Pearce Says U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Should Resign
Washington,
Dec 16, 2004 -
New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce Wednesday called on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resign because Annan has proven to be a “monumental failure”at running the world body.
“Kofi Annan must be held responsible for the numerous failures under his watch as Secretary-General,” Pearce said. “He wanted appeasement with Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. He has not proven to be effective in addressing the threat to America and civilized people by rogue states like Iran and North Korea and he refuses to acknowledge the scourge of global terrorism.”
Pearce characterized Annan as becoming “a symbol of the U.N.’s culture of arrogance, secrecy, mismanagement, weakness, and impotence, and it is time for a new figure at the helm, a Secretary-General who will seek real reform of the U.N. bureaucracy and aggressively stand up for democracy, human rights, and freedom on the world stage.”
“Annan”, Pearce continued, “has recently acknowledged and accepted organizational responsibility for a major scandal involving U.N. personnel and peacekeepers in the Congo.The U.N. stands accused of human rights violations against refugees, the scale of which dwarfs the Abu Ghraib scandal.”
Pearce also believes that recent revelations surrounding the U.N.-administered Oil-for-Food program illustrate further evidence that Annan should resign.
“As Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations, Annan is responsible for what may be the biggest scandal in the history of the U.N. and the biggest financial fraud of modern times. It is inconceivable that Annan was unaware of the scale of the fraud being carried out by Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, particularly in light of his son’s apparent involvement in the Oil-for-Food scandal,” Pearce said.
Pearce also believes by stepping down—Annan will begin reform of the United Nations something that the world body very badly needs.
“A call by President Bush for Kofi Annan’s resignation will make Annan’s position untenable and will pave the way for a fresh start for an institution that has largely lost the confidence of the American people. The United Nations must be reformed. The United States should appoint an Ambassador to the United Nations who will aggressively advance the U.S. national interest and who will fully support Congressional efforts to investigate the Oil-for-Food scandal.”
“Kofi Annan will go down in history as a monumental failure who presided over a steep decline in the reputation of the United Nations. Serious reform of the organization to make it more transparent, effective, and accountable will be impossible as long as he remains in power,” Pearce concluded.
