Annan’s task:

Kofi Annan has two problems — Bush’s continuing annoyance with the UN and the organisation’s problems in fulfilling its key missions. In a perfect world, Washington would encourage Annan to focus on the second and work with him later on the first, but the UN exists in a highly imperfect world. So, the secretary general is doing the right thing by planning additional management changes beyond his announ-cement that his retiring chief of staff would be replaced by a dynamic specialist on development and public communications. Further changes are certainly warranted, as is the newly announced tracking system for tsunami relief. But the housecleaning should not just be aimed at appeasing the US and improving UN public image. Major shakeups are needed in critical areas like peacekeeping and refugee assistance. Last month there were reports that members of UN peacekeepers in Congo had been raping the young girls there. The UN must see to it these crimes are prosecuted and punished. Steps must be taken to ensure that armed and trained troops are quickly available to back up truce agreements in the world’s multiplying trouble spots.

Given the hostility of Bush, the UN’s survival as an effective body cannot be taken for granted. Annan will have to challenge the self-protective bureaucracy more radically. — The New York Times