Annan calls for cooperation

In his trademark soft voice, his English inflected with hints of African and British dialects,… In his trademark soft voice, his English inflected with hints of African and British dialects, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan delivered a major policy address in Pittsburgh Tuesday.

He eloquently called for increased cooperation between the United States and the United Nations, the international association of sovereign states that he has managed since 1997.

Annan spoke to a riveted, invitation-only crowd at Pitt’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Hall yesterday in the latest presentation of the H.J Heinz Company Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series.

“I believe that the United States and the United Nations need each other,” he said.

Annan, in his first visit to Pittsburgh, was showered with gifts and awards from The Heinz Company Foundation and Pitt, the two organizations who sponsored the program. The Foundation granted Annan its Humanitarian Award, in recognition of the U.N.’s efforts to combat world malnutrition and hunger, and gave him a $10,000 donation for the United Nations Children Fund. After his speech, Annan received an honorary Doctor of Public and International Affairs from Pitt, conferred by Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and Provost James Maher.

In addition to Annan’s speech, the program recognized Humaira Rafiq of Pakistan and Jargalmaa Tsendjav of Mongolia, who will study at Pitt for the next year as Heinz Fellowship recipients.

Annan, a Nobel Prize winner, wasted no time in confronting the publicly perceived rift between the United States and the U.N.

“My friends, such talk ill serves the public,” he said early in his speech, “because it is based on a fundamental misunderstanding about what the United Nations is, and what it does.”

He went on to acknowledge the important role the United States, as the world’s “sole remaining superpower,” must play in world politics.

“The idea that a peaceful and prosperous world could be organized without the active engagement of the United States is not credible,” he said.

For all of his praise, though, Annan was candid in his evaluation of the United States’ recent unilateral actions in Iraq, performed without the consent of the U.N.

“Many people find it troubling and confusing when the United States appears to abandon the very international instruments that bear its mark,” he said, tactfully choosing his words.

Furthermore, he urged the United States to uphold the responsibility it carries in being the world’s strongest country through diplomacy, rather than military force.

He also made the case for increased United States involvement in solving world problems such as hunger, malnutrition and disease, by discussing the link between civil strife and international peace.

“I think we all see, with chilling clarity, that a world where millions of people endure brutal humiliation and extreme misery will never be fully secure,” he said.

Annan spoke briefly about the new U.N. resolution to strengthen its role in Iraq and vowed to implement the mandate to the best of his ability.

He closed his speech by proclaiming his faith in the world’s potential to find “collective answers” to the many problems facing every country, and by inviting all Americans to join the “great global discussion.”

“To some audiences, that may sound like a utopian vision,” he said, “But to live in America is to be an optimist, to know that all things are possible.”

“And I feel confident that all of you will do your part to make it come true.”