photo courtesy of Reuters
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Kofi Annan was an extremely capable Secretary General. Let’s hope Moon can be just as good -if not better.
Comment by Archaix January 5, 2007 @ 5:06 pmIt’s always the first impression that decides how they will turn out. Right now, with focus on Somalia and Korea, Ban is moving in the right direction. Only limited UN power limits his abilities. I don’t know what his take is on the Middle East, but he tries to avoid anything with the death penalty, stating that all states should regulate that on their own. This will be a problem as Italy is right now proposing a global ban on execution.
Comment by Toma January 5, 2007 @ 5:58 pmApparently he’s trying to cut red tape, which should free things up a bit. But then again, as we all know, regulation is necessary.
Comment by Archaix January 7, 2007 @ 3:48 pmHe supports capital punishment being the individual nations choice, which goes against the UNs longstanding policy of “no capital punishment”. I just don’t get good vibes from him, he seems a lot more likely to suck up to Washington and the plutocrats that run our world. Not that he has any choice, I suppose. *sigh*
Comment by Comrade Alastair (SocialistUtopia) January 8, 2007 @ 10:30 pmHello
Very nice point of view! Respect!
Comment by lokimikoj September 22, 2007 @ 1:52 am