Safe-bet Ban wins backing for second term as UN chief

Safe-bet Ban wins backing for second term as UN chief
صدای آلمان
صدای آلمان - ۲۷ خرداد ۱۳۹۰

  Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Ban Ki-moon will head the UN for five more years After the official recommendation by the UN Security Council, the reelection of Ban Ki-moon is a done deal. How did the Korean diplomat once dubbed the invisible man win a second term so easily?  It was evident a few months ago that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would easily sail through to a second term with the backing of the five permanent members of the Security Council. So it came as no surprise when the ۱۵ members of the Security Council on Thursday officially endorsed Ban for another five-year period at the helm of the United Nations. The final act of the election will take place Tuesday when the UN General Assembly votes on Ban, who is the only candidate. More interesting than the election itself is how a secretary general, who was famously labeled by Spain's El Pais newspaper "the invisible man" for his dour and unimpressive style, managed to secure the unanimous support of the veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council for a second term.

"  Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Ban Ki-moon will head the UN for five more years After the official recommendation by the UN Security Council, the reelection of Ban Ki-moon is a done deal"In trying to answer the question two very distinct narratives of Ban Ki-moon's tenure and interpretation of the role of UN Secretary General emerge. For Ambassador Mark Lagon, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Ban Ki-moon "has been a mediocre Secretary General." Safe bet According to that narrative, the main reason why Ban received the full backing of the divergent set of permanent Security Council members US, Britain, France, Russia and China is because he simply didn't rock the boat.   "From a perspective of all five, Ban Ki-moon is someone who is a facilitator rather than someone who is trying to be an independent player," Lagon told Deutsche Welle. Washington, like the other permanent members, supports Ban because he is a safe choice, adds Lagon, a former deputy assistant secretary of state under George W. Bush.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Kofi Annan's tenure was far more controversialAfter the tenure of the very public and outspoken Kofi Annan - who was extremely disliked by the White House - the US wanted his successor to keep a lower profile and to simply stick to fulfilling the role as the highest-ranking international civil servant instead of acting like a politician.   "He is exactly what John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN at the time when he was chosen, wanted: a colorless clerk," said Lagon. Low profile And indeed, Ban during his first term hasn't really rankled any of the major international powers. He hasn't pushed hard enough for human rights argue critics like Lagon, a move that could have irritated Russia and China. He hasn't meddled in the Israeli-Palestinian affairs which could have angered Washington and Israel.

"How did the Korean diplomat once dubbed the invisible man win a second term so easily?  It was evident a few months ago that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would easily sail through to a second term with the backing of the five permanent members of the Security Council"And he hasn't launched any high-profile global initiatives or campaigns. More recently he has come out in support for the democracy movements in North Africa, took a stand for the newly elected president in the Ivory Coast and for a separation of Sudan, but even then his delivery remains mostly diplomatic and lacks the emotional and personal flavor exhibited by some of his predecessors.   And yet it is precisely that, his no-drama style, which according to the second narrative explains not just Ban's broad international support, but also why he is a good fit for the job.   No blunders "The most important thing is he hasn't blundered in any obvious way unlike his predecessor Kofi Annan," argues Marco Verweij, a political science professor at Jacobs University in Bremen, who thinks that Annan should never have been made Secretary General in the first place, because of his role at the UN during the genocide in Rwanda. "Not having blundered in a very difficult, very violent and very unequal world is already quite an achievement," Verweij told Deutsche Welle.

After all, he added, Ban has a job with a lot of responsibility, but almost no direct power and is dependent on the member states. His attempts to reduce the budget and to push for more transparency within the UN have been welcomed by the US in the aftermath of the oil-for-food and other scandals at organization. "If a harsh UN critic like John Bolton has some praise for the pro-democracy action of the secretary general and of the efforts to cut the budgets then that is a sign that he is not doing too badly," noted Verweij. Another achievement, says Verweij, is the creation of UN Women, a new organization focused on gender equality, a key issue in many parts of the world.   Hard worker Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  The vote by the UN General Assembly is just a formality Verweij concedes that Ban can sometimes give the impression that he is too eager to please for example when after having being criticized for not speaking French fluently enough, he picked up French lessons again.

"So it came as no surprise when the ۱۵ members of the Security Council on Thursday officially endorsed Ban for another five-year period at the helm of the United Nations"But Verweij believes that in the end most countries feel that Ban has been a rather balanced UN secretary general who has been relatively transparent and has come across as a very modest and hard-working figure. "I do think he deserves a second term," says Verweij. Asked whether he thinks the UN is better off now under Ban than five years ago Lagon, who calls himself an admirer of Kofi Annan, has a clear answer: "I am an uncommon voice having served in the Bush administration for saying this, but I don't think so." "I am not sure that the world needs someone quite so placid." Author: Michael KniggeEditor: Rob Mudge 

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