U.N., Kofi Annan share peace prize

UNITED NATIONS -- In an era of spreading global terrorism and widening conflict, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the United Nations and Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday for their roles at the "forefront of efforts to achieve peace and security in the world."

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, marking the centennial of the prize, said its choice was designed "to proclaim that the only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations."

Annan said he was awakened in the early hours Friday by a phone call, which typically would have meant "something disastrous."

"But, of course," he said, "it was a wonderful way to wake up."

"I think the timing couldn't be better," he told reporters who thronged his house on Manhattan's tony east side. "I think it's a great shot in the arm for us."

For an organization that has struggled financially and often been the target of vicious criticism, especially among conservative U.S. politicians, the award was a dizzying achievement. Delight spread among the 52,100 U.N. employees in offices and hotspots from Geneva and Lebanon to East Timor and Sierra Leone.

In its citation, the Nobel committee said, with the Cold War done, the United Nations was finally playing its intended role "at the forefront of efforts to achieve peace and security in the world, and of the international mobilization aimed at meeting the world's economic, social and environmental challenges."

The secretary-general, it said, "has been pre-eminent in bringing new life to the organization."

A time of turmoil

When Annan, a 63-year-old Ghanaian, became secretary-general in 1997 -- the first leader to be elected from the ranks of U.N. staff -- it was a time of turmoil, both inside and outside the organization.

The United States had just blocked his predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt from serving a second term, seeing him as anti-American. The United Nations had failed to prevent the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the July 1995 Serb slaughter of Muslims in a U.N.-declared "safe zone" in eastern Bosnia.

Five years on and with Annan at the helm, the United Nations is playing major peacekeeping roles on many continents. At Annan's urging, the 189 U.N. member states pledged to cut in half the number of people living on less than a dollar a day, to ensure primary education for every child, and to start reversing the AIDS epidemic -- all by 2015.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the secretary-general has been galvanizing support for a global coalition to eliminate what he calls a scourge against humanity. He said Friday he expects that coalition to hold firm and become a key diplomatic player in sensitive Mideast peace negotiations.

Bureaucracy overhaul

During his first term, Annan began overhauling the cumbersome and often lethargic U.N. bureaucracy, a key U.S. demand which led to settlement of a long dispute with Washington over the payment of U.N. dues.

For the first time, Annan openly admitted past U.N. failures.

He has won high marks for focusing the global spotlight on poverty, human rights abuses, Africa's conflicts and the AIDS epidemic -- and for his character and moral leadership.

But he has also faced criticism for trying to negotiate with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and for standing by as U.N. peacekeepers were kidnapped in Sierra Leone.

Nonetheless, he was unanimously reelected to a second term in June, six months before his first term expired at the end of this year.

Created from the ashes of World War II by 51 nations, the United Nations remains the unique global gathering place for nations -- rich and poor, large and small -- to try to settle international problems.

President Bush called Annan and told him "what a magnificent honor" it was to have won the 100th peace prize, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.

Even Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican and longtime U.N critic who only recently made peace with the organization, praised the award.

"I extend my heartiest congratulations to my friend," Helms said in a statement from Washington. "It's significant that the secretary-general is being honored at a time when the world is gravely challenged in almost every respect."

After congratulating staff members in the lobby of the landmark 39-story U.N. headquarters building, Annan urged them to return to their offices -- to start working on the world organization's next Nobel Peace Prize.