In the streets of his hometown Kumasi in central Ghana, Kofi Annan is known by the accolade Busumuru—‘‘the best of the best’’.Many Africans share Ghana’s pride at his rise to Secretary-General of the United Nations, but when it comes to his organisation’s work, emotions range from gratitude to outraged feelings of betrayal.From its disastrous failure to stop Rwanda’s 1994 genocide to routine yet vital tasks like feeding children in northern Kenya or fighting polio in Ethiopia, the United Nations wields perhaps its biggest influence in Africa.As the organisation prepares to host the largest gathering of world leaders in history this week to discuss ways to reform the 60-year-old institution, the message from the continent is clear: ‘‘We need you, but you must do better.’’Burdened with roles from feeding the hungry to ending wars, the United Nations often finds itself caught between the high expectations of Africans on one side, and indifference among member states who provide its funds and mandates on the other.But with reforms on everything from streamlining management to finding new ways to help countries recover from conflict on the table in New York, many Africans hope the world body will start by confronting its own failings as an organisation.One of the UN’s most important roles is its peacekeeping operations. In Liberia, 16,000 troops are providing security during elections next month and the United Nations is likely to remain committed for years. In neighbouring Sierra Leone, which also welcomed UN troops after a devastating civil war, some politicians want the United Nations to play a wider role in fostering democracy across Africa—a call critics say amounts to wishful thinking.‘‘I believe that the UN needs to do more by coming in and putting checks and balances to our countries’ corrupt practices in Africa, rather than waiting to send troops and spend big money for peace,’’ said member of parliament Issa Mansaray.Such enthusiasm for the theory cannot hide wider concerns about the performance of the UN in practice, perceived by critics as a top-heavy, bloated bureaucracy more concerned with obeying the letter of its mandates than saving lives.People who have lost relatives to massacres or starvation find cold comfort in complaints by UN administrators that the Security Council’s orders were too restrictive for more robust peacekeeping, or donor funds arrived too late to supply aid.Whether justified or not, weariness with the UN reflects a global current of frustration with an organisation that embodies ideals to which all can aspire, but which so often lacks the money, personnel, agility and backing by its members to implement them.Africa, scene of some of the greatest UN triumphs and disasters, is as impatient as any for signs of improvement. —Reuters British watchdog bans Make Poverty History adsLONDON: Make Poverty History (MPH), hailed as one of the most effective lobbying campaigns ever with its simple message and signature white wrist band, was banned on Monday from television and radio advertising in Britain.Advertising watchdog Ofcom said the goals of its campaign, including an array of stars clicking their fingers to ram home the message that a child dies of preventable poverty every three seconds, were political and therefore outlawed.MPH was created last year with the single goal of persuading the governments of the Group of Eight industrialised countries to write off billions of dollars in debt owed by the world’s poorest countries. —Reuters
