All but Boutros Boutros Ghali's staunchest Arab or Afro-Asian supporters would deny that Kofi Annan, the veteran Ghanian diplomat was a near-perfect choice for the post of UN Secretary-General. He is an African and Africa is the neglected continent, certainly by the world media. (The striking exception was South Africa which attracted the press largely because of its vast resources, apartheid and Nelson Mandela).
A friend of Mr. Annan had called it a "job from hell!"
No comment from the new Secretary-General.
What makes it so, at least partly, is that the UN is broke. And the United States, the unchallenged superpower after the Soviet implosion is the largest debtor, a staggering 1.3 billion dollars. But the new SG is an optimist. He plans to persuade the US Congress, notoriously anti-UN for half a century, to help the Clinton administration to pay the arrears and the dues. Without this money, it would be "extremely difficult" to carry out the reforms he had in mind, Mr. Annan told Jim Lehrer of Newshour.
Equally interesting is that the new SG was the under-secretary general for "peace-keeping", a major area of UN concern and action in recent years. The day before he moved in to the SG's office, he received the cheerful news that Taleban, the radical Islamic militia in Afghanistan, had "agreed in principle" to participate in the peace negotiations.
It was as the LTTE had announced it would join a UN-sponsored cease-fire-cum-peace negotiations exercise in Sri Lanka. The UN envoy, Norbert Hall flew to Kandahar to brief the provincial governor Mullah Mohammed Hasan.
Africa's SG
This was Africa's turn to produce a Secretary-General... not just for one term but two. Every other region has had at least two terms at the job. The Big Five had decided that it was Africa's turn but the US would not hear of the former Egyptian diplomat serving a second term. Of course a candidate must have Big Power blessing, though no candidate wishes to be introduced as America's candidate or Russia's or Britain's.
In 1991, Boutros Boutro Ghali, Sorbonne-educated, was certainly the candidate of President Francois Mitterand, a close friend. "He won largely because, at the time, neither the US nor Britain could come up with an alternative African acceptable to all five permanent members, including Russia and China", wrote Michael Littlejohns, the veteran UN-based Reuter correspondent.
What is not so well known is that no candidate likes to be "introduced" (or described in the UN lobby for instance) as the "candidate" of X, Y or Z. First, it could lose votes; second, even if one wins, the rivals of your "sponsor" could automatically become your foes and critics.
The "French hand" was clearly seen in Burkino Faso when more than 40 heads of state assembled at the invitation of French President Jacques Chirac who was desperately eager to retain the UN post for an official fluent in French. But why did this become an issue?
Britain, says Littlejohns, who should know Whitehall's mind quite well, argues that a francophone African has had five years already, meaning Dr. Boutro Ghali. Besides, why should his successor, be equally fluent in French?
As it happened Hamid Algabid of Niger, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic States (OIS); Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania, head of the OAU Secretariat and a former candidate; Mustapha Niasse, foreign minister of Senegal, and Wally N'dow of Gambia, Secretary-General of the UN agency Habitat, were all considered potential contenders.
There is, at least in Chinese eyes, a clear black mark against Mr. Niasse. Senegal has diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Although the western press, quoted this or that VVIP (often western) in support of country A or candidate B the stubborn French resistance to the front-runner Mr. Annan was completely off-balance. In the end though, the Big Powers simply could not mobilise sufficient strength to pick a winner.
Perhaps the US-led western alliance, continues to believe that the United Nations is a high class, high cost "debating society"! That is only part of a larger argument that downgrades the United Nations while granting some recognition to other organisations, more economic in character, such as the Bretton Woods twins - the IMF and the World Bank.
The Clinton administration compensated for its aggressive campaign against Secretary-General Boutros Ghali by proving surprisingly tolerant of two Africans - Kofi Annan, quite openly and consistently and Olara Otunnu, a former leader of the Ugandan delegation to the UN. Mr. Otunnu, now Ivory Coast citizen, works for the New York-based International Peace Academy.
In his second term, an American president acts far more freely than in his first term when he is not only a novice but rather a nervous man in the Oval office, not quite sure which official to trust, particularly on his relations with Congress and his party, and of course on those external "threats" or global crises that take him by surprise.
The foreign policy establishment in Washington and other capitals, has been hoping against hope, that President Bill Clinton would offer the world a second-term vision of America's place in a changing world it has considered so lacking in his first four years, wrote Times correspondent Jurek Martin. The President himself may yet address the task.
At 3 a.m. on December 7, as the rest of Chennai slept, hundreds of policemen massed on the roads leading to the exclusive Poes Garden locality and sealed it off to outsiders. Like minor pieces in a chess game positioning themselves before the launch of an offensive, they fell in place quietly. The offensive came just hours later when senior officers of the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) presented themselves at the palatial residence of former Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Jayalalitha and arrested her on charges of corruption in one of eight cases against her.
The fine-tuned operation marked the sober culmination of four months of suspense-filled speculation about her detention. It capped a series of arrests of Ministers and officials in the previous AIADMK Government, all on charges of corruption and the serious abuse of power for which her dispensation acquired a unique reputation
The CB-CID officers entered Jayalalitha’s house at 7.45 a.m. but were told by the household staff that she was in prayer. Jayalalitha emerged from the puja room an hour later, but sought more time to eat breakfast and pack. When at 9.15 a.m. the officers informed her of the grounds of her arrest - her alleged involvement in the purchase of colour television sets for village panchayats, in which there were irregularities to the tune of Rs. 8.53 crores - Jayalalitha received the news with apparent stoicism, even managing a wan smile.
