Nobel Peace Prize Goes to U.N., Annan

Against the backdrop of a world shaken by terrorist attacks on America and a growing conflict in Afghanistan, Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the United Nations won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work “for a better organized and more peaceful world.”

“Today the organization is at the forefront of efforts to achieve peace and security in the world, and of the international mobilization aimed at meeting the world’s economic, social and environmental challenges,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in naming the international body and its leader.

The coveted award was a major achievement for an organization that for years was restricted by the vetoes of the Cold War, was criticized by conservative U.S. politicians and struggled with meager finances in its attempt to solve some of the most pressing and seemingly intractable global problems.

The prize offered recognition of the United Nations’ new stature, a streamlined administration and Annan’s efforts to make the organization highly relevant in the international political process and the fight against terrorism.

The Nobel Committee singled out Annan for “bringing new life” to the U.N.

“In an organization that can hardly become more than its members permit, he has made it clear that sovereignty cannot be a shield behind which member states conceal their violations,” it said.

Applause rang out when the soft-spoken 63-year-old secretary-general, who took office in 1997 and recently was elected to a second term, entered U.N. headquarters alongside New York’s East River.

“All of us who work for the United Nations should be proud today, but also humbled--humbled because even more will be expected of us in the future,” the urbane Ghanaian said.

Annan dedicated the prize to the almost 2,000 U.N. staff members who have lost their lives in the service of humanity.

“The only prize, for them and for us, will be peace itself,” he said.

Later, he added with a smile, “In the sort of business we are in, usually when you get a call that early in the morning, it is something disastrous.”

Worldwide Staff Exceeds 52,000

Founded in San Francisco in 1945, the United Nations has expanded to embrace just about every concern humankind faces. It employs more than 52,000 people throughout the world.

Its tasks include peacekeeping, aiding developing countries, promoting and protecting democracy and human rights, seeking to save people from starvation and disease, providing relief assistance to refugees, and countering global crime, drugs and disease.

It encompasses 29 organizations devoted to diverse concerns ranging from international atomic energy to maritime matters to international telecommunications.

Emphasizing the world body’s revitalized role, the Nobel Committee proclaimed: “The only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations.”

In Oslo, the chairman of the award committee, Gunnar Berge, alluded to the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon and the Bush administration’s response in Afghanistan.

He said events of recent weeks had “further underpinned” the award to the United Nations.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Annan has toiled to make the United Nations the center of a “global coalition against terrorism” as well as striven for a resumption of Mideast peace talks.

Annan said the timing of the prize “couldn’t have been better” in coming so close to the attacks on the Pentagon and the Trade Center--the worst case of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

“It is really going to do all sorts of intangible things for us, and I think it is going to energize my colleagues, particularly those in the field--in Afghanistan, in the Congo, in the Balkans, and all of us.

“So I think it’s a great shot in the arm for us,” he said.

The already huge mission of the U.N. could grow even further in the months ahead. President Bush has suggested that the world body take over nation-building in Afghanistan and the task of stabilizing a future government once U.S. military action ends.

At a news conference, Annan said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Security Council expanded the U.N.’s mandate.

But he stressed that any regime not seen as “home-grown” by the Afghan people would face difficulties.

“One cannot impose a government on the Afghan people,” Annan said.

During his first term as secretary-general, Annan sought to make the U.N. more responsive to change. He stressed that sovereignty isn’t sacred when a country is abusing the rights of its citizens. He worked successfully to have the United States return to the financial fold by paying back dues. He overhauled U.N. peacekeeping operations.

But he also faced criticism during his first term--most vocally by the United States for a 1998 peace mission to Iraq that failed. And the world body has been accused of failing to halt genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and ethnic terror in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990s.

For the highly visible post he holds on the international stage, Annan is a private and quiet man who enjoys nature, hiking and resting in the garden of the secretary-general’s official residence in Manhattan. He is married to the former Nane Lagergren, the niece of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who won acclaim for rescuing thousands of Jews from the Germans in the final months of World War II. It is his second marriage.

The Nobel Committee selected Annan and the United Nations from 136 nominees, including Pope John Paul II, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the European Court of Human Rights.

Only once before in the 100-year history of the prizes has the peace award been given to a secretary-general. Dag Hammarskjold, the U.N.’s second leader, was given the prize posthumously in 1961 for his actions in strengthening the world organization.

The award came after his death in a plane crash on a peace mission in Congo.

$946,200 Prize to Be Split Equally

On five previous occasions, portions of the United Nations have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize--but never the organization as a whole.

Annan said he will accept the prize worth $946,200 at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10. It will be divided into two equal portions--for the secretary-general and for the U.N.

Asked what he planned to do with the money, he replied: “We have plenty of time to decide what to do with it. And we will find good use for it, don’t worry.”

Congratulations came from world leaders after the award was announced. The secretary-general later spoke with Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres also were among those offering accolades.

“He reminded the international community of its duties,” said French President Jacques Chirac, especially noting the U.N.’s campaign against child soldiers and land mines.

“No one and no organization is more deserving of this prestigious award,” Blair said in a statement.

Kamalesh Sharma, India’s ambassador to the United Nations, said the award raised Annan’s stature to that of a “global celebrity, like a rock star.”

Annan Wins Special Praise in Homeland

In Ghana, he won special praise.

“As a son of Ghana, you’ve made the whole nation proud,” Ghanaian President John Kufuor said.

Although the reaction was overwhelmingly positive, there were exceptions.

In Rwanda, the prize was criticized by survivors of the 1994 genocide, in which extremists from the ethnic Hutu majority killed more than 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.

“He [Annan] has a heavy responsibility for the Rwandan genocide,” said Antoine Mugesera, chairman of an association of genocide survivors. “How can such a highly respected institution award him the prize?”

Also reacting angrily were survivors of the 1995 massacre of as many as 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica, which had been declared a U.N. “safe haven” before being overrun by Serbs.

Annan has apologized for the United Nations’ inaction in Rwanda. He commissioned a detailed investigation into what went wrong.