Annan Charms L.A., Chides U.S. for Unilateral Approach on Issues

In a two-day swing through Los Angeles, Kofi Annan said with understated triumph that as Washington realizes that it needs more help from its allies to stabilize Iraq, the United Nations is more relevant than ever.

But the soft-spoken secretary-general was too diplomatic to gloat. “I don’t feel vindicated. I don’t feel like saying, ‘I told you so,’ ” he told the Los Angeles Times editorial board Wednesday. “The U.S., coming back to the U.N. seeking fresh resolutions, trying to get other countries involved, has come to accept that one has to work with its allies in the international community.”

Annan’s two days seemed like a politician’s campaign tour, complete with a stop at City Hall, a visit to an AIDS clinic and two black-tie fund-raisers. But Annan, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, stumped for an end to AIDS, poverty and unilateralism, not for votes.

Wednesday morning at City Hall, Annan addressed the City Council as consulate representatives from more than 50 countries looked on.

In a brief appearance flanked by Mayor James K. Hahn and Council President Alex Padilla, Annan expressed pleasure that the council adopted a resolution this week supporting the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, eight commitments ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of AIDS. He also told council members that they “have an important role to play: You and your fellow city councils around the world effectively represent more than half of mankind,” he said. “Cities like yours can be ... vehicles for peace.”

Los Angeles, he added, “is a city in a class by itself: bigger, more diverse and more influential than many member states of the U.N.” The visit delighted local elected officials, who showered gifts, such as a travel clock, a paperweight and a crystal model of City Hall bearing the city seal on the secretary-general and his wife, Nane.

“I was on cloud nine this morning,” said Padilla, who said that Annan’s comments on the importance of City Council members “re-energizes me ... and reminds me why I first ran for office.... L.A. does have a big role to play.”

Minutes after Annan left, the council unanimously adopted a resolution, pushed by Councilman Eric Garcetti, urging the U.S. to sign a treaty that would make it a member of the International Criminal Court.

President Bush withdrew from the treaty, which the U.S. had signed but not ratified, after he took office, saying that it would put U.S. citizens at risk of politically motivated prosecutions. The abandonment of that treaty, and of the Kyoto environmental protocol and others, has sparked criticism that the U.S. respects agreements that are in its own direct interest, not the collective good -- a theme that Annan addressed.

In a speech to nearly 1,000 guests at a 50th anniversary celebration of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on Tuesday night, he chided Washington for going it alone to disarm Iraq.

“The United States is the sole remaining superpower. With that power comes great responsibility,” he said. American leadership, he said, “will be more admired than resented” when it is based on dialogue and patient diplomacy.

Washington has been pressing for the U.N.’s help in organizing elections for a provisional government in Iraq in June, a task that becomes more difficult by the day as security deteriorates and divisions among Iraqi interests deepen.

Annan will appoint an acting special representative before the end of the year to begin that process, he said, but emphasized that the U.N. must be independent from the occupation, and would coordinate with but not report to the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III.

“We cannot have a situation where the U.N. is subjugated to the occupying power, “ he said.

He said he would name a permanent representative in the “near future,” who would be the top representative of the international community in Iraq.

On Wednesday night, Annan attended a star-studded gala celebrating 50 years of UNICEF goodwill ambassadors -- the celebrities who have helped raise money and awareness for the children’s charity. Danny Kaye became the first ambassador in 1954; Audrey Hepburn is perhaps the most widely known. They were followed by dozens of others, including Harry Belafonte, Roger Moore, Peter Ustinov, George Harrison, Vanessa Redgrave, pop star Shakira and Greek singer Nana Mouskouri.