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Ban wins unanimous re-election as UN chief
Source: Agencies |
June 23, 2011, Thursday
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THE 192-nation UN General Assembly on Tuesday unanimously approved a second five-year term for UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
The former South Korean foreign minister, who took over as UN secretary-general from his predecessor Kofi Annan in 2007, was re-elected to the world body's top job by acclamation, effective next January 1.
Ban, 67, was unopposed, making his re-election a virtual certainty after the Security Council last week recommended he continue at the helm of the United Nations. He thanked the UN member states for the "great honor" they bestowed on him but later told reporters he had much unfinished business.
"Clearly we have far to go," Ban said. "Too many people lack basic human rights. Too many people are hungry. Too many children die needlessly every day."
"Seldom has the United Nations been more relevant and never has it been more necessary," he added.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice welcomed Ban's re-election and praised his performance in "one of the toughest jobs in the world."
"No one understands the burdens of this role better than he," Rice said, adding that Washington was "grateful that he is willing to take them on."
All the regional groups of UN member states backed Ban, including the Latin American and Caribbean group, the last to officially endorse his re-election.
UN officials and diplomats had said Cuba, Barbados and others held up the group's endorsement amid complaints that Ban had neglected the region. Havana denied causing a delay.
Under an unwritten UN rule, the job of secretary-general rotates among the world's regions and may not be held by a citizen of one of the five permanent Security Council members - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
It is normal for an incumbent to serve two five-year terms, although Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali was ousted after one term in 1996 by the United States, which felt he had performed poorly over the war in Bosnia.
Analysts see Ban, noted for his self-deprecating manner and imperfect command of English, as a tireless worker and inveterate globetrotter, but say his tenure so far has a mixed record on the issues he has championed.
The former South Korean foreign minister, who took over as UN secretary-general from his predecessor Kofi Annan in 2007, was re-elected to the world body's top job by acclamation, effective next January 1.
Ban, 67, was unopposed, making his re-election a virtual certainty after the Security Council last week recommended he continue at the helm of the United Nations. He thanked the UN member states for the "great honor" they bestowed on him but later told reporters he had much unfinished business.
"Clearly we have far to go," Ban said. "Too many people lack basic human rights. Too many people are hungry. Too many children die needlessly every day."
"Seldom has the United Nations been more relevant and never has it been more necessary," he added.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice welcomed Ban's re-election and praised his performance in "one of the toughest jobs in the world."
"No one understands the burdens of this role better than he," Rice said, adding that Washington was "grateful that he is willing to take them on."
All the regional groups of UN member states backed Ban, including the Latin American and Caribbean group, the last to officially endorse his re-election.
UN officials and diplomats had said Cuba, Barbados and others held up the group's endorsement amid complaints that Ban had neglected the region. Havana denied causing a delay.
Under an unwritten UN rule, the job of secretary-general rotates among the world's regions and may not be held by a citizen of one of the five permanent Security Council members - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
It is normal for an incumbent to serve two five-year terms, although Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali was ousted after one term in 1996 by the United States, which felt he had performed poorly over the war in Bosnia.
Analysts see Ban, noted for his self-deprecating manner and imperfect command of English, as a tireless worker and inveterate globetrotter, but say his tenure so far has a mixed record on the issues he has championed.
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