Mission impossible?
As Ban Ki-moon takes charge at the United Nations, we look at the prospects for this troubled body and for its peacekeeping efforts round the world
ANY new job brings challenges: but none quite like those facing Ban Ki-moon, the quiet Korean who has just become the UN's new secretary-general. Rising nuclear demons in Iran and North Korea, a haemorrhaging wound in Darfur, unending violence in the Middle East, looming environmental disaster, escalating international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the spread of HIV/AIDS. And then there are more parochial concerns, such as the largely unfinished business of the most sweeping attempt at reform in the UN's history. That effort was started by Kofi Annan, who stepped down this week after ten turbulent years at the helm.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Mission impossible?”
Briefing January 6th 2007
From the January 6th 2007 edition
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