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Annan's Nobel Lauded by World Leaders, Condemned by Rwanda and Bosnia
SARAJEVO, Oct 12 (News Agencies) - Leading world figures heaped praise on the decision to give the Nobel Peace Prize to the United Nations and its secretary general Kofi Annan on Friday, while Rwandan authorities criticized them and Srebrenica massacre survivors accused them of genocide in a bitter protest of the award.
"The U.N. and Kofi Annan were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for genocide over Muslims of Podrinje [Srebrenica region] or, in fact, over all of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Muslims," a press release issued by the "Mothers of Srebrenica" group said.
And Joseph Mutababoa, secretary general of the Rwandan foreign ministry, told Agence France-Presse (AFP): "We hope that they [Annan and the U.N.] will do all they can so that the problems of the past become lessons in how to move forward in the search for peace and security across the world."
The Norwegian Nobel Institute announced Friday that the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Annan and the U.N. for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.
"No one and no organization is more deserving of this prestigious award," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The U.N.'s Geneva office described the award as powerfully symbolic: "The prize also honors all who have been killed for defending the aims and values of the United Nations. Many of our colleagues lost their lives. It's important to underline that," said Marie Heuze, head of the press service.
But Rwanda criticized the United Nations and Annan in particular for their inaction during the 1995 genocide there, in which up to 800,000 Rwandans were killed while Annan was head of the U.N.'s peacekeeping operations.
The head of the main association of survivors of the genocide, Antoine Mugesera, said: "We regret that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an institution and a person who did not play a positive or appreciable role during the genocide."
And the association of Srebrenica massacre survivors, grouping mainly women whose male relatives were killed, said Annan did nothing to prevent the 1995 massacre there and should be held responsible.
The U.N. peacekeepers deployed in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war failed to prevent the slaughter of between 7,000 and 8,000 Muslims in the eastern city in July 1995 after it was captured by Bosnian Serb forces.
At the time of the massacre, described as the worst on European soil since World War II, Srebrenica had been proclaimed a U.N. safe haven, and Annan was head of U.N. peacekeeping missions.
The Bosnian branch of the Society for Threatened Peoples, a Luxembourg-based organization for human rights, also protested over the choice of laureates for this year's peace prize.
"It is cynical to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the U.N. when one of Europe's worst massacres happened under their flag," Fadila Memisevic, the head of the organization's Bosnian branch, told AFP.
She added that it was the wrong message to send to the world as countries begin to unite in a global fight against terrorism following the September 11th attacks on the United States.
But Blair, in his congratulatory remarks, said that there was "no better time for it to be announced, as we struggle to bring to justice those who struck at the heart of the free world just blocks away from the U.N. headquarters in New York."
Other world leaders added their commendations to Blair's.
In Berlin, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said: "It is precisely at this moment in the confrontation between the international community and terrorism that the United Nations has such major significance."
European Commission President Romano Prodi, describing Annan as "a true friend of Europe," said: "At this time of conflict and tension, in which peace-loving peoples of the world are united in their resolute fight against terrorism, the U.N. is a beacon for the international community."
In Paris, French leaders said Annan's award "took on a very special significance in the current international context."
French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and Raymond Forni, president of the National Assembly, all stressed the secretary general's "untiring efforts on behalf of peace".
From Spain, a telegram sent on behalf of the Spanish royal family congratulated Annan for his work at the forefront of the U.N. and his contribution to world peace.
Jose Ramos-Horta, the foreign minister in the transition government of East Timor, who won in 1996, said Annan was one of the "best-ever U.N. secretary generals", praising his professionalism and devotion.
There was pride and joy too in Annan's native Ghana. He is the first Ghanaian to become a Nobel laureate.
In an effusive letter to Annan, Ghanian President John Kufour wrote: "As a son of Ghana you have made the whole nation proud with your outstanding performance as Secretary General of the United Nations."
But Bosnian authorities also expressed their displeasure with the award.
"The actions of some people working within the U.N. structure cast a shadow on the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to that institution," Hasan Muratovic, Bosnia's wartime liaison with the United Nations, told AFP.
"Mothers of Srebrenica" urged Friday that the Nobel Peace Prize be taken back and awarded to them.
Otherwise, they said, "all U.N. member countries, but specifically the Muslim ones, are called upon to ignore their membership in the U.N. because this is proof that the U.N. is an anti-Muslim organization."
The association said that after the war, the U.N. war crimes tribunal never responded to their call to charge Annan for his role "in Srebrenica genocide."
"The ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia] never responded," the press release added.
The blue helmets, as U.N. peacekeepers are often called, came under much criticism during Bosnia's war for failing to protect civilians, instead limiting their actions to the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Some 250,000 died in the war, which ended when the United States made a decisive push for a peace accord that was signed after a NATO air campaign.
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