Annan gives lecture on Iraq war

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to discuss the war in Iraq when he delivers a lecture today.

Mr Annan, an outspoken critic of US and British policy in Iraq, will deliver the latest Tip O’Neill lecture at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus in Co Derry.

Yesterday Mr Annan said in an interview that the war had not made the world a safer place.

“I cannot say the world is safer when you consider the violence arround us, when you look around and see terrorists around the world and see what is going on in Iraq,” he said.

Last month the UN Secretary-General said the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that had contravened the UN Charter.

Professor Gerry McKenna, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster, said they were delighted to welcome an international statesman of the Secretary-General’s distinction to the University.

“At no time since the end of World War 2 has the role of the United Nations been more important in the world. It is a privilege for the university to host such a lecture and to share with many of our friends from the wider world this important occasion,” he added.

The Tip O’Neill Lecture has in the past been presented by distinguished figures such as Senator Edward Kennedy; President of the European Commission Romano Prodi; Michel Rocard, former Prime Minister of France; Bertie Ahern as President of European Council of Ministers; and Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament.

The holder of the Tip O’Neill Chair in Peace Studies at the University is Nobel Peace Laureate Professor John Hume, whose appointment was announced at a ceremony in Washington in March 2002.

Bill Clinton made a special visit to the University of Ulster in July last year to inaugurate John Hume’s tenure of the Chair.

Professor Tom Fraser, Provost of the Magee campus where the Tip O’Neill lectures take place, said: “On accepting the Chair, John Hume said that part of his work would be to bring some of the most highly regarded peacemakers in the world to Northern Ireland. That is a promise he has richly fulfilled.”