Annan wants priority on human security

Annan wants priority on human security

UNITED NATIONS (AP): With the deployment of multinational
peacekeepers in East Timor as a backdrop, UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan urged world leaders gathering in New York on Monday to
be more ready to intervene in strife-torn regions.

In an opening-day address to the UN General Assembly's
annual debate -- two weeks of speeches by heads of state,
ministers and a crown prince -- Annan spoke of the need to protect
and promote "human security" in the coming century.

Annan has made it clear that the main challenge facing the
United Nations is its role in protecting civilians, who are more
and more often the targets of warring parties.

And to do that, Annan said, the United Nations and the
Security Council must be willing to take action, even when
individual nations' interests are not at stake.

"A global era requires global engagement," Annan told the
assembly. "Indeed, in a growing number of challenges facing
humanity, the collective interest is the national interest."

He contrasted the inability of the council to find a common
strategy in Kosovo with its unanimous and quick vote last week to
approve a peacekeeping force for East Timor as evidence of an
apparent growing willingness to intervene when innocent lives are
at stake.

Such decisive action should deter those who may be thinking of
waging new wars, he said.

"If states bent on criminal behavior know that frontiers are
not the absolute defense; if they know that the Security Council
will take action to halt crimes against humanity, then they will
not embark on such course of action in expectation of sovereign
impunity," he said.

The first wave of Australian-led peacekeepers deployed on
Monday in East Timor's capital, Dili, to impose order after a
rampage by anti-independence militia men, thought to have left
hundreds dead.

With Kosovo, Congo and East Timor certainly on the minds of
many of the more than 185 leaders lined up to speak, the theme of
humanitarian intervention is sure to figure prominently in the
addresses over the next two weeks.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, French Prime Minister
Lionel Jospin, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen were
scheduled to be among the first to take the podium on Monday.

President Bill Clinton decided to skip his usual opening-day
speech because Monday is the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

Security around UN headquarters was significantly eased
compared to last year, when leaders were gathering in the wake of
the dual U.S. embassy bombings in east Africa. The main avenue in
front of the United Nations, which was closed around-the-clock
for the duration of the 1998 session, was only to be closed to
traffic from 8 a.m. EDT (7 p.m. Jakarta time) to 6 p.m. the first
three days of the debate.

While the headline-grabbing conflicts around the world are
sure to be the priority subjects of this year's debate, other
topics are expected to include Iraq, the ongoing battle against
poverty, the United Nations in the next millennium and UN
reform.

In addition, the smallest UN member states will have a
chance to voice their concerns at a special two-day session next
Monday and Tuesday on the problems facing small island states.