More than two hours later, Principal Sessions Judge, Chennai, A. Ramamurthy, remanded her to judicial custody till December 21 From the judge’s residence - it being Saturday, the courts did not function - she was driven to Central Prison, Chennai. Her bail application came up for hearing on Monday, December 9, and after hearing arguments on both sides for nearly three hours, Ramamurthy said he would pass orders on December 12.
Jayalalitha is the first accused in the colour television sets case. This relates to the purchase of 45,302 colour television sets for installation in villages, at the rate of Rs. 14,500 a set and at a total cost of Rs. 65.68 crores. Among the other accused in the case are former Local Administration Minister T.M. Selvaganapathy and two Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, H.M. Pandey and M. Sathiamoorthy. The CB-CID report which sought the judicial remand of Jayalalitha alleged that she and Selvaganapathy had in July 1995 “hatched a conspiracy to swindle crores of rupees” under “The guise of providing community television sets” to families below the poverty line and to impart basic education and training. The report also gave a detailed account of how the money was allegedly funneled to Selvaganapathy through agents and officers of companies that manufactured television sets.
The arrest came a day after Justice C. Shivappa of the Madras High Court rejected Jayalalitha’s anticipatory bail applications in seven of the cases against her. In the light of material collected by the CB-CID and the DVAC, Justice Shivappa rejected the argument that the cases were filed on account of political vendetta or on extraneous considerations. Considering the nature of the offences, how they were committed and the stage of the investigations, he ruled: “I am of the view that these are not fit cases to grant anticipatory bal.”
Of the seven cases, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing one (the “foreign exchange immunity case”), while the CB-CID of the State police is probing the rest, including the “colour television sets case”. All these cases have been registered against her and others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Of the six cases, “The TANSI land deal case” involves Jaya Publications, in which Jayalalitha and her close friend Sasikala Natarajan were partners
Jaya Publications allegedly bought land and a building belonging to the State-owned Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) at a price much below the market rate on March 4, 1992 and obtained pecuniary advantage of more than Rs. 3.5 crores. On November 15, the CB-CID filed charge-sheet, which said that Jayalalitha “abused her official position at every stage” of the transaction and bought the property though no public interest was involved. Besides Jayalalitha, the other accused are Sasikala, IAS officer and former TANSI Chairman and Managing Director T.R. Srinivasan, former Minister for Rural Industries Mohammed Asif and former Special Deputy Collector (Stamps), Chennai, S. Nagarajan.
The “coal import case”, according to a private complaint filed by Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, relates to alleged corruption to the tune of Rs. 117 crores in the import of coal by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board
In its First Information Report, the CB-CID has named Jayalalitha, former Electricity Minister S. Kannappan and former Chief Secretaries T.V. Venkataraman and N. Haribhaskar.
The “Pleasant Stay Hotel case,” in which Jayalalitha is the first accused, relates to the relaxation of building rules by her Government to legalise the unauthorised construction of five floors of the Kodaikanal hotel. The other accused in the case are Selvaganapathy, H.M. Pandey and hotel executive director Rakesh Mittal.
Much of the preliminary investigation into these cases, which began with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) coming to power in the April-May Assembly elections had been completed by July. And with each new revelation of the details of the sordid saga of corruption during the AlADMK Government, there were expectations that Jayalalitha’s arrest for which a strong enough case seemed to exist, was imminent. But the DMK Government headed by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi handled the sensitive issue maturely and in exemplary fashion. Where a less experienced politician might have been tempted to go after her with apparent vindictiveness immediately after coming to power, Karunanidhi scrupulously acted with propriety. He made it clear that the investigations would proceed at their own pace, yet at the same time got across the message that his Government was sincere about bringing the guilty to book. The same attitude was reflected in the orders he issued to the Chennai Central Jail authorities that the former Chief Minister should be immediately provided special class facilities. In the absence of any court orders to that effect, Jayalalitha (who did not ask for the special class facilities) spent Saturday, December 7, her first day in prison, as an ordinary prisoner.
The Jayalalitha dispensation also acquired notoriety for the physical subjugation of its perceived opponents. In August 1991, an AIADMK mob attacked the then Union Commerce Minister P. Chidambaram at Tiruchi and Sivaganga; he reportedly had a pretty close escape when his car was attacked. Acid was thrown on IAS officer V. Chandralekha, grievously injuring her face. Advocates K.M. Vijayan and R. Shanmugasundaram were savagely assaulted and grievous hurt was caused to their limbs. Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan was gheraoed at the Chennai airport and the Taj Coromandel hotel where he was checked into (by the State Government itself) was attacked with impunity by a gang of armed thugs who arrived and left in a convoy of autorickshaws. Anna University Vice Chancellor M. Anandakrishnan had a precarious escape. The Government, it appeared, had lost the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, legal and illegal, party-and-Jayalalitha interest and State interest.
With Ramamurthy insisting that the CB-CID complete the investigation in the case by December 17, the police are racing against time to file the charge-sheet. (While a First Information Report sets the investigation in motion, filing a charge-sheet in a court indicates that the investigation is complete and that the trial can begin.) Of the six cases being investigated by the CB-CID and the DVAC, a charge-sheet has been filed only in the TANSI land deal case.
Barring the AIADMK and a couple of other parties, most political parties welcomed Jayalalitha’s arrest but cautioned the State Government against being seen to be acting not impartially.
-Frontline
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