Kofi Annan is fast losing his shine as a man of peace

What you need to know:

  • A decade ago, the name ‘Kofi Annan’ inspired respect and awe.
  • National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, accused Annan of working for some “imperialists”.
  • Jubilee insiders claim Annan’s unsavoury remarks were provoked by his recent encounter with President Kenyatta who gave him a cold shoulder.

Former Los Angeles Times foreign and diplomatic correspondent Stanley Meisler praised former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, in a 2006 biography, as “a man of peace in a world of war”. However, in the recent past, the former UN boss seems to be losing his shine.

A decade ago, the name ‘Kofi Annan’ inspired respect and awe. In Kenya, his legacy stood strong as the man who brokered the peace and helped pull the country back from the brink. Ordinary Kenyans named their children after him; and matatus were emblazoned with his face. And the University of Nairobi awarded him an honorary degree in 2012.

Recently, I had opportunity to listen to Annan’s keynote address during the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa in the Ethiopian lakeside resort of Bahir Dar where he praised Kenya’s 2008 peace deal as proof that conflicts on the continent can be resolved without resorting to militaries.

But Mr Annan’s latest remarks in a interview with the Financial Times of London published on June 16, 2016, are likely to undermine his standing in Africa.

Annan drew the ire of a section of the public when he argued that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should have detained Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, Mr William Ruto.

It is highly unlikely that Kenya would be holding together if the ICC decided to detain Kenya’s democratically-elected leaders in its detention centre located within a Dutch prison complex in Scheveningen, on the outskirts of The Hague, where former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is currently wasting away.

Viewed from the standpoint of the rise of China and the return of the Cold War era geopolitics, Mr Annan’s remarks stoked controversy at three levels.
ICC cannot end civil wars

The first is the role of ICC in Africa. Two prominent Africans, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani, captured the dominant thinking in a powerful article published in The New York Times on February 5, 2014. In a nutshell, the two argued that using the courts in politicised conflicts is as messy as carrying out surgery with an axe. The solution is political reform and reconciliation.

Annan has a different idea. After guns fell silent in Kenya, he hastily handed over the country to the ICC instead of prioritising healing and reconciliation.

Second, Annan’s comments rekindle the view of the ICC as a ‘Trojan Horse’ for imperial interests. Jubilee’s National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, accused Annan of working for some “imperialists” who were keen on using the ICC to stop Uhuru and Ruto from seeking the presidency.

In the corridors of power, Annan’s comments are seen as confirming that the former UN boss was among international leaders who wanted President Kenyatta and Ruto jailed, even if there was no sufficient evidence against them.

In this regard, Annan was accused of working in cahoots with certain Western powers to ensure the two were kept away from State House in order to determine who would succeed President Kibaki.

After an opinion poll by the American company, Gallup International, published by the Economist Magazine in October 2012 revealed that Uhuru and Ruto were poised to clinch the presidency, Annan hurriedly travelled to Kenya where he warned that electing the two would complicate Kenya’s foreign relations.

Former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo confirmed this in an interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide on January 22, 2014, where he disclosed that some Western diplomats exerted pressure on him to ensure the two were not on the ballot at the elections.

By meddling in Kenya’s succession politics, the ICC “got itself on the wrong side of a PR and political campaign in Africa”.

Thirdly, and related to above, Annan’s comments have inadvertently complicated what Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, who served as his deputy secretary-general, recently described as “ICC’s bad PR” in Africa.

Malloch-Brown and likeminded leaders believe that the implosion of the Kenyan case has revealed a structural weakness within the ICC. However, the court’s real problem is a crisis of trust in Africa as an impartial instrument of international justice.

REVIEWING ICC MEMBERSHIP

There are already serious threats by African leaders to quit the Hague-based court. Last year, South Africa disclosed that it was reviewing its membership with ICC after criticism over its failure to detain Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the ICC on charges of war crimes and genocide.

The conviction of Hissene Habre, the former president of Chad, for crimes against humanity by an African Union-backed court in Senegal last month has confirmed that Africa can be its own policeman; it does not need the West or the ICC.

Taking advantage of Africa’s vulnerability to meddle in the continent’s affairs in the name of justice and ending impunity has thrown the world into a profound crisis in international justice.

Inescapably, the imperative of democratic deepening in Africa requires that African leaders like Mr Annan stress the need to strengthen Africa’s institutional capacity to give its people justice in their own courts rather than promoting international courts.

Mr Annan’s remarks will most likely affect his effectiveness as an opinion leader in Africa. The growing image of the blunt-talking former UN boss as Africa’s ‘Mr Fix-it-all’ is straining further an already frosty relations with some regional leaders.

On several occasions, former President Kibaki snubbed Annan for what was seen as his bias and lack of magisterial neutrality in Kenya’s transitional politics.

Jubilee insiders claim Annan’s unsavoury remarks were provoked by his recent encounter with President Kenyatta who gave him a cold shoulder.

Notably, key African leaders such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, President Kenyatta and South Sudan’s Salvar Kiir, who are regular participants in the Tana High-Level Forum, were curiously missing in the 2016 forum, where Annan was the guest speaker. Owing to his new abrasive style, the future of Annan as Africa’s peacemaker looks uncertain.

The writer comments on social and public policy issues.