The shadow of past international failures in Bosnia and Rwanda hangs over special envoy Kofi Annan and the UN Security Council as they dig in for a prolonged showdown with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Annan, who is expected to brief the Security Council about the Syria crisis again today, was head of the UN peacekeeping department from 1993 to 1996 — the dark years of the Bosnian War and the Rwandan Genocide.
The butchering of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995 “will forever haunt the history of the United Nations,” he once said. Annan also said he could have “done more” to stop the slaughter of 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994.
Senior diplomats quote the former UN secretary-general as saying he is determined to avoid a repetition of those failures.
“These are episodes which have marked his life,” one UN diplomat who has had contact with Annan over the Syria mission said.
“If someone fires on the observers or there are massacres, it will not be like Bosnia — we will not act as though nothing has happened,” the diplomat quoted Annan as saying.
“Annan considers that his main weapon in this showdown is his prestige, his credibility and he could lose that if there are one or two or three ceasefires which don’t work, as there was in Bosnia,” a Western envoy added.
“There is a certain deja vu quality” to the war in Syria, Annan’s spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, told US media chain McClatchy Newspapers last week.
Annan, like the UN-backed negotiators in Bosnia, cannot order force if al-Assad does not keep his commitments.
The UN-Arab League envoy is earning praise for the way he has kept the international powers behind the six-point peace plan agreed with al-Assad — while at the same time keeping pressure on the Syrian leader.
However, the UN envoys who in public have spoken so strongly in favor of Annan are now wondering how much longer his mission can go on and what future action can be taken.
The UN Security Council voted on Saturday to send 300 unarmed observers to Syria to monitor a fragile ceasefire, but the US has already said it may not support the renewal of the mission after the first 90-day mandate.
The US, Britain and France have called for sanctions if the observers cannot work. That will put them on a collision course with Russia, Syria’s last major ally, which fiercely opposes sanctions.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a lengthy, painful and difficult process, but there is no alternative. The alternative is a further deterioration of the situation, further bloodshed,” Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said when appealing for all countries to “work very doggedly in support of Kofi Annan.”
Given the dim prospects for the observer mission and the likelihood that Russia would veto any UN sanctions, many Western capitals are already asking — what next?
“Annan is a prisoner of his own mediation. He is not likely to say: ‘I am stopping because of Syria,’” the UN diplomat said. “There has to be a time when we say: ‘Mr Annan, it is not working,’ but the question is when? We cannot say that the Annan mission has failed as long as we have not gone to the end of the road. That will be a political decision.”
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
RSS