By Hugo Odiogor
The United Nations is a global institution that only very few people can claim to understand the internal workings of its bureacracy and diplomatic intrigues that goes within its fortess that was founded to ensure peace and stability after the second world war.

The UN was founded on the philosophy that all nations, irrespective of their demographic and territorial size, resource endowment or military capability, are equal in sovereignty as outlined in the in the 1648 Westphalia peace treaty that established the sovereign status of modern states. This may be true, but the realities as revealed by Professor Ibrahim Gambari, is that small nations are pawn in diplomatic chess game.

The Curse of Berlin

Amiable Prof. Gambari who was in Lagos to chair a book presentation of a book entitled:  The Curse of Berlin: Africa After the Cold War written by Dr. Adekeye Adebajo, who had enojed some intellectual tutelege from Professor Gambari in his foreign mission.

It is generally believed in diplomatic  circles that “United Nation is lagging behind contemporary  global realities and meeting the needs of the 198 member countries of the body”. During the cold war, the organisation was “of little importance in relation to more potent factors in world politics such as super-power diplomacy, multinational corporations, regional communities international political movements and even terrorist organisations”. Other watchers of the UN  merely took it for granted, as a fact of life, but of little importance to them.

Professor Gambari would not be drawn to either side of the arguments for and against the calls for the reforming of the United Nations to meet with the contemporary realites. Nevertheless, he would shrae his personal expeirences with the audience at the book prsentation in his personal experiences to warn African countries of the type of politics within the UN even in the post cold war era.

OBJ Debacle

It was a rare moment to gain insight in the Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo’s failed bid to become the frst post cold War Secretary General after the end of Javier De Cuellars tenure in 1991.  recognitin told the story of how the western nations conspired to frustrate General Olusegun Obasanjo who was one of the six Africans that contested in 1991 to become the Secretary General of UN.

According to Prof. Gambari, In the heat of Nigeria’s campaign for the election of General Obasanjo , a British diplomat and a colleague at the UN called him and told himm bluntly “Ibrahim your candidate does not stand a chance in hell of becoming a Secretary General of the United Nations.” A surprised Prof. Gambari sort to know why the Briton should make such a negative comment about General Obasanjo who according to him was the most qualified  of all the six candidates from Africa that were  vying for the office.

Prof. Gambari told him that “General Obasanjo was the only candidate among the six contestants that administrative experience at the highest level having being a former head of state. Obasanjo was former military head of state in Africa that  voluntarily handed over power to a democratically elected government. He was also a co-chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group that negotiated the release of Dr. Nelson Mandela of South Africa and therefore most eminently qualified to hold such office”.

But the Britishdiplomat quietly replied: “look Ibrahim, when we say we want a Secretary General, the emphasis is on Secretary, not on the General”. Of course, the lesson was that the big powers would prefer a Secretary General and not the one that would give them orders. “Knowing General Obasanjo, for who he was, he would  have given them orders”

The West versus Boutros Boutros Ghali

In the end, Egypt’s Boutros Boutros Ghali was selected, but at the end of his first term, the US moved against him and the diplomatic chess game begun all over. According to the Prof. Gambari, in the straw ballot that was cast for the election, 14 countries voted for Ghali to continue while on country, the United States voted of US nullified the other 14 votes, because it was a veto. It was a throw back to the 1980s when the US consistently vetoed the candidature of Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim.

An inquisitive Prof. Gambari went to ask another British diplomat why he chose to vote along with the majority when he knew that their cousins, the Americans  would vote against. The British diplomat responded by saying “Why annoy the Africans by voting against Boutros Ghali, the second term bid was not on offer, so why vote to annoy the Africans? It is instructive to note that Dr. Kofi Annan, a Ghanian, was given that broke the tradition of appointing Prof. Gambari as Under Secretary of Political Affairs department.

