No Kofi Annan, He!
And that’s meant as high praise:
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, declaring the atmosphere “not fully ripe,” shunned officials from the Islamic militant Hamas group on Sunday, dealing a setback to the new Palestinian government’s efforts to win international recognition.
Ban’s comments came on a day of high-profile diplomacy, with the U.N. chief and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Both hope their clout will help to prod the two sides to start talking peace again.
Hamas, branded a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union, joined the more moderate Fatah Party in a coalition government last week. The bitter rivals have expressed hope their alliance would end international isolation of the previous hard-line Hamas government.
U.S. and European diplomats have held a stream of contacts with moderate members of the new coalition while avoiding Hamas ministers.
While welcoming the new government’s formation, Ban said “the atmosphere is not fully ripe” for talks with Hamas, which has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide bombings and refuses to recognize the Jewish state.
Speaking after a meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, Ban said he hoped the new government would “show a genuine commitment to the basic principles … of peace.”
The “Quartet” of Mideast peacemakers — the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia — have demanded that Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept past peace agreements.
Ban heads an organization whose very existence is predicated on the idea of multilateral diplomacy, but unlike his predecessor, he doesn’t confuse process with progress…
3 Responses to “No Kofi Annan, He!”
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March 25th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Unfortunately, LGF caught him laying a wreath at Arafat’s shrine as well.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Ah, well, nobody’s perfect…
March 25th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
[…] Earlier today, I made the mistake of praising the UN indirectly because it’s new chief appears to be a far more reasonable man than Kofi Annan. However, Secretary General Ban MUST speak out against the blatant anti-Semitism of the official Arab world: Saudi Arabia has barred entry to a Washington-based Israeli journalist traveling with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on his current Middle East tour, the United Nations said today. […]