 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday told ministers and senior officials from Asia and Africa the world body had lost its way.
| Most spectacularly on his watch, but he doesn't dwell on that... |
| Expect some underlings to be tossed overboard real soon now ... |
Annan called on members to support sweeping reforms.
| ... but not to support booting him... |
The time had come for an enlargement of the Security Council to loosen the grip of large powers and give the developing world a say, Annan said, seeking to lobby representatives from two continents that make up three quarters of the world's population.
| The UNSC's an unwieldy body that's susceptible to deadlock because five of its members wield a veto power. Making it larger, and handing out more veto powers will therefore make it better. That's logic. Of a sort. |
He said in all areas of its work, from human rights, to tackling poverty, hunger and conflict, the United Nations was not living up to the ideals of its member nations.
| It's living down to the ideals of some of them, however... |
"The multilateral system is not delivering for its member states the results that it should," Annan told foreign ministers and officials from 100 African and Asian countries gathered in Jakarta.
| "I mean, us African and Asian countries should have a much larger share of the boodle!" |
Heads of state at the Asian-African Summit are due to meet in the Indonesian capital today and tomorrow, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung. The secretary general released a 63-page report on reform in March, proposing the most wide-ranging shake-up of the UN since its creation in 1945. |