Kofi Annan loses his cool (January 2006)
by Sandra Giovanna Giacomazzi
We have yet to see if the New Year at the UN will start off with same bang and fireworks that the last year ended with:
“I think you're being very cheeky here. And I have to tell you -- no,
hold on, hold on. Listen, James Bone, you've been behaving like
an overgrown schoolboy in this room for many, many months and years.
You're an embarrassment to your colleagues and to your
profession. Please stop misbehaving and please let's move on to a more
serious journalist.” It was with these very undiplomatic words
that the number one diplomat in the world, Kofi Annan, liquidated the
question of a British journalist at the UN’s end of the year press
conference.
It was quite a surprise to everyone to see the usually overly calm Secretary
General of the United Nation lose his temper in such an
incongruous and inopportune manner. And to think that only a
few minutes early he had been smiling and joking with members of the
press, offering advice to his eventual successor when his mandate ends
at the end of 2006. “They need to be someone with thick skin.
Someone with a sense of humor.”
His “I won’t stand for this” five minutes later couldn’t have been more
contrary to the advice that he had just given. He didn’t even
allow the journalist from “The Times” of London to formulate his question!
As soon as he understood what the question would be, he
exploded. “The Times” correspondent, James Bone, had attempted
to request an explanation concerning the Mercedes that his son had
bought in his father’s name, before shipping it to Africa taking advantage
of his father’s diplomatic discount, just one of the many
episodes that revolve around the “Oil for Food” scandals,
The president of the United Nations Correspondents Association responded
to Kofi Annan’s outburst by defending Bone, declaring that
he is no embarrassment to his colleagues, that he is a member in good
standing of the UNCA and that he had every right to ask his
question.
During the eighteen-month investigations into the Oil for food scandals,
Annan has always refused categorically to talk about it, seeking
refuge behind a justifiable respect for protocol. “Let’s wait
and see what the results are of the Volcker Report.” However, once
the
Volcker report came out, he only accepted a mere three questions on
the matter and he never held a special press conference on the
subject, which is the least that everyone had expected.
The United Nations has a time-honored technique for cover-ups.
When an investigation is inconclusive, they declare that it is resolved.
For James Bone, the fact that an investigation is inconclusive doesn’t
mean that it’s over. “It’s over when people find our what’s
happened.”
Sandra Giovanna Giacomazzi, teaches Government and Economics in Turin,
Italy. She is also a regular columnist for the Roman daily,
“L’Opinione della Libertà”.
giogia@giogia.com
Return to List
Return to home page