Annan set for second term as UN chief

The United Nations Security Council today nominated Secretary-General Kofi Annan by acclamation for a second term at the helm of the world body, paving the way for his election by the 189-member General Assembly.

‘‘The Security Council at a private meeting has decided to recommend Mr Kofi Annan for a second term for appointment by the General Assembly,’’ council president Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh announced.

‘‘The decision was taken by acclamation with support of all members of the council.’’

Annan’s nomination was a far cry from 1996 when the United States blocked his predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, from serving another five years.

Rich and impoverished nations on the 15-member council joined in supporting Annan, whose term expires December 31, months earlier than usual.

The General Assembly is expected to formally elect him on Friday.

Chowdhury called it ‘‘a very momentous decision’’ and a ‘‘recognition of the very excellent work that Kofi Annan has done’’.

In an organisation renowned for legendary battles over the choice of secretary-generals, the 63-year-old son of a Ghanaian businessman has had a remarkably easy ride on the road to a second term.

When Annan became the seventh UN secretary-general on January 1, 1997, the world body was under attack on many fronts and at odds with the United States, which viewed Boutros-Ghali as anti-American.

It had failed to prevent the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the July 1995 Serb slaughter of Muslims in the UN-declared ‘‘safe zone’’ of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia.

The legacy of the failed UN peacekeeping mission on Somalia also lingered, particularly in the United States, which lost 18 soldiers in a botched raid in the capital Mogadishu in 1993.

Nearly five years later, the United Nations is playing major peacekeeping roles on several continents with missions in Ethiopia-Eritrea, East Timor and Kosovo.

Annan used his first term to focus global attention on Africa’s conflicts, poverty and the Aids epidemic now the focus of an unprecedented three-day Aids conference which concludes later today.

He has also trimmed UN bureaucracy and spearheaded an overhaul of peacekeeping operations.