The five permanent members of the Security Council always insist on having their respective citizens installed as head of key department Agencies, Funds and Programmes in the UN system. Nigeria learnt another bitter lesson this when it pushed Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as a candidate for the President  of the World Bank. America chose a non-economist and financial expert as its candidate and he got the job.

Season of confessions

As the UN Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Prof. Gambari has a Ghanian as a secretary who had some image of Nigeria and after one month of working with a Nigerian as her boss, the secretary went to Prof. Gambari one morning to say sir, I have a confession to make, his bemused boss turned round and said, I have never believed in my entire life that I would one day work for or with a Nigerian one day work for or with a Nigerian because I have always had this impression that they are rude, bossy, loud… but after one month of working with you it seems you don’t fit into that mould.”

She begged her boss for forgiveness. Professor Gambari told his secretary that he too has a confession to make: said Gambari of all my years, I have in all my life, as a Nigerian, I never thought I could work for a Ghanian, of course, Gambari did work with Kofi Annan as the only non-European  and non-American to have  been appointed as  a Principal Under Secretary for Political Affairs.

The new scramble for Africa

Gambari was also concern that the new scramble for Africa is coming from China, France and the United States, perhaps, Al-Queda. He believes that Nigeria has lost its political clout even in ECOWAS sub-region where France had to send its paratroopers to topple former President Laurent Gbagbo.

He is not carried  away by the unfolding diplomatic fencing going on between Nigeria and South Africa, the two giants in the continent that are potential candidate for the UN security council seat. A mere prestigious position.

He argues that even if the five permanent members agree to expand the UN security council membership, they would not give veto power to the new members. This makes the membership of the new countries ceremonial and honorary. Prof. Gambari insisted that veto power in UN security council is not not on offer hence, Nigeria and South Africa should stop dissipating energy fighting for supremacy when they should be cooperating and collaborating in areas of trade exchange of technology developing peace agenda for Africa, fight to improve their investment in science and technology, eradication of poverty and moving the continent away from conflicts.

Prof. Gambari  was scatting in his criticisms of South African government and other Southern African nations that have failed to acknowledge  and appreciate the role that Nigeria played in their liberation struggle. It must be recalled that for 25 years, Prof. Gambari the chairman of the UN Anti-Apartheid Committee  which consistently mounted global battle against the obnoxious regime.

According to him, “all those countries that stood by and watched Nigeria spend its money, time and energy are falling over themselves to become friends of South Africa”. At the same time, South African government and “its people are doing everything within their power to build obstacles against Nigeria and Nigerians”.

He was unequivocal as he called on the first South African High Commission to Nigeria, Mr. George Nene to take a message back to his government, asking them to take urgent step to acknowledge what Nigeria did to ensure the freedom of South Africa and its neighbour because the concept of building between the major economic powers on the continent will only further stymie the growth and development of Africa.

LOVE, EXPERIENCE AND HOPE 

Prof. Gambari will ended the evening on a jocular note when he told the story of a man who was going  into a third wife after his first two marriages had failed. According to him, when his friends approached him to know why he would go for a third wife when the previous two failed. The man replied that in the first marriage, he invested in love, in the second one, he invested in experience but in the new marriage he was investing in hope.

THE DAFUR MISSION

The man who developed the concept of concentric circles of interest in diplomacy in 1983, is still sharp and highly cerebral and serious questions must be asked as to why a man of Prof. Gambari’s intellect, experience and exposure should still be languishing in the deserts of West Sudanwhen his own country and the ECOWAS sub-region are facing internal and external security challenges.

The answer could be found in the fact that some people dont want to be rebuked by his genius. Vanguard could recall an instance where he was briefing President Goodluck Jonathan on his mission in Sudan and the foreign minister eho was present, was watching television. This is Nigeria’s one-time minister of foreign affairs, a former director of Nigeria Institute of International Affairs and currently UN and AU envoy to Darfur. The Jonathan administration should not endanger the life of this intellectual diplomat in a crazy mission.