South Korea’s Ban Ki Moon, whose selection as the next United Nations secretary-general is almost assured, will likely face the North Korea crisis as his first major test. But Darfur and the Middle East, among many conflict-torn areas, and much-needed basic reforms in the U.N. will prove equally daunting challenges for him as well.
With Ban’s formal nomination by the Security Council earlier this week, the endorsement of the 192-member General Assembly is a mere formality, and should be forthcoming in the next few days. He will replace Kofi Annan, whose term ends in December.
After North Korea claimed it had conducted a successful nuclear weapons explosion, Ban said he would use his position to urge North Korea to resolve the nuclear issue through negotiations. He was a key player in the six-party talks with North Korea earlier and wants to go to Pyongyang, which Annan never did.
In his words, “I’ve gained a much deeper experience and understanding into this complex issue.” He added that, as secretary-general, “I’m convinced I can do much better than any other person” to resolve the problem peacefully.
What kind of secretary-general is Ban likely to be? At the height of his popularity, Annan was seen as a “secular pope,” a global statesman hoping to be the U.N.’s moral conscience, tackling problems ranging from conflicts to diseases to poverty and underdevelopment.
Keen observers of the U.N. have often warned that the secretary-general should be more secretary than general. But the charter gives no guidance as to what kind of person should be selected and what the selection procedure should be. There is wide agreement that he or she should be an effective administrator and manager. Perhaps the only effective global statesman as a secretary-general was Sweden’s Dag Hammarskjold, who, just like Ban, was not a highly visible candidate for the post but grew into it.
Currently South Korea’s foreign minister, Ban has been in the diplomatic service for 36 years, which includes posts in India, at the U.N., and as an ambassador in Vienna. In Korea he has the nickname “Ban Chusa” (the administrator) but he is also called by the Korean press corps “the slippery eel,” as he skillfully avoids answering questions directly. He is soft-spoken, gentle and known to be an excellent manager, a consensus-builder who does not make enemies. The questions his critics ask are, “Can he act tough? Can he take a strong stand, especially against a major power when needed? Can he push the U.N. reform agenda?” His response: “I might look soft from the outside, but I’ve strong inner strength,” adding that humility is a virtue “some Westerners don’t seem to fully understand.”
The U.N. is a huge bureaucracy with a current budget of $3.7 billion and 16 peacekeeping missions with more than 85,000 peacekeepers. The secretary-general has to ensure that he does not run afoul of the veto-wielding five permanent members of the Security Council – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France. Boutros Boutros-Ghali learned this the hard way, as he offended the U.S. and lost the opportunity to serve a second term. Critics have accused Ban of cutting back-room deals and trading jobs for votes during his campaign. Washington is said to have come on board for his selection, some say because he is seen to be susceptible to being easily influenced, but he responds: “I am a man of integrity.”
After the end of the Cold War, the ray of hope that the U.N. could be revitalized to fulfill the aspirations of its founders vanished with the only remaining superpower unwilling to accept any constraints on its unfettered discretion to act. The oil-for-food scandal, as well as the scandal over U.N. peacekeepers involved with prostitution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and failures in Somalia, Rwanda and the Balkans, have hurt the institution. However, the U.N. is again at the center of critical issues facing the world, such as the situations in Lebanon, Iran, Darfur and North Korea.
In Annan’s words, the U.N. secretary-general has “the world’s most impossible job.” One fervently hopes that the new secretary-general can effectively manage the global system of the United Nations, bringing divergent interests together and finding common ground to address the seemingly intractable challenges facing humanity.
Ved P. Nanda (vnanda@law.du.edu) is Evans University Professor and director of the International Legal Studies Program at the University of Denver.
