SOLUZIONE DELL'INDOVINELLO:
"Il segretario generale dell'Onu resiste agli attacchi e annuncia: "Non ho
intenzione di dimettermi"".
VEDI:
OIL FOR FOOD, ECCO I PAGAMENTI AL FIGLIO DI ANNAN
(AGI) - Roma, 7 set. - Da un'indagine condotta dal Sole-24 Ore in collaborazione
con il Financial Times emergono i dettagli relativi ai pagamenti destinati
al figlio di Kofi Annan in relazione al progetto Oil for Food. Nel giorno
in cui il documento conclusivo delle indagini arriva alla commissione, il
Sole-24 Ore e il Financial Times pubblicano i dettagli dello scandalo che
investe l'Onu. La relazione conclusiva contiene ricostruzioni di traffici
loschi e nomi di corrotti: la conclusione - informa Repubblica - e' "severa,
impietosa" e induce a pensare che l'Onu si avviera' a profonde riforme interne.
Il programma Oil for Food ha salvato migliaia di iracheni ma - sottolinea
il quotidiano diretto da Ezio Mauro - le accuse di corruzione si stanno rivelando
fondate. A conferma di questa ipotesi, la pubblicazione di dettagli relativi
ai pagamenti ricevuti dal figlio del segretario generale delle Nazioni Unite.
Il Sole-24 Ore parla di 750 mila dollari ottenuti da Kojo Annan tra il 2002
e il 2003, avuti da varie societa' di trading petrolifero oggi sotto inchiesta
per il loro ruolo nello scandalo. Il figlio di Annan ha depositato il denaro
su un conto aperto nella filiale svizzera della banca britannica Coutts.
Il nome in codice del conto e' "Adeyemo", secondo nome di Kojo. Il segretario
generale dell'Onu resiste agli attacchi e annuncia: "Non ho intenzione di
dimettermi".
07/09/2005 - 09:35
TOH! ANCHE ALL'ONU HANNO BISOGNO DI UNA RIFORMA:
"L'INEVITABILE CONCLUSIONE SCATURITA DEI LAVORI DELLA COMMISSIONE E' CHE
L'ONU HA BISOGNO DI UNA COMPLETA RIFORMA, E CHE NE HA BISOGNO URGENTEMENTE".
("The inescapable conclusion from the committee's work is that the United
Nations organization needs thoroughgoing reform, and it needs it urgently.")
VEDI:
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-volcker7sep07,1,4735035.story?coll=la-headlin...
LOS ANGELES TIMES
September 7, 2005
THE WORLD
Oil-for-Food Inquiry Calls for Reforms
Panel does not seek U.N. chief's ouster. It says other branches share blame
for abuses in the Iraq program and urges stronger leadership.
By Maggie Farley, Times Staff Writer
UNITED NATIONS ? A yearlong inquiry into the U.N.'s oil-for-food program
blames Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Security Council and some member
states for allowing mismanagement and corruption to undermine the program
and enrich Saddam Hussein.
A preface to the Independent Inquiry Committee's report, to be released today,
says the U.N. requires stronger leadership and serious overhaul.
But it does not call for Annan to resign, saying the Security Council and
others should share responsibility for the failures.
"Neither the Security Council nor the Secretariat leadership was clearly
in command," which enabled Hussein to define the boundaries of the relief
program, says the preface, published Tuesday.
Decisions were "delayed, bungled or simply shunned" when the political and
economic interests of Security Council member states conflicted with the
U.N.'s administrative guidelines, it says.
The states mentioned included the United States, Russia and France.
The panel, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, called
for four key reforms, including creating the post of chief operating officer
and an independent auditing board, and said they should be implemented within
a year.
The reforms complement a package of changes urged by Annan, raising the question
of whether he will lead them or be swept away in the housecleaning.
"Now is the time to clean house at the U.N.," said U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman
(R-Minn.), who was one of the first to call for Annan to step down. "Kofi
Annan should resign and allow a new team to implement a new commitment to
accountability and transparency."
Annan set up the independent panel last year to look into allegations of
corruption and management failures in the $64-billion program intended to
help Iraqis weather international sanctions imposed after Hussein's 1990
invasion of Kuwait.
The report, expected to be nearly 1,000 pages, concludes that the program
helped deprive Hussein of weapons of mass destruction and maintained minimal
standards of nutrition and health for Iraqis.
But it added that the program's accomplishments were obscured by the "dark
shadow" of waste, inefficiency and corruption, both within the U.N. and the
private companies that won contracts through the organization. Volcker's
next report will focus on private firms' roles in kickbacks and smuggling
related to the program.
The current report is expected to detail questionable activities by Annan's
son, Kojo, such as his evasion of $14,000 in taxes on a new car by invoking
his father's diplomatic status.
U.N. officials who were briefed after Volcker met with the U.N. chief last
week said there was no evidence that Annan helped his son's employer at the
time, Cotecna Inspection, win a U.N. contract.
But the report will criticize former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali,
who led the U.N. when the oil-for-food program was created in the mid-1990s.
In a previous report, Volcker detailed Boutros-Ghali's direct role in determining
who should receive U.N. contracts for the program and described two of his
relatives' alleged participation in a kickback scheme related to the program.
The report comes a week before world leaders converge on the U.N. for a 60th
anniversary summit to discuss reforming the organization. Annan is to ask
them to grant more independence for the office of the secretary-general,
and the report's damning conclusions about the management failures could
either bolster his case or completely subvert it, diplomats say.
"At stake is the U.N. ability to respond promptly and effectively to the
responsibilities thrust upon it by the realities of a turbulent and often
violent world," the report says. "It is precisely those qualities that too
often were absent in the administration of the oil-for-food program."
Annan, who had a chance to defend his actions to Volcker before the final
report was published, told the BBC that he accepted responsibility for "inadequacies
and failures" in some areas. But he said that responsibility should be shared
for other failures, including the actions of companies that traded with Iraq,
and the Security Council members that did not stop widespread smuggling and
kickbacks long after becoming aware of them.
The report concludes that there are some things that only the U.N. has the
experience, skills and legitimacy to do, such as cutting across borders to
prevent conflict and deliver aid. But instances of "illicit, unethical and
corrupt behavior" highlighted in the investigation raised questions about
the United Nations' ability to live up to its ideals, the report says.
"The inescapable conclusion from the committee's work is that the United
Nations organization needs thoroughgoing reform, and it needs it urgently."